Fall Speed Ahead

It was a busy summer and there seems no likelihood of a slowdown anytime soon. We had a tremendous turnout to our booth at the BIS Update conference here in Washington, meeting with many clients and collaborators and seeing many of our former colleagues at BIS. Of course, most of the presentations and questions addressed the continual roll-out of export control reforms, most recently the changes in electronics, but there was a lot buzz too about the new and looming sanctions against Russia. As usual, it was a fruitful and worthwhile time.

On the personnel front, we bid goodbye to one of our stalwart engineers, Josh Greenberg, who has moved to Richmond but we also welcome the addition in recent months of Tom Dziadkowiec, Ryan Moore, Patrick Leonard, and John Sturtevant. We’ve also expanded our Alexandria offices, now taking over most of the third floor at our 300 North Lee Street location. Sadly, we mourn the loss of our dear friend and former colleague, Robin Harlow, who last week lost her long and courageous struggle with cancer.

All our client teams are busy. Our DOC/CLDP (Commercial Law Development Team) is working at a record pace, conducting 61 activities in 27 countries in just the last eight months. Our DOS/ECC (Export Control Cooperation) is also active, managing multiple activities and also handling the challenges of the year-end TORP season. Our local and remote Ghana RTC (Regional Training Center) staffs remain busy, despite the looming shadow of the Ebola outbreak that has paused training operations in Accra. Our 508 Compliance team has expanded again, partly in response to the emerging need of the existing VA client, but also with an eye on similar opportunities elsewhere. Finally, the Private Sector team is growing in number and expanding in service offerings enroute to another record-breaking year.

In all, it has been a busy and fruitful period. We look forward to our many planned activities in the Autumn months ahead.