On October 28, 2022, on the eve of the mid-term elections, a
bill was introduced in the House that, unless you are an export
control/compliance nerd, most would not have given it any thought.
This bill, H.R. 9241, called the "Prioritizing National
Security in Export Controls Act of 2022" was introduced by
Representative Jim Banks, (R-Indiana) and co-sponsored by Robert
Wittman, (R-Virginia), and Gregory Steube, (R-Florida). If passed,
the bill would transfer jurisdiction of the export controls under
the Export Administration Regulations to the Department of Defense,
specifically the Defense Technology and Security Administration
("DTSA").
From the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it"
perspective, questions arise as to the motivation for this
proposal. In a review of the bill's "Sense of
Congress" section, the key takeaway is that Congress is
concerned that Commerce's conflicting roles of both
promoting US exports, while also protecting the
national security of the
