Foreign Technologies: Federal Agencies Efforts to Track Developments.
Abstract
The Chairman of the Subcommittee on National Security Economics, Joint Economic Committee, asked the General Accounting Office(GAO) to develop a compendium of federal programs and activities that track foreign dual use technologies. He asked that for each such activity GOA obtain information on the program objective, technologies and countries tracked, budget and staff resources, and agency products produced from the information collected, access to these products, and their potential application. As subsequently agreed with the Chairman's office, GAO is providing this interim report listing the federal agencies identified which track foreign technologies and GAO's preliminary observations on coordination of these tracking activities. GAO also agreed to limit the list to agencies that collect or generate information about foreign technologies as opposed to those that merely use information collected or generated by others. To identify federal programs and activities that track foreign dual use technologies, GAO contacted agency officials known to it from audit work in various agencies who in turn identified other agencies that also track foreign technologies. GAO contacted most of the identified agencies and asked each agency to confirm that it was involved in tracking foreign technologies and requested that it complete a data collection form. GAO discussed with officials of several tracking agencies the extent to which they coordinated their efforts with other agencies. GAO also discussed coordination with an official of the Office of Management and Budget and a contractor working on technology tracking under contract to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. This work was conducted in May and June 1989 in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 1989
- Accession Number
- ADA320939
Entities
Organizations
- United States Government Accountability Office