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Today I was doing my mandatory EAR/ITAR online training (fun stuff!), and one thing struck me about the concept of deemed exports. With it, the training course mentioned that it can be a deemed export if information/material is transferred to a foreign national while on US soil. But also said that it is not a deemed export if the recipient is a US citizen, LPR or in a protected class (such as refugee).

But this leaves out the concept of dual nationality citizens. For example if I want to transfer something to a US citizen, who also has dual nationality of a country where the transfer could be prohibited, how is that transfer classed?

Does the US or foreign nationality take precedence in this case? I'm certain it would be a Bad ThingTM to do either way, but the training course never touched on it.

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See 15 CFR 734.13

(a) Except as set forth in § 734.17 or § 734.18, Export means:...

(2) Releasing or otherwise transferring “technology” or source code (but not object code) to a foreign person in the United States (a “deemed export”);

(emphasis added). A US dual citizen is not a foreign person, see 15 CFR 772.1:

Any natural person who is not a lawful permanent resident of the United States, citizen of the United States, or any other protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3).

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    And that matches what my online training said. But I can't fathom that there would be a huge loophole for dual citizens that is big enough to drive a truck through. If a citizen of a particular country is not trusted under these regs, why is a dual citizen trusted implicitly?
    – Peter M
    Commented Dec 9, 2022 at 0:33
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    Because they are a citizen of the US. Being a US citizen or LPR is taken to be prima facie evidence of relevant trustworthiness. The line has to be drawn somewhere, Congress drew it at LPR (a foreign citizen not a US citizen, but with permission to reside in the US permanently).
    – user6726
    Commented Dec 9, 2022 at 0:42
  • And they could have easily drawn the line at dual citizens as well. The question is not where the line is drawn, but why they chose to draw it there. And while I appreciate you taking the time to answer my question, your current answer is really just a parroting of teh information in my question, albeit with a reference.
    – Peter M
    Commented Dec 10, 2022 at 17:41
  • @PeterM There are potential constitutional issues with discriminating against dual citizens. It doesn't necessarily mean that such discrimination is always unconstitutional, but there would be some standard of review that the federal courts would apply. Note that dual citizens can get a security clearance provided that they overcome potential concerns about foreign preference and foreign influence. ITAR is less strict than security clearance, so the fact that it doesn't care about dual citizenship at all is not surprising.
    – Brian
    Commented Dec 10, 2022 at 18:21

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