Bureau of Census & Department of Defense

For the past few weeks we have introduced government agencies that regulate exports. Last week we introduced the S. Department of State – Directorate of Defense Controls. This week’s spotlight is on the Bureau of Census and Department of Defense.

Bureau of Census
As part of the Department of Commerce, the U.S. Census Bureau's Foreign Trade Division (FTD) is responsible for collection, processing and disseminating statistical data related to the United States’ trade (imports and exports) with foreign countries. In addition, Census issues the regulations for export reporting, oversees the Automated Export System (AES) and provides free filing access for the required information through AESDirect. Census does not issue licenses or “authorizations to ship product.”

A wide variety of trade statistics and information about the export regulations, AES and AESDirect, is available on the Census Bureau’s website. The data collected by the Census Bureau is considered confidential; therefore, it is illegal for information from individuals to be released. Data based on the items that are traded instead of the companies or individuals doing the trading is available. The information collected via AES is provided to BIS and DDTC for export control purposes.


Department of Defense
The Department of Defense (DoD) has oversight of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, as well as non-combat agencies such as the National Security Agency and the Defense Intelligence Agency The mission of the DoD is to provide military forces to deter war and to protect the security of the U.S. Working with the Department of Homeland Security, the DoD seeks to fight terrorism. To that end, the DoD reviews a certain percentage of export licenses issued by the Department of State. A key objective of the agency is to prevent certain technologies from falling into the wrong hands.