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Former National Security Officials Voice Support for Critical Tech Bill

A bipartisan group of former U.S. national security officials asked the Biden administration to support a bill that would establish a State Department office to coordinate export controls, standards setting and other critical technology issues with other democratic nations. The Democracy Technology Partnership Act, introduced in the Senate earlier this month, would help the U.S. better respond to Chinese efforts to dominate global technology sectors and lead in emerging technologies, the former officials said in a March 30 letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.

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“Given the size of [China] and the scale of its investments, the United States cannot protect its technologies nor compete on its own,” said the former officials, which include former State Department, Defense Department and Central Intelligence Agency officials. “The world’s major liberal-democratic nations must work together to help set international standards and norms, conduct joint research, coordinate export controls and investment screening, and make collaborative investments abroad.”