Biden Nominates Former DOD Official to Lead BIS

President Joe Biden nominated Alan Estevez, a former Obama administration Pentagon official, to lead the Bureau of Industry and Security, the White House announced July 13. Estevez is currently a defense and security consultant with Deloitte Consulting after serving as the principal deputy undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology, and logistics and representing the Defense Department on the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. Estevez didn’t respond to a request for comment.

If confirmed by the Senate, Estevez will lead the U.S. government’s main export controls agency for dual-use technologies during a time of intense competition with China and questions about the future of U.S. technology policy (see 2104070026). Several other candidates were rumored to be considered for the BIS undersecretary post, including former BIS official Kevin Wolf (see 2102090060) and China military expert James Mulvenon (see 2102120034).

Some former Commerce officials privately and publicly lobbied on behalf of Wolf but complimented the Estevez pick. Bill Reinsch, a senior export administration official during the Bill Clinton administration, said Estevez is “clearly” qualified even though Wolf was “head and shoulders above” the other candidates. “I've talked to people who do know [Estevez] and they have only complimentary things to say,” Reinsch said during a July 13 event hosted by China Tech Threat. “I think it's an embarrassment that the White House chose not to nominate [Wolf] and went somewhere else. But on the whole, I think Alan will be fine.”

Mario Mancuso, who headed BIS during the George W. Bush administration, said he was “encouraged” by Biden’s choice, who will bring policy expertise to the position. “Having an undersecretary of [BIS] who knows the security issues, who knows these issues in terms of policy, and who knows the offices, where to go in the multiple nodes inside the Department of Defense that bear upon interagency discussions on these issues -- I think it’s hugely important,” Mancuso said during the event.

Although both Reinsch and Mancuso were complimentary of the pick, it remains unclear how Estevez views export controls, technology competition and other China issues, mostly because he hasn't spoken publicly about those topics. Both former BIS officials said that could help him during the Senate confirmation process.

“I think he has the advantage of not having an extensive public record of commenting on these issues, which will make him more confirmable than other candidates,” Reinsch said, “because it’s a position, as we all know, that's not without controversy.” Mancuso said senators will “no doubt probe” Estevez on export control issues to get a better sense for how he will lead an agency tasked with implementing some of the government’s most important technology policy decisions.

“I think this is a generational challenge,” said Mancuso, a trade lawyer with Kirkland & Ellis. “If U.S.-China competition is going to be the defining feature of the international system, then tech competition is a core feature of that competition. And I think that the BIS undersecretary has a unique role to play.”

Cordell Hull, BIS’s acting undersecretary during the final year of the Trump administration, said he hopes Congress can confirm the BIS leadership team without delays. “I think it's important to get politicals into their roles,” Hull said during the event, while also praising the work of the agency’s career civil servants. “Hopefully the Senate Banking Committee will move quickly.”