WASHINGTON (States News Service) -- NASA Administrator Dan Goldin challenged, on Thursday, space industry leaders who have repeatedly listed the implementation of U.S. export controls as "troubling" for their business.
"Let me be very clear," Goldin said, raising his voice during his keynote speech at the International Space Business Assembly. "Fundamental to global space cooperation and international business development is adherence to [the Missile Technology Control Regime] and related nonproliferation norms."
"Some individuals, some companies, some governments," Goldin said, "choose not to stop those who would violate those norms... and not turning the other cheek, turning their head to other way, just to make some money."
One of the most oft-debated topics at this conference, U.S. policy towards export policy, shifted last March amid concerns that some companies were giving China and other nations technology that could endanger national security. Congress ordered licensing authority for exports transferred from the Commerce Department to the State Department, where stricter standards and insufficient staff have led to delays that companies say can be fatal to their bids for international contracts.
"The U.S. government is working to address those concerns," Goldin said. "But we will do it in a way that fully supports international norms on nonproliferation and combats threats to security."
NASA, an independent federal agency that does not report to either the State or Commerce departments, has no authority in setting export policy.
Many aerospace and satellite company representatives at the conference have called for a change in the current policy, or at least the way it is being implemented. The opening speech for the conference Tuesday night, from a State Department official, decried a lack of funding from Congress to hire employees needed to process the licenses.
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