Two U.S. Trade Security Policy Meetings Next Month

The following trade security policy meetings were announced this week in the Federal Register:

The Defense Trade Advisory Group (DTAG) will meet in open session November 9 at the Department of State. DTAG members consists of private sector defense trade representatives, appointed by the Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs, who advise the Department on policies, regulations, and technical issues affecting defense trade. The purpose of the meeting will be to discuss current defense trade issues and topics for further study.

On November 14 the following week, the President's Export Council Subcommittee on Export Administration (PECSEA) will meet at the Department of Commerce. The PECSEA provides advice on matters pertinent to those portions of the Export Administration Act (EAR) that deal with United States policies of encouraging trade with all countries with which the United States has diplomatic or trading relations and of controlling trade for national security and foreign policy reasons.

It is expected that the President's export control reform initiative will be discussed at both sessions. The Obama Administration in the Fall of 2009 set in a motion a broad-based inter-agency review of U.S. export controls that built upon reforms started during the Bush Administration. The Obama Administration decided to launch an Export Control Reform Initiative that aims to update U.S. export control laws and regulations.

For more information about these two fall meetings, please follow these links: DTAG and PECSEA.