10 December 2001
Source:
http://usinfo.state.gov/cgi-bin/washfile/display.pl?p=/products/washfile/latest&f=01121001.clt&t=/products/washfile/newsitem.shtml
US Department of State
International Information Programs
Washington File
_________________________________
10 December 2001
(Official expects announcement soon on Tier 3 countries) (440) By Bruce Odessey Washington File Staff Writer Washington -- The Bush administration intends to raise sharply the threshold for exports of advanced computers to a group of more than 40 countries including Russia, China, India, Pakistan and Israel, a senior administration official says. The official, who asked not to be identified, told reporters December 10 that the threshold for export without a license to the group called Tier 3 countries will rise to cover computers capable of 190,000 million theoretical operations per second (MTOPs), up from 85,000 MTOPs now. He expected the change would take effect in January or February. The Bush administration has not relaxed computer export controls until now. The most-recent relaxation was announced by President Clinton in January 2001 and took effect in March. Clinton's decision essentially eliminated export license requirements for Tier 1 countries (close U.S. allies) and Tier 2 countries (those presenting a slightly higher risk). Clinton at that time also raised the Tier 3 threshold to 85,000 MTOPs from 28,000; many Tier 3 countries are in unstable regions. The official said he expected President Bush to announce within a few days the next change in Tier 3 threshold. He said he expected no change of countries from one tier to another. He said the administration was also continuing to seek a more effective measure to control computer exports than MTOPs. Leaders in government and industry view MTOPs as an obsolete tool because linking lesser computers together to perform computations has become relatively easy. The official said the U.S. delegation disclosed the Bush administration's Tier 3 proposal at the November 30-December 1 meeting in Bratislava, Slovakia, of the Wassenaar Arrangement. Created in 1996 to forge international cooperation on controlling exports of arms and advanced technology to dangerous countries, the Wassenaar Arrangement is widely regarded as the weakest of the multinational regimes aimed at slowing down weapons proliferation. The official said the Bratislava meeting disappointed the United States. He said other Wassenaar members blocked a U.S. proposal for requiring consultations before shipment when one member approves a sale that another member has already rejected. He expressed frustration also on lack of sufficient progress in Wassenaar on a U.S. proposal requiring member governments to employ what are called catch-all provisions -- those that prevent exports of any items, controlled or not, to businesses or groups identified as contributing to weapons proliferation. (The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)