ABSTRACT
Harry's work took place in a small laboratory located at Chesapeake Beach, Maryland. The information he gathered was coordinated with the CIA and Defense Intelligence Agency, and with the Pentagon's Defense Technology Security Administration. The Coordinating Committee on Multilateral Export Controls or COCOM was initially set up in 1949 and started full operation in 1950. The United States position, backed strongly by the CIA and Defense Department, was to stand up strongly to domestic and international political pressure trying to open up COCOM-controlled trade. The United States handles exports under the Export Administration Act for nonmilitary equipment, and under the Arms Export Control Act for military technology. COCOM functioned at its best when focused on the Soviet Union in the 1980s and can be credited with impacting Soviet military programs and preventing the Soviets from capitalizing, as much as they would have liked, on the massive investments they made in their military buildup.
