State Department Not Releasing Industry Comments on Surveillance Exports Guidance

The State Department is not planning to release industry feedback on its draft guidance for exports of surveillance technology, an agency spokesperson said. The agency is beginning to “finalize” the guidance, a spokesperson said, and declined to answer questions about what kind of comments it received. “There is no public release planned for the comments that were submitted,” the spokesperson said in an email.

The State Department asked for comments in September to help inform its guidance for exports of hardware, software and technology with “surveillance capabilities” (see 1909040071). The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation said parts of the guidance are “troubling” and “overly broad,” and urged the agency to “be careful” the guidance doesn’t harm U.S. technological leadership (see 1910040011). Comments were due Oct. 4; the agency did not say when the final draft would be released.