BIS, DOJ Launch New 'Strike Force' to Investigate Export Control Violations
The Commerce Department and DOJ this week launched a new task force to “target illicit actors” and protect critical technologies from being acquired by “nation-state adversaries.” The Disruptive Technology Strike Force -- which will be led by Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security and DOJ’s National Security Division -- will focus on investigating and prosecuting criminal export violations, improving “administrative enforcement” of export controls, coordinating law enforcement actions and “disruption strategies” with U.S. allies and more.
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The task force also will bring together officials from FBI, Homeland Security Investigations and 14 U.S. Attorneys’ offices in 12 regions across the U.S. to improve export control enforcement. “This strike force is designed to protect U.S. national security by preventing those sensitive technologies from being used for malign purposes,” said Matthew Axelrod, BIS assistant secretary for export enforcement, who will co-lead the task force alongside Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen.
Along with investigating export violations, the task force will look to better foster “partnerships” with industry and improve the agencies’ use of advanced data analytics and “all-source intelligence” to aid investigations. The task force also will help conduct regular trainings for field offices and strengthen “connectivity between the strike force and the Intelligence Community.”
Certain U.S. adversaries can use advanced technologies to improve their military capabilities or support mass surveillance programs that can lead to human rights abuses, the agencies said. They specifically mentioned China, Iran, Russia and North Korea and technologies in the supercomputing, artificial intelligence, advanced manufacturing equipment, quantum computing and biosciences sector.
“Although they have important commercial uses, technologies in these fields can threaten U.S. national security,” the agencies said, including by helping other countries improve “calculations in weapons design and testing” and the speed and accuracy of intelligence decision-making. Those technologies can also help them break or develop “unbreakable encryption algorithms that protect sensitive communications and classified information.”
Olsen said the U.S. “must remain vigilant in enforcing export control laws,” adding that the task force will specifically target “those who imperil our national security and the rule of law by illegally transferring sensitive technologies to foreign adversaries.” The group will operate with oversight and support from local U.S. Attorneys’ offices in Atlanta; Boston; Chicago; Dallas; Houston; Los Angeles and San Jose; Miami; New York City; Phoenix; Portland, Oregon; and the Washington, D.C., region.