13 June 1997
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A Commerce Department official denied that Clinton administration export policies let U.S. supercomputers be used by hostile nations for weapons and said old controls are now unworkable.
The president's 1995 decision to loosen export controls on supercomputers and other high-tech products recognized that technology is advancing at lightning speed and already is available throughout the world, William A. Reinsch, the Commerce Department's undersecretary for export administration, said on Wednesday.
Harsher restrictions on the export of the most powerful computers would be of limited benefit, he said.
"Efforts to control at lower levels will not only be unsuccessful, they will limit our ability to widely disseminate American standards and software and damage our companies economically," Reinsch told the Senate Governmental Affairs subcommittee on international security, proliferation and federal services.
"When President Clinton took office he was urged by congressional leaders of both parties to make long-overdue reforms in this area," Reinsch said. "I believe our efforts to do that have been a model of good government decision making."
Senator Thad Cochran, subcommittee chairman, retorted that Russia's premier nuclear weapons labs have five American super computers, and at least 46 are used in China.
"The good news is that some of these major scientific technological institutes across China may not be involved in developing weapons of mass destruction and missile delivery systems for China and its clients. But some surely are," Cochran, R-Miss., said. "And they're doing this work courtesy of what appears to be, at best, a deeply flawed U.S. export-control policy."
The United States restricts export of fast-calculating supercomputers to non-allies. Military uses to which super computers can be put are testing nuclear weapons, building accurate missiles and developing code-breaking technology.
Reinsch said the Justice Department is investigating three sales of supercomputers overseas -- two in Russia and one to the Chinese Academy of Sciences -- suspected of violating U.S. regulations designed to keep U.S. technology from falling into the wrong hands.
Commerce officials also are checking into whether U.S. supercomputers sold to customers in Dubai have been resold to Iran, he said.
Two Republican House members -- Representative Henry Hyde of Illinois and Representative Tillie K. Fowler of Florida -- have demanded a Justice Department investigation into sales of sensitive equipment to China as part of its inquiry into foreign campaign contributions to Democrats.
In a May 22 letter to Attorney General Janet Reno, the lawmakers said the situation raises questions about whether campaign contributions from Asian donors led to the sales.
In response to a question from Cochran, Reinsch said he didn't think the Commerce Department had been asked to turn over information as part of such an investigation, "but we will certainly turn over to them whatever they ask for."
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