BXA APPOINTEES VOW TO STAY AND FIGHT

BXA APPOINTEES VOW TO STAY AND FIGHT    With the end of the Clinton Administration nearing, top-ranking political appointees at the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Export Administration vow to stay on until the final days.
   “I would not want anyone to think we are simply sitting out the last six months like sand leaking from a bag,” said William A. Reinsch, undersecretary of the Export Administration at a conference in Washington this week. “Substantively, more remains to be accomplished.”
   Reinsch said overall the Export Administration plans to finish improvements to its licensing process and complete its own “electronic revolution.” There is also work to be done to pass the Export Administration Act and to improve controls on high-performance computers and microprocessors.
   “Our rationale is clear,” Reinsch said. “We do not protect national security by unnecessarily controlling widely available, older generation products.”
   Several key Export Administration staffers have recently retired from the agency, such as Deputy Assistant Secretary Ian Baird and LaVerne Smith, director of the Export Counseling Division.
   Separately, the BXA urged shippers to protect their systems from attacks by hackers, terrorists and their own employees.
   The U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Export Administration has set up the Critical Infrastructure Assurance Office (CIAO) to help the shipping industry combat these types of crimes.
   The basis for this effort stems from the National Plan for Information Systems Protection, which was issued in January and is considered the first attempt by any national government to develop ways to protect infrastructure computer systems, such as transportation, communications, energy and water supply.
   “The CIAO will continue to play an integral role in coordinating the Partnership’s continued efforts to identify vulnerabilities and develop key solutions,” Reinsch said. “But it remains the task of the private sector to see that the means of delivering our nation’s important resources are fully protected.”