The US Department of Commerce has initiated what likely will be a major revamping of its system for keeping “dual-use” information out of the hands of potential adversaries abroad. The department announced last month that it is taking steps to implement the recommendations of a blue-ribbon advisory committee that urged a fundamental change in the government’s approach for controlling “deemed exports”—technological knowledge that is imparted to foreign nationals working in US institutions and companies. Tightened enforcement of deemed exports in the years since September 11, 2001, has become an administrative burden for American universities and has complicated US industry’s hiring of foreign-born scientists and engineers (see Physics Today, Physics Today 0031-9228 59 7 2006 21 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2337818 July 2006, page 21 ).
In a statement issued 6 February, Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) said it had completed its internal review of the panel’s recommendations and was beginning consultations...