1/24/2018 - Beth M. McCormick, Former DTSA Director
2017 was another very busy, productive year for DTSA. Our cooperative efforts with valued partners and allies around the world has contributed directly to Secretary of Defense Mattis’ goal of expanding alliances and partnerships.
On the international front, we hosted bilateral working groups and consultations with Australia, Finland, France, Republic of Georgia, Germany, India, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Republic of Korea, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Oman, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and Ukraine. Under the auspices of the National Disclosure Policy Committee, we conducted reciprocal security surveys with Latvia, Estonia, and Kazakhstan, and sent survey teams to France, Kenya, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia. Space monitors from our Technology Directorate participated in technical meetings and launch campaigns in French Guiana, Hong Kong, India, Russia, Spain, Sweden, and Kazakhstan.
On the multilateral front, DTSA represented the Office of the Secretary of Defense at the Plenary and working-level technical experts meetings of the principal multilateral export control and nonproliferation regimes -- Missile Technology Control Regime, the Nuclear Suppliers Group, the Wassenaar Arrangement, and the Australia Group. We added the Australia Group to our portfolio in 2017, recognizing that being the lead for all four regimes in DoD made imminent sense. In addition to updating the multilateral control lists and sharing best practices on licensing and enforcement, we also worked closely with the Government of India in supporting and advocating for their membership in these non-proliferation regimes.
Our close cooperation across the Department of Defense – the Military Services, Joint Staff, OSD organizations (AT&L, USDI, DSCA and numerous parts of OSD Policy) – has ensured the protection of critical technology for our warfighters, while building the capacity of allies and friends around the globe. Accordingly, we worked closely with several new and emerging international partners as they establish institutions, policies and procedures to protect technology, sharing our best practices for analyzing the national security implications of exporting internationally.
So our resolution for 2018 is clear -- continue working with our partners on #DefenseTech, #InfoSec, and #Exports.