US lawmakers mulling tighter aid controls

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Two weeks after protesters in Egypt choked angrily on “Made in USA” tear gas, US lawmakers on Friday were weighing tighter controls on exports that can help repressive regimes cling to power.

The US Congress, which cheered anti-government protests in Iran last year, also applauded the turmoil that led Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to step down on Friday, amid worries that US aid and know-how hurt both movements.

“We continue to watch and have concerns about the misuse of any equipment that the United States provides or sells to another nation,” said a spokesman for the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee, Josh Holly.

Aides to lawmakers on other key committees that have jurisdiction over the issue also said the Egypt example could spark a review of US overseas assistance and the role of US firms in aiding heavy-handed governments.

Such concerns — long a focus of international human rights groups — were on display when lawmakers on the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee grilled Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg on Thursday.

“I supported the administration’s decision not to suspend the assistance program up until now,” said the panel’s top Democrat, Howard Berman.

“I’d recommend the administration look towards the whole issue of export controls on things like tear gas canisters, items that are mostly relevant to the suppression of peaceful protesters,” he added.

“I think there would be some value in reviewing and perhaps eliminating licenses on those kinds of items” for a time, Berman said, drawing a diplomatically elusive reply from Steinberg.

“We do always keep under constant review our assistance programs, not just for Egypt but elsewhere,” said the official. “We have to be able to be responsive to ongoing events.”

Republican Representative Chris Smith was blunter, warning that “US corporations are enabling dictatorships” — notably with communications software that lets regimes track, intercept, or disrupt contact among demonstrators.

“We saw it Iran with a German corporation. We’ve seen it in China, we’ve seen it in Belarus, where the Internet is used and was used to track down dissidents who invade their e-mails, find out who they’re talking to. It is an awful tool of repression,” said Smith.

“I’d be happy to see what we know about this,” said Steinberg.

Democratic Representative Bill Keating noted the importance of social media sites like Facebook and twitter, as well as text messaging and the video sharing site YouTube in helping to galvanize public protests.

But, he said, “a company in California sold the Egyptian state-run Internet provider the technology to monitor the Internet, allowing the Egyptian government to crack down on dissent.”

“I also understand that the Pakistani government telecom company and the Saudi government’s telecom company have this technology. And it’s no secret, I think to anyone, that neither has a growing record on human rights,” he said.

Keating noted that the United States has “end-use” monitoring agreements designed to ensure that US military aid is not misused and asked Steinberg whether that approach could be broadened to high-tech exports more generally.

“It’s not a stretch to say it’s being used as a weapon by some of these other countries and as such should be treated that way in end-use monitoring agreements,” said the lawmaker.

“We have to be alert to the dangers that it will be used by people for the wrong reasons,” said the diplomat. “I think it’s something that we should take under advisement.”

Separately, number-two Democratic Senator Dick Durbin wrote to Facebook co-founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg to urged the firm to do more to protect democracy and human rights activists from retaliation.