Rules affect local firm making sensitive equipment

 

The transfer of sensitive and classified technologies is a concern that is addressed by the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, a set of rules enforced by the U.S. Commerce Department, the Department of State, and the Department of Defense. These regulations dictate how sensitive technologies are handled and who handles them for U.S. companies dealing in the manufacture and sale of equipment with possible military uses.

A valley company is well versed in handling sensitive and classified technologies. Thin Film Technology, headquartered in Buellton, and under the direction of General Manager Ian Tribick, has processes in place to ensure compliance with government regulations designed to keep these techniques and equipment from falling into the hands of those who would use them against U.S. interests.

 

TFT engages in the manufacture of sputtered surfaces. Although the name of the technology may sound comical, the process is one of the most highly technical and classified of those that are used in infrared device manufacturing. Using pressure chambers, the company applies microscopically thin coatings to the lenses and protective coverings of thermal imaging devices that allow those devices to operate in ways beyond what is available in the commercial marketplace.

The devices allow U.S. military units, homeland security, aerospace, and law enforcement agencies to operate effectively in low light and reduced visibility conditions and to observe — and then, if necessary, engage — hostile forces before the U.S. forces themselves are observed.

Although some types of night vision devices are available commercially to civilians, ITAR specifies those technologies that must be controlled and that only U.S. citizens are allowed to be engaged in the manufacture of these devices. ITAR additionally requires a company engaged in the manufacture of these products to fully identify the overseas companies to which it is proposing to sell products, and additionally to identify the end use of the devices.

“Anything that is sensitive is controlled by ITAR regulations. Certain products and materials must be sourced in the U.S.” said Tribick.

 

Recent arrests of more than two dozen naturalized U.S. citizens and businesses in the past 18 months have shown some to be linked to transfers of sensitive night vision goggles to suspected al-Qaeda and terrorist units in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Tribick said that his company has taken more stringent measures in the past several years to ensure that these technologies go to companies and organizations that are properly vetted. The vetting procedure requires that a U.S. company not only screen employees involved in the manufacturing process, but also conduct investigations of the end use of the product by the purchasing company.

 

Some technologies that were classified three to five years ago can become commercially available, and can be sold to the public-at-large, as newer technologies are developed. Tribick indicated that in some cases the most advanced technologies are found in digital cameras and hand-held computers within a short period of time as more sophisticated devices are invented.

However other technologies, such as those involving nuclear weapons development, are closely held for decades to deny access by enemies or others who would use these technologies to develop weapons to use against the United States.