I Probably Shouldn't Laugh, but ...

[fauxklore]

... our government at work often amuses me. I can't resist passing along this example from today's congressional report.

Senate received the following message from the President of the United States: Transmitting certification that the export of certain materials and equipment for production of nutritional supplements is not
detrimental to the U.S. space launch industry and will not measurably improve missile or space launch capabilities of the People's Republic of China.

Comments

[joeylemur.livejournal.com]

Well, I can see how some seemingly innocent material/equipment could be used for non-innocent (whatever that means) purposes, so its not too terribly silly that someone is checking on that.

I would just hope that it wasn't a study that took years and tens of millions of dollars to determine.

[fauxklore]

Oh, I know exactly why this certification was done.

There are particular export control regulations for China, which go back to the Tiananmen Square massacre and they require this certification for a lot of things. (If I recall correctly, the language was in the Defense Authorization Act of 1996.)

I still found myself thinking of what food supplements could be used to make rocket fuel.