We had hoped that the Congress would refrain from any action until its internal reviews were completed. We believe these reviews will demonstrate that there are no grounds for this action.

Commercial satellites are not weapons systems and there are numerous safe guards in place to protect U.S. technology during the pre-launch and launch process. State, Defense and Commerce are all involved in any decisions under the current procedure, as they should be, and the new law will not change this.

What it will do is preclude U.S. companies from selling communications satellites to any country to which the law prohibits the sale of weapons systems, even if a U.S. launcher is used. It will also delay the licensing process, as Congress will have to be notified of any foreign launch of a U.S. satellite, even by the Europeans, which have launched U.S. satellites for many years.

It is extremely poor policy to restrict the sale of commercial products by treating them as though they were banned weapon systems. Communications satellites have played a significant role in bringing the concepts of freedom and free enterprise to closed societies all over the world. Restricting the sale of American commercial products costs American jobs and paves the way for other countries to capture the increasing global market for commercial communications.

We look forward to working with the Congress to address security concerns, while maintaining America's ability to compete in the global market.