Ed Royce: “This measure before us addresses a number of objectives, I think all of them related to security assistance, and one of…”

“This measure before us addresses a number of objectives, I think all of them related to security assistance, and one of those is reform of the State Department's export control office. I think all of us know that it's been far too long that this office has been antiquated. It's been incapable of functioning well in a world of rapidly evolving technology, and what we need to do is a better job facilitating exports by focusing on those items that pose a true risk to our national security. This measure attempts to do that. It prevents those exports, while allowing U.S.-made exports to markets overseas. I'd also like to thank Chairman Berman for including the key elements of H.R. 5443, which is the United States-Republic of Korea Defense Cooperation Improvement Act, in this underlying legislation. And this bill, which was authored by myself and Representative Tauscher, upgrades South Korea's military procurement status. It streamlines defense sales to South Korea. It puts Seoul basically on the same plane as members of NATO and Australia and New Zealand and Japan, and thus, it improves our defense cooperation.”