Satellite exports argued over

By TOM RAUM
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Making the Commerce Department the lead agency for satellite exports may not be popular in Congress, but it is working better than the old system, Clinton administration officials insist.

President Clinton moved final licensing responsibility out of the State Department in 1996, despite initial opposition from then-Secretary of State Warren Christopher.

Now, Republican-led Congress is moving to return that job to State, largely in response to the controversy surrounding technology transfers to China.

Officials from the State, Defense and Commerce departments who testified Thursday on legislation that would restore the licensing authority to State told a Senate hearing the present system was functioning fine.

"In essence, Commerce has a process that works," John Holum, acting undersecretary of state for international security affairs, told the Senate Commerce Committee.

He said the current system gives the State Department and various other agencies input and an opportunity to register objections on national security grounds.

"In sum, all agencies agree that licensing of commercial communication satellites, with the strong security protections attendant to that move, now reside in the right place, and I hope the committee will agree," Holum said.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the committee chairman, was skeptical.

While other agencies can register objections, they cannot exercise veto power over satellite export licenses, he said.

McCain cited Democratic memoranda that came to light in congressional investigations of 1996 Democratic fund-raising practices suggesting generous Democratic contributors were often given spots on Commerce Department trade missions.

He quoted from a memo by a former DNC official, Don Fowler suggesting that to be a Democratic "managing trustee," a political contribution of $100,000 was required. Among the benefits: "annual economic trade missions."

"That kind of thing is what gives the appearance of impropriety. Government trade mission seats are being sold to $100,000 bidders," McCain said. "I can't help but wonder whether the same agency can be trusted to make responsible decisions regarding national security."

McCain asked William Reinsch, undersecretary of commerce for export administration, "Does the Department of Commerce still sell seats on trade missions to $100,000 contributors?"

"I don't believe that the Commerce Department has ever done that," Reinsch replied. In any event, he said, his Bureau of Export Administration "is not in the promotion business."

In other testimony, Franklin Miller, principal deputy assistant secretary of defense, told the panel he doubted China's intercontinental missile system had benefited from U.S. technology transfers.

"I do not believe that there has been any improvement to Chinese ICBM capability," he said without elaboration.

Last year an Air Force intelligence agency concluded the material sent to China might have been useful in improving long-range nuclear missiles. The CIA disagreed earlier this year, denying that the report harmed U.S. security.

Miller's testimony appeared to be at odds with that report, and he offered to be more specific in a private session with senators.

McCain challenged Miller's assertion, citing testimony by other experts and an Air Force intelligence analysis.

A variety of congressional inquiries are under way into whether Beijing benefited militarily from exports to China of U.S. communications satellites and related technology and whether campaign contributions from aerospace executives or Chinese interests played a role.

Congress also is looking into whether national security was compromised when two U.S. aerospace companies provided sensitive information to China after a failed 1996 launch of a U.S. satellite atop a Chinese missile.

For continuous breaking news, see AP Newstream

Associated Press news material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium.

Satellite exports argued over

MORE STORIES:

Friday, September 18, 1998