By Andrea Shalal-Esa
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado, April 17 (Reuters) – The Obama
administration will soon send Congress a long-awaited final
report on loosening export controls on some satellites and
associated equipment, a move that U.S. industry officials say
could help them compete overseas while domestic spending falls.
Madelyn Creedon, assistant secretary of defense for global
strategic affairs, told reporters at a space conference that she
expected top U.S. defense officials to sign off on a report that
explains the benefits and risks of loosening restrictions on
some satellite components.
“We’ve been working on this for a long time,” Creedon said
after a speech to the annual Space Foundation conference on
Monday, adding that she expected an announcement in the near
future, without giving an exact timetable.
Two sources familiar with the process but not authorized to
speak publicly said the final report could be delivered to
Congress as early as this week.
Industry officials said the report could pave the way for an
easing of export controls on U.S.-built satellite products
imposed by Congress in late 1990s, when two U.S. companies were
found to have provided unlicensed technical assistance to
China’s space launch industry.
Creedon said the study included the same concepts but went
into greater detail than a May 2011 draft which said that easing
restrictions on some communications satellites would not pose an
unacceptable security risk.
“It would make many companies more competitive
internationally and ease business transactions for a whole range
of commercial satellite activities,” said Patricia Cooper,
president of the Satellite Industry Association.
Reforms of the tight current controls would give American
firms a boost, said Craig Cooning, vice president and general
manager of Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems. “It would let
us compete against the French,” he said.
Congress would need to pass legislation to allow the
administration to change the way satellite exports have been
regulated since 1999, Creedon said.
One bill has already been introduced in the House of
Representatives, and a similar measure is expected to be
introduced in the Senate later this month.
U.S. satellite industry executives and their suppliers have
long complained that the changes enacted in the late 1990s shut
them out of international competitions.
U.S. market share of satellite exports has dropped from 75
percent in 1995 to just over 40 percent since the tough rules
took effect over a decade ago.
