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Case
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Reference no. HKS0858.0
Published by: Harvard Kennedy School
Published in: 1988
Length: 19 pages
Notes: For terms & conditions go to www.thecasecentre.org/freecaseterms

Abstract

In 1986, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) learned of an illegal sale of sophisticated milling machine equipment to the Soviet Union by Japanese and Norwegian companies. What became known to the public as the Toshiba case - although the Norwegian company, Kongsberg Vapenfabrik, was equally culpable - proved to carry an unusual weight of political and policy ramifications that affected how the intelligence was used by its customers. As the Technology Transfer Assessment Center, a CIA division, sought a market for its intelligence, users in the Defense Department, National Security Council, State Department, and finally Congress, drew their widely different conclusions about the impact of the sale. Undisputed facts fired up an acrimonious debate on technology export controls and helped hold up passage of a trade bill for more than a year.

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Abstract

In 1986, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) learned of an illegal sale of sophisticated milling machine equipment to the Soviet Union by Japanese and Norwegian companies. What became known to the public as the Toshiba case - although the Norwegian company, Kongsberg Vapenfabrik, was equally culpable - proved to carry an unusual weight of political and policy ramifications that affected how the intelligence was used by its customers. As the Technology Transfer Assessment Center, a CIA division, sought a market for its intelligence, users in the Defense Department, National Security Council, State Department, and finally Congress, drew their widely different conclusions about the impact of the sale. Undisputed facts fired up an acrimonious debate on technology export controls and helped hold up passage of a trade bill for more than a year.

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