I

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1962

To prohibit the export of high-performance computers to certain countries

until certain applicable provisions of the National Defense Authorization

Act for Fiscal Year 1998 are fulfilled.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MAY 26, 1999

Mr. HUNTER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on International Relations, and in addition to the Committee on

Armed Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

A BILL

To prohibit the export of high-performance computers to

certain countries until certain applicable provisions of

the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year

1998 are fulfilled.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Supercomputer Post5 shipment Verification Act of 1999’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 The Congress makes the following findings:
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1 (1) Section 1213 of the National Defense Au2 thorization Act for Fiscal Year 1998 (Public Law

3 105–85; 111 Stat. 1934) requires the Secretary of

4 Commerce to conduct post-shipment verification of

5 each digital computer with a composite theoretical

6 performance of more than 2,000 millions of theo7 retical operations per second (MTOPS) that is ex8 ported from the United States on or after November

9 18, 1997, to countries specified in section 1213(b)

10 of that Act.

11 (2) Section 1213(b) of that Act identified the

12 countries covered by the post-shipment verification

13 requirement as those countries listed as ‘‘Computer

14 Tier 3’’ eligible countries in section 740.7 of title 15

15 of the Code of Federal Regulations, as in effect on

16 June 10, 1997. Computer Tier 3 countries are coun17 tries that have been identified as countries of con18 cern for national security or proliferation reasons

19 such as Russia, the People’s Republic of China,

20 India, Pakistan, and Israel.

21 (3) Section 1213 of that Act also requires the

22 Secretary of Commerce to submit an annual report

23 to congressional committees on the results of post24 shipment verifications required by that section dur25 ing the preceding year.
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1 (4) The Committee on Armed Services of the

2 House of Representatives received the first of these

3 reports on January 7, 1999. The report identified

4 390 high-performance computers as having been ex5 ported to Computer Tier 3 countries during the pe6 riod beginning on November 18, 1997, and ending

7 on November 17, 1998.

8 (5) The report also identified 286 supercom9 puter exports covered by the post-shipment

10 verification requirement for which a post-shipment

11 verification was not conducted.

12 (6) The report stated that 190 of the instances

13 where a post-shipment verification was not con14 ducted involved exports to the People’s Republic of

15 China. The Secretary of Commerce reported that the

16 People’s Republic of China did not allow post-ship17 ment verifications to be conducted.

18 (7) Because post-shipment verifications were

19 not conducted in a number of instances, the United

20 States Government does not know if the computers

21 in question are being used for benign commercial

22 purposes, or for purposes that benefit military or

23 proliferation promoting projects.
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1 SEC. 3. AMENDMENT TO THE NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHOR2 IZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 1998.

3 (a) ANNUAL REPORT.—Section 1213 of the National

4 Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1998 (Public

5 Law 105–85; 111 Stat. 1934) is amended by striking sub6 section (c) and inserting the following:

7 ‘‘(c) ANNUAL REPORT.—The Secretary of Commerce

8 shall submit, on January 1 of each year, a report to the

9 congressional committees specified in section 1215 on the

10 results of post-shipment verifications conducted under this

11 section covering exports carried out during the preceding

12 fiscal year. Each such report shall include a list of all the

13 items subject to the post-shipment verifications that were

14 so exported and, with respect to each such export, the fol15 lowing:

16 ‘‘(1) The destination country.

17 ‘‘(2) The date of export.

18 ‘‘(3) The intended end use and intended end

19 user.

20 ‘‘(4) The results of the post-shipment

21 verification.’’.

22 (b) MORATORIUM ON EXPORTS.—Section 1213 of the

23 National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1998

24 (Public Law 105–85; 111 Stat. 1934) is further amended

25 by adding at the end the following:
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1 ‘‘(e) MORATORIUM ON EXPORT OF SUPERCOM2 PUTERS UNTIL POST–SHIPMENT VERIFICATIONS HAVE

3 BEEN CONDUCTED.—

4 ‘‘(1) FOR EXPORTS PRIOR TO OCTOBER 1,

5 1998.—Until all post shipment verifications required

6 by subsection (a) have been conducted for exports

7 carried out during the period beginning on Novem8 ber 18, 1997, and ending on September 30, 1998,

9 no digital computers with a composite theoretical

10 performance of more than 2,000 MTOPS may be ex11 ported or reexported to a country specified in sub12 section (f).

13 ‘‘(2) FOR SUBSEQUENT EXPORTS.—Until all

14 post shipment verifications required by subsection

15 (a) have been conducted for exports carried out dur16 ing the period addressed in each report required by

17 subsection (c), no digital computers with a composite

18 theoretical performance of more than 2,000 MTOPS

19 may be exported or reexported to a country specified

20 in subsection (f).

21 ‘‘(f) COUNTRIES COVERED BY MORATORIUM.—For

22 the purposes of subsection (e), a country specified in this

23 subsection is a country that has been the recipient of the

24 export of any computer described in subsection (a) for
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1 which the post-shipment verification required by sub2 section (a) has not been conducted.’’.

3 SEC. 4. REPORTS.

4 (a) REPORT ON DELINQUENT POST-SHIPMENT

5 VERIFICATIONS.—When all post-shipment verifications

6 are conducted with respect to a country to fulfill the re7 quirements of section 1213(e) of the National Defense Au8 thorization Act for Fiscal Year 1998, as added by section

9 3 of this Act, the Secretary of Commerce shall submit to

10 the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate and the

11 Committee on Armed Services of the House of Represent12 atives a report on the results of those post-shipment

13 verifications. The report shall include a list identifying all

14 the items subject to the post-shipment verifications that

15 were exported from the United States to that country dur16 ing the applicable time period specified in paragraph (1)

17 or (2) of such section 1213(e) and, with respect to each

18 such export, the following:

19 (1) The date of export.

20 (2) The intended end use and intended end

21 user.

22 (3) The results of the post-shipment

23 verification.

24 (b) REPORT ON IMPACT OF SUPERCOMPUTER EX25 PORTS ON NATIONAL SECURITY.—The Secretary of De-
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1 fense shall submit to the Committee on Armed Services

2 of the Senate and the Committee on Armed Services of

3 the House of Representatives a report on the impact on

4 national security of the export of digital computers with

5 a composite theoretical performance of more than 2,000

6 MTOPS to countries listed as ‘‘Computer Tier 3’’ eligible

7 countries in section 740.7 of title 15 of the Code of Fed8 eral Regulations, as in effect on June 10, 1997. This re9 port shall be submitted not later than 120 days after the

10 date of the enactment of this Act. The report shall be sub11 mitted in both classified and unclassified form.

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