But many companies have been blacklisted by DOJ.
The Commerce Department approved in excess of $23 billion of tech licenses to companies based in China even as the Justice Department urged renewal of the FISA program enabling them to perform surveillance to counter Chinese espionage.
Assistant Attorney General for the National Security Division, Matthew Olsen, urged Congress this week to renew the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act’s (FISA) Section 702 authority, which is set to expire within a few months. That section gives America’s intelligence agencies authority to “gather foreign intelligence.”
“At this moment, when China is ramping up its aggressive efforts to spy on Americans, it would be a grievous mistake to blind ourselves to that threat by allowing this critical authority to expire,” Assistant Attorney General Olsen said.
However, the Commerce Department Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) is evidently prioritizing economic interests over U.S. security.
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul of Texas said, “We are currently in the middle of a struggle for the global balance of power — and the primary battleground is technology leadership. So, it is absolutely astounding BIS approved more than $23 billion worth of licenses to sell U.S. technology to blacklisted companies based in China.
He continued, “In total, only eight percent of licenses to these entity-listed companies were denied. It is well within BIS Under Secretary [Alan] Estevez’s authority to update these licensing policies and start denying licenses.”
As the Lord Leads, Pray with Us…
- For members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee as they seek to protect national security.
- For the attorney general and officials in the Justice Department as they determine the foreign entities that pose a security risk to the U.S.
- For Under Secretary Estevez as he heads the Bureau of Industry and Security in the Commerce Department.
Sources: Just The News, Reuters
