Currently the U.S. government has three different agencies that have been given the authority to issue export licenses. Those three agencies are: the Departments of Commerce, State, and the Treasury. In 2009, President Obama ordered an interagency review of the current export control system. The review found that the current system was “overly complicated, contained too many redundancies, and, in trying to protect too much, diminished the ability to focus their efforts on the most critical national security priorities”. The review also found that many companies had to apply for multiple export licenses with each of the departments. Due to the findings of the review, the Administration created the Export Control Reform initiative to help establish a single export licensing system.

“The goal of the (ECR) initiative is to create a Single Licensing Agency (SLA), which would act as a ‘one stop shop’ for businesses seeking export license and for the US government to coordinate review of license applications.” The ultimate goal of this new licensing process would be to make the process predictable, timely, and transparent.

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