On July 31, the Atlantic Council hosted the latest event in its Defense-Industrial Policy Series, a discussion with the two officials in the Obama Administration most directly responsible for export control of the products and technologies of the aerospace and defense industry.

  • Beth McCormick, who as deputy assistant secretary for defense trade controls is responsible for administration of the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) that govern export of items on the US Munitions List; and
  • Kevin J. Wolf, who as assistant secretary for export administration is responsible for the Export Administration Regulations that govern export of so-called dual-use items on the Commerce Control List.


Wednesday, July 31, 2013

12:30 p.m. Registration and Reception

1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. Program

The Army and Navy Club
(Metro: Farragut North [Red Line], Farragut West [Orange/Blue Line])
901 17th Street NW
Washington, DC 20006

Fresh off their representation of the US government at last month’s Paris Air Show, Mr. Wolf and Ms. McCormick addressed Export Control Reform and its implications for the transatlantic defense-industrial relationship. The Atlantic Council’s Steve Grundman, a former deputy under secretary of defense for industrial affairs, moderated.

The success of these initiatives has been important to the aerospace and defense industry as globalization took hold of its markets and technologies, a trend underscored by the economic and strategic advantage gained through closer integration of the industrial bases of the Atlantic alliance over the past fifteen years. Today, that importance is amplified by the fact that growing international sales is an imperative of companies’ business development plans. It is the purpose, therefore, of this discussion to take stock of the range of initiatives President Barack Obama has advanced under his Export Control Reform program, and to evaluate them most especially with respect to their impact on the transatlantic defense industry.

A discussion with

Beth M. McCormick
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Defense Trade Controls
US Department of State

Kevin J. Wolf
Assistant Secretary for Export Administration
US Department of Commerce

Moderated by

Steven Grundman
M.A. and George Lund Fellow
Atlantic Council