On Tue, 27 Aug 2002 15:30:33 -0400 (EDT), Henry Spencer
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>ERPS has had foreign nationals involved in it from the start -- one of its
>founders is Canadian.
This led to a situation that would have been amusing if we didn't have
to take it seriously. Eric Larsen of ISC gave a talk at Space Access
'99, in which he described all the hoops ISC jumped through to comply
with ITAR. "We complied with every regulation we could find, and then
we went looking for more. As a direct result of which, we are the
only launch services company in the world not currently under
investigation by the Department of State."
That put the fear of God in us - this ITAR stuff was serious juju.
Since Michael (the Canadian founder) was the VP of Development, we
were seriously trying to figure out if Michael needed an export
license to talk to himself.
Happy if ambiguous ending: I called the DOD rep at DTRA, and after a
false start ("I'm calling because I think we may be violating ITAR..."
<thump thump thump of phone hitting desk> "We must have a bad
connection. It sounded like you said you might be violating ITAR. If
you had said that, I'd have to send Customs agents out there with
subpoenas." "Well, that's exactly what I'm trying to avoid, you
see"), the DOD rep satisfied himself as to who we were and what we
were doing, and said they're interested in third world countries, not
U.S. amateurs. The conversation boiled down to a very polite, "Go
away kid you bother me."
I wasn't satisfied with this answer, and I wanted something in
writing. So when Michael and I went to meet with AST, we brought up
the issue with them. They said it wasn't a problem. I said that's
nice, where does it say that in black and white. We went around and
around, and they went and got Herb Bachner. Herb said the same thing,
and I kept pushing. Finally Herb got exasperated, and said, "Look.
This is America. You don't need someone's permission to invent things
here."
I was surprised and pleased to hear that sentiment from a Federal
regulator while in Washington DC. AST is good folks.
-R
--
"Sutton is the beginning of wisdom -
but only the beginning."
-- Jeff Greason
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