Readout of Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen’s Participation at United Nations General Assembly High-Level Side Event

On Thursday, Sept. 26, Assistant Attorney General (AAG) Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division traveled to New York City to lead a multilateral side meeting on stopping the destabilizing flow of sensitive technology as part of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) High-Level Week. AAG Olsen chaired the meeting, which was co-led by Ukrainian Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin and European Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders. In total, officials from 18 countries and the EU attended the meeting, which was held at the Reiss Center for Law and Security at NYU’s School of Law in Manhattan.

In the first session, presenters described the threats and risks posed by the acquisition of sensitive technology by malign actors.

“Stopping our adversaries from acquiring sensitive, emerging technology is one of our top national security priorities at the Department of Justice and across the U.S. government. And it’s not something we can do alone,” said Assistant Attorney General Olsen.

The second session of the meeting focused on the sharing of attendees’ experiences using legal authorities and other tools to stop the illicit flow of sensitive technology, as well as opportunities for collaboration and partnership. During his remarks, AAG Olsen highlighted the work of the Disruptive Technology Strike Force, an interagency enforcement effort co-led with the Department of Commerce to prevent critical technologies from being unlawfully acquired and used by foreign adversaries.

“Today’s meeting reflects the understanding that this type of partnership is foundational to our ability to turn the tide against malign uses of sensitive technology — it requires partnership and collaboration within our own governments, and it requires us to come together and find ways to work together on an international level,” said Assistant Attorney General Olsen.

Along with AAG Olsen, presenters from the U.S. delegation were:

• Matthew Axelrod, Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement at U.S. Department of Commerce;
• Breon Peace, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York; and
• Tom West, head of the Office of Sanctions Coordination at the U.S. Department of State.

Presenters from other delegations were:

• Yamazaki Kazuyuki, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Permanent Representative of Japan to the UN;
• Ivars Lasis, the Undersecretary of State – Political Director at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for Latvia;
• Brendan Dowling, Australia’s Ambassador for Cyber Affairs and Critical Technology; and
• Mina Noor, Head of Counterterrorism and National Security Division and Special Envoy for Counterterrorism at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for The Netherlands.

The Disruptive Technology Strike Force is an interagency law enforcement strike force co-led by the Departments of Justice and Commerce designed to target illicit actors, protect supply chains and prevent critical technology from being acquired by authoritarian regimes and hostile nation states.