    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1995, Book II)]
    [October 6, 1995]
    [Pages 1551-1552]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Statement on Reform of Computer Export Controls
    October 6, 1995

        Today I am pleased to announce a major reform of our computer export
    controls that will adjust to the global spread of technology while
    preserving our vital national security interests.
        Effective export controls are a critical part of national security,
    especially a strong nonproliferation policy. Our control regulations
    must focus principally on exports that have significant national
    security applications and which are not so widely available in open
    commerce that controls are ineffective.
        When I came into office, virtually all computers more powerful than
    a basic desktop required an export license from the Government, even

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    though many of these machines could be purchased in electronics stores
    from Hong Kong to Frankfurt as well as in cities across America. Both
    the U.S. Government and American exporters spent millions of dollars and
    thousands of hours implementing and complying with a tangled web of
    export control regulations.
        Two years ago, to bring our export control system into line with new
    developments in computer technology and the changing nature of the
    threats to our national security, I relieved billions of dollars worth
    of exports from outdated and unnecessary controls and instructed my
    administration thoroughly and periodically to review the controls on
    computer exports. The purpose of this review was to determine how
    changes in computer technology and its military applications should
    affect our export control regulations.
        Now, in the wake of a careful reevaluation by the Department of
    Defense, I have instructed my administration to update our controls to
    ensure that computers that could have a significant military impact on
    U.S. and allied security interests remain carefully controlled, while
    controls that are unnecessary or ineffective are eliminated.
        Specifically, I have decided to eliminate controls on the export of
    all computers to countries in North America, most of Europe, and parts
    of Asia. For a number of other countries, including many in Latin
    America and Central and Eastern Europe, we will ease but not eliminate
    computer export controls. For the former Soviet Union, China, and a
    number of other countries, we will focus our controls on computers
    intended for military end uses or users, while easing them on the export
    of computers to civilian customers. Finally, we will continue to deny
    computer technology to terrorist countries around the world.
        This decision will relieve U.S. computer manufacturers of
    unnecessary and ineffective regulations which often have tied their
    hands while foreign competitors won major contracts or built their own
    systems. It will help preserve the strength of the U.S. computer
    industry, which also is key to our national security. It is good for
    U.S. workers and U.S. business.
        This decision will benefit our national security in a number of
    other ways. Trying to regulate the export of computers that are
    increasingly available in markets abroad is a recipe for an ineffective
    nonproliferation policy. It imposes serious regulatory burdens without
    improving our national security and diverts resources from the pursuit
    of other important nonproliferation objectives.
        Today's action will strengthen our nonproliferation policy by
    targeting our export control resources on those areas where they can
    make a difference. It will complement our work in the New Forum, the
    multilateral regime we are forming to control arms and sensitive dual-
    use technologies, where we will work with our partners to encourage
    development of multilateral transparency and controls on computers
    consistent with our national controls. It will reinforce other steps we
    have taken in this administration to achieve concrete goals--such as the
    indefinite extension of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty,
    denuclearization of Ukraine, stopping the North Korean nuclear weapons
    program, and a negotiation of a comprehensive test ban--in our efforts
    to combat proliferation.