Sam Gejdenson: “The reality is that COCOM died and it died for a very simple reason. None of our European, Japanese, and other partners…”

“The reality is that COCOM died and it died for a very simple reason. None of our European, Japanese, and other partners would sit by any of the rules. Even when we had the Soviet Union, we could not get the French, Germans, and others to restrict sales. Once the Soviet Union fell apart, in 1991, not when Bill Clinton got to be President, but in 1991, COCOM stopped functioning. And the reason there is not a COCOM today is because we cannot get an agreement from any of our allies or former members of COCOM on any restrictions whatsoever. The most that they are willing to do is to have their own set of rules essentially. So they can dream about blaming Bill Clinton for everything, even when he wins. They can use his name here on a regular basis as some kind of scoundrel. But the reality is, in 1991, when he was not President, COCOM already stopped working. What he tried to do with a follow-on organization is try to get our allies to have some semblance of a united position on exports. He has not been able to do it. The next President will not be able to do it.”