Northrop CEO Denounces Export Controls

U.S. export controls undermine U.S. industry, and are in dire need of reform, Northrop Grumman CEO Wes Bush said Aug. 17.
“Today’s export restrictions are hurting the industry in the U.S. without making us any safer, and they could cause the U.S. to relinquish to other nations, ultimately, its lead in these technologies,” Bush said at the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International conference in Washington.
In a speech, Bush praised the progress in UAV technology and called for investment in talent development.
He pointed to the field of communication satellites, in which foreign countries now offer fierce competition to U.S. companies, as a harbinger of the UAV industry if export control reform is not enacted.
“The very policies that were intended to keep that technology secure for us, actually encouraged others who could not buy it from us to develop their own.” he said. “America lost valuable export opportunities, and we are no safer as a result.”
Bush praised DoD reform efforts. “Now the good news is that the Department of Defense is pursuing what is clearly the best export reform policy: building higher walls around fewer things, and for this, I believe that they deserve credit and encouragement, because there are issues to get worked here.”
By ZACHARY FRYER-BIGGS Defense New