State Sends USML Technology Change Rule to OMB

Yesterday, the OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) announced that it had received an interim final rule from the State Department on “International Traffic in Arms Regulations: USML Technology Frontier 2022”. The Fall 2022 Unified Agenda entry for the rulemaking notes:

“The Department of State seeks public comment regarding the technology frontier, identifying specific technology capabilities that have sufficiently evolved to consider amending the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), to revise and exclude entries on the U.S. Munitions List (USML) that no longer warrant inclusion and to add entries for critical and emerging technologies that do.”

There is a chance that cybersecurity technology could find its way into the arms trade control system as it did in earlier Bureau of Industry and Security rulemakings.

Note: The UA lists this as a ‘Notice of Inquiry’ (much like an advanced notice of proposed rulemaking) not an ‘Interim Final Rule’. The disconnect is probably an editorial error in the OIRA announcement.