The TikTok and US Steel cases show erratic approaches harm national security

[Vambram]

To Sell Or Not To Sell? Hard Questions

The TikTok and US Steel cases show erratic approaches harm national security.

www.hoover.org

About ten years ago, and quite by chance, I was invited by a noted physicist to attend a semipublic conference held at Stanford University about the intersection of national security and global trade. The subject was perplexing for me, both as a firm defender of laissez-faire economics and as a longtime believer that Pax Americana, which failed abjectly in Afghanistan, remains a key element in any successful strategy for world peace. My longstanding commitment to laissez-faire made me initially skeptical about the need for extensive trade restrictions, only to have a wake-up call as one technical speaker after another addressed the many ways in which free trade could hamper national security. The concerns were not just with the sale of military hardware, but also with many electronic and similar products that, standing alone, or after some technical fix, could be deployed to harm the United States, its allies, and innocent civilians.

So, the role of national security relentlessly expanded, as did the kinds of controls that might be instituted to minimize the risk of conflict, while still arming our allies and generating needed resources for our defense industry. Do you refuse to sell certain products to foreign governments? Do you sell them some stripped-down version? Do you sell them subject to restrictions on use or resale? If so, which ones? And whatever the correct mix of restrictions, how are they enforced, especially since our defense capabilities depend on using technologies developed by our allies and obtained by sharing arrangements?

The overall lesson of that meeting was that just about everything was fair game for examination in the name of national security. But, by the same token, every urgent claim for national security could be used to advance bogus or exaggerated claims which, if accepted, could create frosty diplomatic relations with our allies and impede our own economic well-being in the bargain. Both values matter. The error costs are high in both directions.

Potential offense to a key ally