direct overseas promotions, by providing commercial and economic information on foreign markets, and through participation in the formulation of U.S. trade policy. The Bureau also operates an export control program as required by the Export Control Act of 1949 as amended. With respect to the export expansion program, the Bureau seeks and receives advice from the U.S. business community through the National Export Expansion Council, the 42 Regional Export Expansion Councils, the Agribusiness Industry Advisory Committee, through the 42 Department of Commerce Field Offices, and through numerous non-formalized contacts with individual businessmen. In administering the export control program the Bureau holds meetings with groups of U.S. businessmen as appropriate to obtain advice on specific export control matters. Both programs benefit from semiannual discussions between Bureau personnel and members of the Western International Trade Group on matters of mutual concern. The Bureau considers these contacts with the U.S. business community to be highly useful. The Bureau believes that its decision-making presently has a sufficient input from the business community. B. The Bureau receives advice from several industry advisory groups. These are: 1. National Export Expansion Council. The Council, formed in 1960, consists of 72 business and professional leaders who advise the Secretary of Commerce and other Government agencies on matters concerning U.S. foreign trade policy and performance. 2. Regional Export Expansion Councils (REECs). The 42 REECS, one in each of the Department's Field Office areas, are made up of members of the local business community. Through participation in seminars and workshops and through counseling prospective exporters, REECs enlist the understanding, support, and participation of business communities throughout the nation for the export expansion program. 3. Agribusiness Industry Advisory Committee. This Committee is sponsored jointly by the Departments of Commerce and Agriculture and was established for the purpose of providing a broadly based focal point for industry information and guidance in the field of agribusiness affairs as they relate to U.S. exports and foreign investment. 4. The Bureau forms "one-time" industry advisory committees as required (2 within the last year) for the purpose of obtaining industry views on specific export control matters. Although not a formal industry advisory committee, the Western International Trade Group, through its semi-annual meetings with Bureau officials, provides the Bureau with the views of the business community in the western United States. C. The decisions of the Bureau of International Commerce do not directly affect the poor. D. The export control regulations are the only regulations administered by the Bureau. Complaints received about these regulations are primarily (over 90%) concerned with delays in processing applications for export licenses. The complaints are answered within 5 working days and every effort is made to expedite the applications in ques tion. On the basis of a recent sampling, 81% of applications for licenses to export to Free World countries are processed in 1 week and 95% in 4 weeks. Applications for licenses to export to Eastern European destinations generally take longer; 45% of such applications are processed in 2 weeks and 75% within 4 weeks. E. The Bureau feels that there is not sufficient knowledge about its export promotion services among those members of the American business community who would find these services most useful. The Bureau has, therefore, a continuing program designed to acquaint American firms with its services in order to promote U.S. exports. The primary method of doing this is through the Department's 42 Field Offices. International Trade Specialists from these Field Offices make personal calls on firms in their region and organize international trade seminars to encourage entry into exporting through the use, among other things, of Commerce services. Some of these seminars are conducted in cooperation with the Small Business Administration. The services of the Bureau are also described in a booklet entitled “Introductory Guide to Exporting" which is widely distributed. In the export control area, the Bureau feels that U.S. exporters generally have sufficient knowledge of the regulations. The Office of Export Control publishes its regulations and several informational publications, including summaries of the regulations, a daily list of all applications approved, and a quarterly report to Congress on all phases of its activities. Conferences and workshops are held when major changes are made in the regulations; OEC personnel frequently speak at industry meetings; and press releases are issued whenever a significant change is made in the regulations or when a punitive enforcement action is taken. Field Office personnel as well as headquarters personnel are always available to counsel business firms on the regulations, and the Washington office maintains an information office with 10 people to handle inquiries and emergencies. The Bureau's records, etc. are withheld from public view only when such action is absolutely necessary for the efficient operation of the programs. The two main examples of information that is withheld from the public are sales figures of individual firms resulting from participation in Bureau-sponsored export promotion events and the names of firms which have applied for or received export licenses. In both cases, the information is withheld to protect the competitive position of the firms involved. F. The Department's 42 Field Offices and the Regional Export Expansion Councils connected with them are the primary methods of making information about the Bureau and its services available outside Washington, D.C. In addition, information is disseminated through the Department's weekly foreign trade magazine, International Commerce, through direct mailings to firms listed on the American International Traders Index (a register of some 22,000 U.S. firms interested or engaged in exporting), and through numerous speaking engagements of Bureau officials throughout the country. With additional funds and personnel the Bureau could increase the personal contacts of Field Office International Trade Specialists with local firms, send special "sales" teams from Washington to cities throughout the country, and mount a nation-wide advertising campaign. II. PROCEDURES FOR PROMOTING MORE RESPONSIVE AGENCY DECISION-MAKING A. We feel that the decision-making procedures of the Bureau of International Commerce operate with reasonable speed. The export control area, the operation which receives most speed-of-processing complaints, must deal with important considerations of national security and foreign policy in approving or denying applications for export licenses. Delays are ordinarily encountered only when complex issues requiring end-use investigation and interagency discussions are involved. Export control decisions could undoubtedly be made somewhat more quickly if additional processing and investigative staff were available, and if the operation were automated to the greatest extent possible. Work is progressing on automation. However, given the nature of the controls and of the issues involved, it is doubtful that the time required for making decisions could be greatly reduced, even with the optimum level of funds and personnel. B. The Bureau relies for its automated data processing services on the Automated Data Processing Division of the Office of Administration for Domestic and International Business, which also serves the other two line agencies which, together with BIC, comprise the Domestic and International Business area of the Department. The Bureau uses the ADP services of other agencies within the Department of Commerce, primarily the Bureau of the Census from which BIC obtains tapes containing trade data and some key punch service. BIC also purchases ADP tapes from Dun & Bradstreet, Standard and Poors, and the United Nations. The tapes obtained from the first two organizations contain data on American firms and are used in export promotion work. The tapes purchased from the U.N. contain trade data from foreign countries. The administration of export control regulations entails a certain amount of reliance on data submitted by license applicants, but this is not related to the applicants' ADP capability. C. BIC consults and coordinates with other government agencies with overlapping, interrelated or conflicting responsibilities through numerous continuing contacts between Bureau personnel and personnel of other agencies and through interagency committees. Among the more important of these committees are the following: 1. The interagency Advisory Committee on Export Policy and 3. The interagency Cabinet Committee on Export Expansion 4. The interagency Export Expansion Advisory Committee for Export-Import Bank matters. 5. The interagency National Advisory Council for international finance matters. 6. The Interagency Exhibits Committee for overseas exhibitions. 57-371-Vol. 2—71—6 D. The Bureau assesses the quality and efficiency of its performance both within the structure of the Department's Program, Planning, and Budgeting (PPB) System as well as on a continuing informal day-to-day basis. The continuing relevance of the Bureau's mission, goals, priorities, procedures and structure are formally reviewed annually through the PPB system and through the preparation of annual budget requests. Cost-benefit analysis is used where possible, principally with respect to direct export promotion activities (trade fairs, trade centers, "America Weeks," etc.). There are at present no gaps in the Bureau's statutory authority. The basic legislation of the Department has generally been broad enough to encompass the various trade promotion activities in which the Bureau has wanted to engage. Export control activities are governed by the Export Control Act of 1949 as amended. This Act expires on June 30, 1969. An Administration supported bill, which would extend the Act for four years, is presently before the Congress. Should extending legislation not be enacted prior to June 30, there would then be a gap in the statutory authority for export control activities. E. We assume, from the kinds of questions asked in this headin that it relates primarily to regulatory agencies headed by severs' board members or commissioners. The regulatory responsibilities of BIC are not administered by this type of organization. Decisions on export control matters, the only regulatory responsibility of the Bureau, are made initially by staff members of the Bureau's Office of Export Control or by the interagency Operating Committee of the Advisory Committee on Export Policy when special or complex issues are involved. Decisions of a kind that require Operating Committee consideration are normally referred by the OC, with a recommended action, to the Assistant Secretary for Domestic and International Business or to the Secretary. The impact of BIC's staff on export control decisions, at whatever level the decision is made, is about as it should be. Obviously, there is always room for improvement in quality and the Bureau is continuously striving to effect such improvement. Nevertheless, the quality of the export control staff is not posing serious problems for the Bureau at present. Export control staff members are generally of two types, those who have made a career in the administration of the controls and those who have been hired from private industry because of their special knowledge of a particular industry. Rarely are persons hired who have been engaged in export control work in private industry, primarily because such persons are usually administrative personnel in industry. whereas the Bureau needs technical specialists. Some export control personnel have worked after retirement as part-time agents of companies who file license applications, but the number has been very few and their activities limited. It has had no impact on the agency's work one way or the other. III. THIS QUESTIONNAIRE Sections I and II were completed in approximately 6 hours. The questions had use and relevance to BIC but would probably be more useful and relevant to those agencies administering welfare or assistance programs involving grants, loans, etc. or those primarily engaged in regulatory work. The same answers would have been provided with or without anonymity. D. Business and Defense Services Administration U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE, BUSINESS AND DEFENSE SERVICES ADMINISTRATION, Washington, D.C., April 17, 1969. DEAR SENATOR KENNEDY: In accordance with your request as contained in your letter of March 12, 1969, I have carefully reviewed the functions of the Business and Defense Services Administration to determine which of them fall within the framework of the requests contained in your letter and its accompanying questionnaire. I conclude that three of our areas of responsibility, which are statutory and essentially regulatory in nature, would come within the ambit of your request. I also conclude, however, that these functions and activities are conducted by virtue of separate and distinct statutes and delegations which makes them completely discrete in character and renders it impossible to submit a consolidated reply, since different practices and procedures occur in the administration of the several programs, The three programs are therefore covered in separate reports which are attached to this letter. They deal respectively with- 1. Industrial Mobilization, functions under the Defense Production Act; 2. Foreign Excess Property functions under the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949; and 3. Duty Free Entry of Scientific Instruments under the Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Materials Importation Act of 1966 (implementation of Florence Agreement). I trust that this is the information which meets your requirements. If there is any further information you need, please do not hesitate to let me know. Sincerely, RODNEY L. BORUM, Administrator. U.S. Department of Commerce Business and Defense Services Administration INDUSTRIAL MOBILIZATION ACTIVITIES The following answers to the questionnaire of the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Administrative Practice and Procedure, relate only to the activities of the Business and Defense Services Administration which are involved in administration of responsibilities delegated to BDSA under the Defense Production Act of 1950, as amended. These responsibilities are concerned with satisfaction of the current industrial production and construction needs of the defense agencies. DBSA also plans for the management |