Bipartisan lawmakers demand stronger safeguards against sharing U.S. tech with foreign spy agencies
Washington, August 26 – A bipartisan group of U.S. legislators has appealed to the government to forbid American businesses and citizens from collaborating with civilian intelligence agencies of China and Russia. The lawmakers argue that current export‑control frameworks contain gaps that could allow hostile nations to acquire the United States' most sophisticated surveillance, cyber and AI technologies.
The coalition, comprising Senators Ron Wyden and Peter Welch (Democrats), Senator John Cornyn (Republican), and Representatives Pat Harrigan, Michael McCall (Republicans) and Sara Jacobs (Democrat), sent a letter to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick urging the enforcement of the export‑control measures passed by Congress in 2022. Those measures were designed to extend restrictions beyond military intelligence to civilian intelligence and security services.
Present U.S. regulations block assistance to foreign military intelligence but fall short of covering civilian spy and security agencies. The legislators caution that without comprehensive coverage, foreign entities can legally recruit U.S. advisors and purchase cutting‑edge monitoring, cyber and AI tools, which could be turned against U.S. interests and citizens.
In 2021, the Trump administration placed export controls on American entities dealing with military intelligence in China, Russia and other nations of concern. The 2022 congressional act broadened the authority to also target civilian intelligence agencies. Although the Biden administration drafted rules in 2024 to operationalise these powers, the draft never reached finalisation.
To close the loophole, the lawmakers propose that the Commerce Department compile a "trusted‑countries" list that includes nations with solid human‑rights records and no hostile surveillance activities. Companies would need to secure a licence before engaging with any intelligence or security agency of a country not on that list.
The proposal also calls for stricter oversight of private surveillance contractors that often mask their customers to evade regulations. The legislators suggest requiring foreign surveillance firms to submit affidavits confirming that none of their clients are intelligence agencies of untrusted nations. Additionally, they advocate broader controls over biometric monitoring and classification technologies, noting that while 2024 rules covered facial‑recognition, many other tools could be weaponised for mass surveillance.
The bipartisan initiative underscores escalating concerns in Washington that gaps in export‑control legislation could enable adversarial governments to weaponise U.S. innovations against American security and diplomatic goals.