Satellite Exports

Two recent articles [“Satellite-Export Curbs Hurting U.S. Makers, Study Says,” Feb. 6, and “U.S. Satellite Industry Reeling Under New Export Controls,” Dec. 11] stated that information acquired by China from U.S. satellite makers did not significantly aid China’s nuclear weapons capability. This, the articles inaccurately implied, refuted earlier congressional findings.

In fact, no finding has ever been made that U.S. satellite launches in China risk transfer of nuclear weapons technology. The risk to national security from satellite launches in the People’s Republic of China concerns missile technology, not nuclear technology.

The Select Committee that I chaired found that two U.S. satellite makers had violated U.S. laws controlling the export of missile technology to China. Further, the investigation concluded that this “improved the reliability of [Chinese] rockets useful for civilian and military purposes. The illegally transmitted information is useful for the design and improved reliability of future [Chinese] ballistic missiles, as well.”

These bipartisan and unanimous findings have never been seriously questioned, except by the companies themselves.

REP. CHRISTOPHER COX

(R-Newport Beach)