Subpar BIS Funding Is a 'Tragedy,' Commissioner Says

The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission should push Congress to devote more funding to the Bureau of Industry and Security, Commissioner Michael Kuiken said during a commission hearing last week.

Kuiken, who previously served as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s national security adviser, said he “learned” during his time on Schumer’s staff that BIS and the “ecosystem of export control cops don't have the money, the people or the technology to really do the job that they're being asked to do.” As the commission crafts recommendations for Congress, Kuiken said, more BIS resources should be “at the top of that list.”

“My sense of BIS is that a lot of the work that they do is still on paper and not even on computers,” he said. “So that is a sort of a tragedy.”

BIS officials and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo have lobbied Congress in recent months for more funding (see 2312040041 and 2312070074). Congress denied those requests in its most recent appropriations package, giving BIS the same budget for FY 2024 as the previous year (see 2403040061).