Export Controls: State and Commerce Department License Review Times Are Similar

The U.S. defense industry and some U.S. and allied government officials have suggested in recent years that the U.S. export control process be reformed. Much of the debate on reforming the process has focused on the amount of time required to process an export license application. As a result, GAO analyzed the time it takes to process export license applications. GAO found that the average State Department license application review took 46 days, while the average Commerce Department review took 50 days. Several variables had an impact on the time it took to review applications. The commodity being exported most affected the time of application review in both Departments.