Maybe people are more desperate or maybe there's just too much opportunity to make a quick buck but whatever the excuse, attempts to illegally export technology from the US has gone through the roof.
The Department of Justice this week said it has placed criminal charges or convictions against more than 255 defendants in the past two fiscal years - 145 in 2008 and 110 in 2007. That compares to 40 individuals or companies were convicted of over 100 criminal violations of export control laws in 2005, the DOJ said. Charges brought in these cases include violations of the Arms Export Control Act, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), the export control provision of the Patriot Reauthorization Act, the Trading with the Enemy Act, and other laws.
According to the DOJ, the technology sought from the US in these illicit schemes are as diverse as missile and nuclear technology, assault weapons, trade secrets, source code, military aircraft parts, night vision systems, and computer equipment. The improper transfer of these items poses threats to US allies, troops overseas, and to Americans at home. It also undermines America's strategic, economic, and military position in the world, the DOJ said.
In 2008 about 43% of these cases involving munitions or other restricted technology bound for Iran or China. A significant portion of the cases in FY 2008 and in FY 2007 also involved illegal exports to Mexico, the DOJ stated.
The illegal exports bound for Iran have involved such items as missile guidance systems, Improvised Explosive Device (IED) components, military aircraft parts, night vision systems and other materials. The illegal exports to China have involved rocket launch data, Space Shuttle technology, missile technology, naval warship data, unmanned aircraft technology, thermal imaging systems, military night vision systems and other materials. Mexico seems to be the hotspot for illegal exports of firearms, including assault weapons and rifles, as well as large quantities of ammunition, the DOJ stated.
According to the DOJ, the firehose of technology flowing overseas isn't the result necessarily of a coordinated effort by a group of terrorists or even governments but rather private-sector businessmen, scientists, students, and academics from overseas are among the most active collectors of sensitive US technology. Most did not initially come to the US with that intent. Instead, after finding that they had access to technology in demand overseas, they engaged in illegal collection to satisfy a desire for profits, acclaim, or patriotism to their home nations, the DOJ stated.
While the problem is large and daunting, the DOJ and others have been trying to bolster US technological defenses.
Over the past year, the DOJ has been involved in a variety of legislative, regulatory, and policy proposals related to export control and embargos. During 2007, for instance, Congress passed and the President signed into law amendments to the IEEPA, which, among other things, added conspiracy and attempt provisions to the IEEPA as well as enhanced criminal fines and administrative fines for violations of this law, which is a critical export and embargo enforcement statute, the DOJ stated.
The National Export Enforcement Initiative has also resulted in the creation of 15 Counter-Proliferation Task Forces in various judicial districts around the country. In addition, the initiative has resulted in enhanced training for more than 500 agents and prosecutors involved in export control and the creation of new mechanisms to enhance counter-proliferation coordination among law enforcement agencies, export licensing agencies and the Intelligence Community, the DOJ stated.
The NEEI is an attempt to address to complications that can drag down the process of catching and prosecuting these criminals. According to a GAO report on controlling illegally exported technology, multiple agencies are involved in enforcement and carry out various activities, including inspecting shipments, investigating potential export control violations, and taking punitive actions that can be criminal or administrative against violators of export control laws and regulations.
Agencies responsible for enforcement have to operate within the construct of a complex export control system, which offers its own set of challenges from the outset. Further compounding this situation is the failure to coordinate some investigations and address a host of other challenges that can lead to a range of unintended outcomes, such as the termination of investigative cases, the GAO stated.
Here are just a few recent cases to be prosecuted:
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Bah - This is the poster
Bah - This is the poster child for overregulation. Barring the sale of immediately useful military goods to Iran, I don't see a damned thing up above that should actually be banned. Free market blah blah free market. Just because the investment banks apparently need to be regulated on par with other banks - Who knew!? - doesn't mean that everything else needs to be regulated within an inch of its life. This is unnecessary and damaging to American industry. Like they couldn't get this shit from Europe.
Seriously. We should be opposing these laws, not those who break them.
Idiot
"Barring the sale of immediately useful military goods to Iran, I don't see a damned thing up above that should actually be banned."
Sure. You're voting for McCain, right?
If you think that selling the kitchen sink worth of our closely held technologies to China and Iran isn't something worth regulating why don't you just move there and see how much of a "Free Market" economy they really have.
Clod!
re: idiot
Having lived in China briefly, I can tell you that they pretty much do have a free market in general. Even when prices are "fixed", the government usually looks at the black market price to decide the official price for things. Although I don't recommend allowing the latest and greatest military technology to go to untrusted countries, the fact is, they will invent it themselves or get it from another country. The US isn't all that.
You fool.
You're a fool.
...Think about the night vision technology. Night Vision is a major tactical advantage.
When I was in Army Cadets one time on a camp we came across an unit of regulars who had been stuck in the bush for a week after their training exercise because they lost ONE HALF of the Night Vision Googles... A week in the bush looking for just a half of a set that seemed to be lost and not going to be found anytime soon.
I went to the Night Training Center a few days later and we used the NVGs - these things are amazing technology. Pitch black into day. You sure as hell don't want your enemy to have those.
The stuff they list is only the stuff they have managed to catch. What else has been stolen I wonder.
Logic problems. The facts
Logic problems.
The facts you cite don't support your conclusion. An increase in prosecutions doesn't indicate an increase in unlawful activity.
According to the press release that appears to be the research supporting this story, Congress has passed new laws and the DOJ and law enforcement agencies have made significant new efforts to identify, apprehend, and prosecute illegal exporters.
Rather than attribute the increase in prosecutions to an increase in illegal activity, wouldn't it make more sense to attribiute the increase in prosecutions to increased efforts to bring prosecutions, and the creation of new crimes which weren't prosecutable before?
The facts in the press release are interesting, but it's disappointing and frustrating to see such simple logical error at the heart of the story.
Don't forget that taking two
Don't forget that taking two years of data and adding them up to compare to a single year does not mean a 6-fold increase. It's a 3-fold increase...
You cannot commercially
You cannot commercially export ANYTHING to these countries legally from the USA. In other words if you wanted to sell nukes, poison gas, or just chicken wings to Iran, you could not without threat of arrest. And from reading these legal briefs you cannot tell from the fancy words they use to try and trump up the charges what the truth it. Yes, some cases are exporting poison gas to someone who will probably do some harm. But there are also cases of people who want to sell slurpees and such. If you will notice, these articles also use "and other materials" or "etc," after they ensure the listing of all the most dangerous items.