President Obama to Nominate Eric L. Hirschhorn as Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security

September 15, 2009

Last week, President Obama announced his intent to nominate attorney Eric  Hirschhorn to be the Undersecretary of the U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS). If confirmed by the Senate, Mr. Hirschhorn will oversee the Commerce agency that advances U.S. national security, foreign policy and economic objectives by ensuring an effective export control and treaty compliance system and by promoting U.S. strategic technology leadership.

Previously, Mr. Hirschhorn served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Export Administration at the U.S. Department of Commerce and oversaw U.S. export controls for items having commercial and military applications, antiboycott compliance, restraints on imports for national security reasons, as well as the department's participation in the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) from 1980-1981. According to Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke, Hirschhorn has “a wealth of experience working with export controls,” which is not always the case for those nominated to head BIS.