from selling a high-performance computer to China’s Harbin Institute of Technology, which makes components for China’s long-range nuclear missiles, and an IBM deal with China’s Northwest Polytechnical University, which develops engines and guidance systems for large rockets.Īdvanced high-performance computers can help China more quickly develop miniaturized nuclear warheads that will fit on cruise missiles or can be grouped on larger missiles, says Steven Bryen, a former director of the Pentagon’s technology control office. Previous government licensing reviews, according to Milhollin, blocked Digital Equipment Corp. Milhollin and other security experts are concerned it will become easier for countries of concern to purchase advanced computers they can use to more quickly and secretly develop and test nuclear weapons, ballistic missiles and other arms. Today, it’s more or less anything goes, and it’s outrageous,” says Weldon. “If this were to happen 20 or 30 years ago, presidential candidates or incumbents would have to do what Richard Nixon did, which was resign in shame. “Only a short time ago the Chinese were having trouble getting licenses for computers over 3,000 or 4,000 for military applications,” says Gary Milhollin, director of the Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control. The latest decontrol will raise the limit to 28,000. This month, it was raised again to 12,500.
PENTAGON OFFICIALS MAD AT HILLARY NUCLEAR TIME LICENSE
In January this year, the computing performance level requiring a license and security review for Tier III militaries was increased by the White House from 2,000 to 6,500 MTOPS. That time frame, it turns out, coincides with some of the administration’s most radical decontrols. The industry contributed $1.9 million to the Republican National Committee, making it the ninth largest contributor during that period, according to the center. 1, 1999, to July 1, 2000, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. The computer equipment and services industry has been the fourth largest contributing business sector to the Democratic National Committee this election cycle, donating $3.2 million from Jan. “They’re in the pocket of Silicon Valley and they’re trying to do whatever they can to get whatever they can out the door before they leave office.”Īmerica’s computer manufacturers must be satisfied with something the administration has been doing. “None of it’s justified strategically,” says Peter Leitner, a strategic trade adviser at the Department of Defense, who has been critical in the past of administration and Pentagon technology export policies. “It’s another example of this administration’s wanton efforts to not worry about our security because they’re more concerned about favoring companies and enterprises, in this case involving China, which will benefit from this technology,” he says. government license and 10-day multi-agency security review, systems with processing speeds as fast as 28,000 million theoretical operations per second (MTOPS), made by manufacturers like IBM, Silicon Graphics and Cray Inc.
Under the new rules, militaries in those countries would be allowed to buy, without a U.S. Security experts are particularly worried because the regulations reduce special oversight on computer exports to the the militaries of approximately 50 nations the United States has designated security concerns, including China, Russia, Pakistan and India, so-called Tier III countries. government oversight on exports of ultra-powerful high-performance computers, or HPCs, to nearly all countries around the globe. The new regulations, scheduled to take effect in February, will relax U.S.
3 and applauded by Vice President Al Gore, is drawing fire from security experts who say the computers could help foreign militaries develop nuclear weapons more quickly, and from a congressman who charges the White House is compromising national security for political profit. The move, announced by President Clinton on Aug. computers without a government license or security review. 28, 2000 - A little-noticed White House regulation change urged by Silicon Valley will allow the Chinese military to buy some of the most powerful U.S.
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