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It's Only Common Sense: Drop a Dime on ITAR Violators

Editor's Note: To listen to Dan's weekly column, as you've always done in the past, click here. For  the written transcript, keep reading...What are we doing about ITAR?

When a large military OEM tries to visit his ITAR-certified PCB manufacturer, he finds the given address is a ranch house in suburban Seattle. The vendor is a broker and the boards are being built offshore.

One of the country’s largest military contract manufacturers argues face-to-face with the Department of Defense that printed circuit boards are too far down the supply chain and not important enough to be considered covered by ITAR. The company continues to buy their military boards offshore, even going so far as to tell the DoD.

Another contract manufacturer is having trouble with some bad boards they just received from a longtime supplier. When they call that supplier to ask him what is different about these boards, after much interrogation, the supplier admits that these boards are now being built in his offshore facility, and these are ITAR boards!

One of the industry’s leading brokers is so convinced that because his American company is ITAR certified, he can import boards for his ITAR customers from Taiwan. If fact, he is so sure of this that he writes a column about it.

Some companies are using CAM operators in other countries to CAM their boards, which is all well and good until they start sending their ITAR boards offshore for CAM. Not so good.

In all corners of this continent, honest God-fearing, red white and blue-bleeding, play-by-the-rules boards shops are getting underbid and losing ITAR business to other not-so-God-fearing, not-so-red white and blue-bleeding, dishonest board shops who are buying their boards from offshore partners.

Man, when is this going to stop?

ITAR regulations are not just regulations; they are the law. And like all laws, if that law is broken people should pay fines, go to jail and, yes, be shut down. Why is this not happening?

As in the case of the broker and the large CM that I mentioned above, the law is so infrequently enforced that they have come to believe that it really isn’t a law.

But it is the law. We are tired of people playing fast and loose with the law. The theory that printed circuit boards are so low down the supply chain that they are not covered by ITAR regulations has been shot down; IPC finally convinced the DoD to specifically mention the PCB as a component that has to be ITAR-protected. Finally, there is no doubt; if the PCBs you build calls out for ITAR, the boards must be built in this country by American companies made up of American citizens. That’s it--no ifs, ands or buts.

The regulation, nay, the law, is now as clear as glass. So, if you have been getting your ITAR boards offshore, stop it right now. And you know what, if you know someone who is not obeying that law, turn them in. If you feel that one of your customers is buying offshore boards to fill their ITAR requirements, bring it to their attention and if they ignore you, if they persist in buying their boards from known non-ITAR suppliers, then turn them is as well.

There is no other way. This is not just a business thing anymore; it’s not just a competitive thing either. Not at all. It’s an American thing, and it is your duty to turn these people in.

So, do your duty. It’s only common sense.