DDTC Facing 'Series' of Vacancies as License Processing Times Expected to Lengthen
The Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC) is understaffed as average license processing times are expected to increase with the recent shifts of items requiring less complex authorizations from the U.S. Munitions List to the Commerce Control List, DDTC officials said Oct. 4 during the Bureau of Industry and Security annual export control policy conference. Although the average processing time for licenses is currently 27 days, DDTC expects that number to increase in fiscal year 2018, amid a complicated global geopolitical situation and as several transactions are “on hold” due to a “variety” of policy issues, said Catherine Hamilton, chief of DDTC’s Office of Defense Trade Controls Licensing division for space, missile, and sensor systems. “Also, as a result of [export control reform], the low-hanging fruit has all transitioned to the Department of Commerce,” said Hamilton, referring to the shift of some less sensitive items to the less restrictive Commerce Control List, as required by a 2013 executive order.
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Hamilton and DDTC Office of Defense Trade Controls Compliance Acting Director Arthur Shulman pointed to an ongoing staff shortage at DDTC and the State Department writ large. “The DDTC organization, in carrying out the trends of the rest of the department, we too have a series of vacancies,” Hamilton said. She noted that State lacks an under secretary for DDTC, that only one out of 45 political appointee positions within the department remains occupied, and that Deputy Assistant Secretary for Defense Trade Controls Brian Nilsson is the only individual in DDTC leadership working in a permanent capacity. A persisting executive branch hiring freeze is also preventing the filling of rank-and-file positions, but DDTC is looking to hire “a number of” employees in contract positions, Shulman said. “So if you know any compliance-minded individuals, send them my way.”