Himamauli Das, a former Treasury Department and National Security Council official, will serve as the new acting director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, the agency announced Aug. 3. Das will take over from acting director Michael Mosier, who plans to leave the agency at the end of the week. Treasury also said it officially began its search for a permanent FinCEN director.
Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai discussed export promotion and other trade issues during the inaugural Industry Trade Advisory Committee meeting Aug. 2, Commerce said in a readout. The two officials outlined President Joe Biden’s export agenda to ITAC members and committed to “removing barriers to trade, developing an inclusive and sustainable growth strategy, and using the private sector’s expertise to enforce existing trade agreements.”
The State Department approved a potential military sale to India worth about $82 million, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said Aug. 2. The sale includes “Harpoon Joint Common Test Set” and related equipment. The principal contractor will be Boeing.
Companies should disregard any memorandums by the Government Contracting Activity about suspension of submissions for personnel security investigation requests, the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency said Aug. 2. The agency isn’t suspending submissions of those requests and said facility security officers should continue submitting personnel security investigation requests to the Vetting Risk Operations Center. The requests are submitted for investigations to insider threats and other personnel risks, which can exploit U.S. supply chains, business activities and more.
The State Department approved two potential military sales, to Israel and Thailand, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said July 30. The agency approved a $3.4 billion sale to Israel for “CH-53K Heavy Lift Helicopters” and related equipment. The prime contractors will be Lockheed Martin Global and General Electric. The sale to Thailand is for $83.5 million worth of Javelin missiles and related equipment. The prime contractors will be Raytheon/Lockheed Martin Javelin Joint Venture.
The State Department is seeking public comments on six Directorate of Defense Trade Controls information collections, the agency said in a noticed released July 30. The collections pertain to export license applications for unclassified and classified technical data and defense articles as well as nontransfer and use certificates. Comments are due Oct. 1.
The Census Bureau's July issue of TradeSource, released this week, focuses on growing exports. The issue includes information on exporting to U.S. free trade agreement countries, the Export-Import Bank and export financing, and 2021 international trade data for oil, gas and motor vehicles.
Governments worldwide should persuade companies to follow “broad” due-diligence frameworks before exporting facial recognition technologies, the Center for Strategic and International Studies said in a July 27 report. The report, which maps some human rights risks associated with advanced technologies powered by artificial intelligence, said the framework should include a process to make sure companies are conducting “human rights impact assessments” before they deploy “new and potentially risky technologies.” Businesses should also assess their suppliers to ensure the technology won’t lead to “additional risks,” the report said. The U.S. warned exporters earlier this month about the risks associated with exporting facial recognition technology to China (see 2107130046), and the Commerce Department is considering new export controls on those technologies (see 2101220044).
President Joe Biden will nominate Thea Kendler, a Justice Department lawyer, to be the Commerce Department's assistant secretary for export administration, the White House announced July 28. Kendler works as a trial attorney in the Justice Department's National Security Division, Counterintelligence and Export Control Section, where she primarily prosecutes export control, economic espionage and counterintelligence cases. Kendler is also working on the U.S.'s criminal case against Huawei and its Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou, according to Reuters. Before joining the Justice Department, Kendler worked as a senior counsel for the Bureau of Industry and Security, providing legal advice on export enforcement. If confirmed, Kendler would potentially work under Alan Estevez, who was nominated by Biden earlier this month to head BIS (see 2107130004).
The Treasury Department July 22 issued a list of countries that require or may require participation in, or cooperation with, an international boycott. Listed are Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Yemen. The United Arab Emirates was removed from the list in April (see 2104080031).