GAO reports poke holes in U.S. export information protections

GAO reports poke holes in U.S. export information protections A congressional watchdog agency released two reports Tuesday citing serious flaws with U.S. corporate and university efforts to control the release of sensitive export information to foreign nationals.
   The concern is that terrorist groups and rogue nations could use some of this information for illicit purposes.
   The Commerce and State departments have export control regulations for the dissemination and handling of technical knowledge by foreign nationals. However, the Government Accountability Office reports fault the departments for not doing enough to ensure that companies and universities are complying with these regulations.
   'Commerce and State expect individual companies to be responsible for implementing practices to protect export-controlled information,' said the GAO report related to company export-controlled information. 'One-third of the companies GAO interviewed did not have internal control plans to protect export-controlled information, which set requirements for access to such material by foreign employees and visitors.'
   In the report reviewing university protections of export-controlled information, the GAO found that Commerce and State department officials 'expressed concerns that universities may not correctly interpret and apply export regulations, given the large number of foreign students participating in research at universities and the relative lack of license applications from universities.'
   Both GAO reports recommended that Commerce and State assess these export control weaknesses and improve guidance to companies and universities for how to better protect export-controlled information.