Longtime Official Kurland to Leave BIS
Longtime senior Bureau of Industry and Security official Kevin Kurland is leaving the agency next month, multiple people familiar with the matter said. A BIS official said Kurland informed senior agency staff this week that he plans to retire from government before the end of the year.
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Kurland first joined BIS in 1997, according to the BIS website, and is currently serving as the principal deputy assistant secretary for strategic trade and technology security, one of the top positions in the BIS Export Administration division. He previously served as the agency’s most senior career export enforcement official before being tapped earlier this year to help lead Export Administration after the departure of longtime official Matt Borman (see 2502270009).
One BIS official described Kurland as one of the agency’s last remaining sources of expertise about how the agency has historically functioned. BIS has seen an unprecedented level of turnover this year as dozens of longtime and senior employees have left for the private sector or retired (see 2503260007, 2505050005 and 2502240003).
"He's the end of the institutional knowledge," the BIS official said. The official added that more agency employees could leave because of Kurland's departure.
Current and former BIS officials, lawyers, industry representatives and some lawmakers have expressed concern about the volume of turnover, saying it could hamper BIS efforts to craft complicated export regulations and provide guidance to companies (see 2502280006 and 2503050024).
A BIS spokesperson didn’t respond to a request for comment.