The Biden administration “strongly opposes” a House bill designed to counter its recent pause in pending decisions on liquefied natural gas exports, the White House said in a statement on Feb. 13. The statement came the same day the House Rules Committee voted to send the bill to the full House for its consideration.
The Defense Department is “carefully reviewing” a recently released congressional report that proposes changes to speed up the Foreign Military Sales process, a DOD spokesperson said Feb. 12.
President Joe Biden issued a memorandum requiring the State Department to obtain written assurances that recipients of U.S. foreign military aid will use those weapons in accordance with international humanitarian law.
Upcoming know-your-customer rules for U.S. cloud service providers come with a new set of compliance risks, with providers potentially facing lability not just from the Commerce Department but also from U.S. sanctions authorities, Sidley Austin said in a client alert this month.
The State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls released its notifications to Congress of recently proposed export licenses. The notifications cover licenses submitted from January through March, April through June and July through September, and include exports to Japan, Australia, Israel, Brazil, Canada, the U.K., Ukraine, Turkey, Norway, Germany and elsewhere.
The Pentagon stands by its decision last week to add Hesai Technology to its 1260H List of Chinese military companies, an agency spokesperson said.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is seeking comments, due by April 9, on an information collection related to a request for appointment of a technical advisory committee. The collection describes the functions and responsibilities of the Commerce Department TACs, which "advise the government on proposed revisions to export control lists, licensing procedures, assessments of the foreign availability of controlled products, and export control regulations.”
The State Department approved a potential military sale to Poland worth $1.2 billion, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said Feb. 7. The sale includes “Airspace and Surface Radar Reconnaissance aerostat systems,” and the principal contractors will be Raytheon Intelligence and Space, TCOM, ELTA North America and Avantus Federal.
The State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls made changes this week to its pending payment notification email message text. DDTC said the updates “clarify the instructions on how to proceed with making payments, ensuring a smoother and more user-friendly experience.”
The Bureau of Industry and Security issued a proposed rule this week to amend the agency’s Defense Priorities and Allocations System regulation. Proposed changes include clarifying the “existing standards and procedures” by which BIS may provide special priorities assistance, providing “transparency and differentiation between other departments’ priorities” and the Commerce Department’s jurisdiction, and other technical edits. Public comments on the changes are due March 8.