Sam Gejdenson: “The government and the private sector together made the decision that these systems were not controllable. So for all…”

“The government and the private sector together made the decision that these systems were not controllable. So for all the rhetoric about our desires, the reality is, when the United States says no, this is buried somewhere in an interagency debate between DOD and Commerce, whether or not this 2000 MTOPS computer is to be sold, the process does not stop. What they do is they knock at another door. Can my colleagues imagine this debate in the Diet in Japan, the Germans, the French? I do not think so. And even the English. It makes sense for the United States to take actions that have a consequence. The consequence ought to be denying critical technologies to nations whose policies we do not trust. The action we are taking here today does not achieve that goal because what is clearly and universally available is the very same technology across the globe. The Bulgarians make supercomputers today and have for some time. So what we are going to do here today is say, well, we are going to ignore what has occurred in the past, the review, we are going to ignore that and we are hoping that somewhere in that whole other conference, it will get better. Do not bet on it getting better. Do not vote for this which is not defendable, I believe, on the facts, hoping that something good is going to come out of conference. It will only encourage Members who have never had the ability to make that tough decision.”