Longtime AMSAT member Ray Soifer, W2RS of Arizona, noticed the
comments about AMSAT and ITAR in the League's Board Meeting minutes
that were recently published. Ray and I have known each other since
the 1950's, when we were teenagers active in the NLI CW traffic net.
Ray suggested to me that he thought my background might enable me to
be of some use to AMSAT regarding ITAR, and asked if I would contact
the AMSAT President, Barry Bains, WD4ASW.
I first lined up a volunteer who offered to assist AMSAT in
understanding the ITAR processes and even in writing Technical
Assistance Agreements, a key component in getting permission for
technical interchange. I then called Barry Bains to offer the
services.
It turns out that Bains already has considerable knowledge of the ITAR
program, and will not need the assistance I had lined up. The State
Department has made some interesting rulings regarding AMSAT's
operation. One is that AMSAT cannot make a TAA that covers AMSAT
members because they are volunteers and not employees. Each AMSAT
member would have to make an application to have interface with each
foreign national, and the foreign national would have to agree to,
among other things, to be subject to the laws of the USA. AMSAT has
made a number of requests that it considered reasonable, and all have
been turned down.
This has, as you remember, essentially put a halt to the interchange
with AMSAT-UK and AMSAT-Germany.
Bains believes the most promising solution to the AMSAT dilemma is
found in a proposed bill in the House, HR3288, sponsored by
Representative Howard Berman of southern California. The bill would
transfer jurisdiction of commercial satellites from the Department of
State to the Department of Commerce, where export regulations might be
more sensible. AMSAT has talked with the Berman staffer responsible
for the bill, and they expect him to add university/education
satellites and Amateur Radio satellites to the bill.
As Berman's district is in the Southwestern Division, we talked about
possibly soliciting constituent letters though the ARRL's director
E-mailing system. Should AMSAT decide that they desire this type of
assistance, I believe I would need ARRL board approval for such
action.
Right now, it appears that AMSAT needs nothing from the ARRL. Bains
said that he would update President Cragie should anything change.
If I get any requests for constituent letter help, I'll request board
approval before proceeding.
73,
Dick Norton, N6AA
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