Observers Present Differing Ideas for Expertise, Direction of Next BIS Leader

As President Joe Biden searches for a leader for the Bureau of Industry and Security, the agency should prioritize candidates who are familiar with export control regulations and who can effectively manage the agency’s licensing process, two technology experts said. But others said Biden should choose a candidate with strong knowledge of the challenges imposed by China to help lead U.S. technology policy through an era of intense competition.

“There's somewhat of a tension there,” said Will Hunt, a research analyst at the Center for Security and Emerging Technology, speaking during a June 8 webinar hosted by China Tech Threat. “It seems like a hard job to give anyone to both bring in a radically new vision, but also be working on scaling up the resources and capabilities of BIS to meet the current challenges.”

Those conflicting ideas are at the center of the debate over who should lead BIS (see 2104070026), a position that has traditionally been held by lawyers charged with implementing policies formed by the White House. Although some observers say the rising technology challenges posed by China may allow the BIS undersecretary to play a larger role in policymaking, others say those decisions will continue to be made by higher levels of the administration.

"The reality may be more that this individual will be implementing a China policy developed across the U.S. government,” said Stephen Ezell, vice president of global innovation policy at the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation. Ezell said the next undersecretary should be someone who can implement a “coordinated, effective, coherent China policy” that originates from the National Security Council.

Ezell stressed that BIS may need a leader to help it effectively and smoothly evaluate license applications, which is “vitally important” for U.S. technology companies. “We really need an expert in export control policy, somebody with a strong command of export control law and regulations,” Ezell said during the webinar. The person should be able to “manage a clear, timely, effective and transparent process of running the agency.”

But he also said it “would be nice to have somebody with a deep expertise on China.” Roslyn Layton, co-founder of China Tech Threat, said that expertise may be necessary. She said the U.S. is at a “critical moment” that is similar to the Cold War competition of the 20th century. “This person could come from a number of fields -- they could come from security, could come from law, could come from scientific and technical backgrounds,” she said. “But [BIS] may need a combination.”

Emily de La Bruyère, a China policy expert at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said Biden should choose someone "who can think differently than we have in the past, and who is not caught in old frameworks about how things work or about how individual competitors work.” She added that the U.S. needs to focus less on its defensive tools and more on its “proactive” ones to help support U.S. industry. “There's just this bias or limitation within so much of ... U.S. policy where we focus exclusively on the defensive measures that don't do industry any good, but do restrict action,” she said. The U.S. needs “somebody who's willing to advance a proactive vision for U.S. industry in conjunction with allies and partners.”