The U.S. and the EU this month extended the U.S.-EU Science and Technology Agreement for five years, the State Department announced Oct. 23. The agreement, first signed in 1997, has been extended four previous times and helps support research collaboration between the two sides in critical and emerging technologies.
For all the talk of a climate club, where trade among countries inside the club is privileged, panelists at the Niskanen Center said the failure of the U.S. and the EU to reach an agreement on green steel in two years of talking shows how far off that possibility is.
The State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls last week released the presentation slides from its Defense Trade Advisory Group plenary meeting earlier this month. During the plenary, DTAG members heard updates on DDTC’s effort to revise U.S. Munitions List controls (see 2310120063), suggested ways to expedite license approvals for marketing demonstrations associated with foreign military sales (see 2310130032) and more.
The Bureau of Industry and Security sent a proposed rule for interagency review that could make clarifications and updates to the Defense Priorities and Allocations System Regulation, which is used to prioritize certain defense-related contracts and orders. BIS sent the rule to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs Oct. 17.
The State Department on Oct. 17 sent a proposed rule for interagency review that could make changes to certain registration fees under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations. An agency official said earlier this month the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls was preparing to soon propose changes to those fees (see 2310120063).
The State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls will be “migrating” to the “FedRAMP High instance of a multifactor authentication solution” in its Defense Export Control and Compliance System to improve security, the agency announced this week. DDTC said all users should log into DECCS “which will ensure that your account information and passwords are automatically synced with the new upgraded instance.”
Intelligence officials from U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia and New Zealand met with industry officials and academics this week to discuss ways to improve security guardrails around emerging technologies, said the FBI, which organized the meetings. The talks included officials from each of the Five Eyes countries and were held near Silicon Valley as part of the first Emerging Technology and Securing Innovation Security Summit, which the FBI said will help government and industry discuss threats to innovation and coming trends in the use and exploitation of emerging technology, and find “means to work together to advance both economic security and public safety.”
The U.S. and Singapore this week committed to collaborate across a range of critical and emerging technology areas and vowed to “promote candid and sustained exchanges on risks, opportunities, and key national security implications associated” with the six areas, including artificial intelligence, digital economy and data governance, biotechnology, critical infrastructure and technology supply chains, defense innovation and quantum information science and technology. Marking the inaugural U.S.-Singapore Critical and Emerging Technology Dialogue in Washington, the two sides said they plan to promote “research collaboration” in emerging AI, biotech and quantum applications.
The Defense Department is seeking public comments as it considers negotiating a new defense procurement agreement with India, the agency said in a notice. The agency said it’s “evaluating India’s laws and regulations in this area” and “would benefit from U.S. industry’s experience in participating in Indian public defense procurements.” DOD is specifically seeking information about whether those procurements were “conducted with transparency, integrity, fairness, and due process in accordance with published procedures, and if not, the nature of the problems encountered.” Comments are due by Nov. 9.
DOJ is looking to apply its recently revamped corporate enforcement principles “across the entire Department,” including in cases involving the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said during an event last week held by the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics. Monaco said companies “should expect more to come on this topic” as DOJ extends its policies “beyond the criminal context to other enforcement resolutions -- from breaches of affirmative civil case settlements to violations of CFIUS mitigation agreements or orders.”