About What OCCIS Attorneys Do

The Office of the Chief Counsel for Industry and Security (OCC-IS) provides legal support to the Department of Commerce, particularly the Department's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), including BIS’s Export Administration, Export Enforcement, and Information and Communications Technology and Services office. BIS’s mission is to protect the security of the United States, which includes its national security, economic security, cyber security, and homeland security. 

OCC-IS attorneys are on the cutting edge of where international commerce meets national security. Through use of its Section 232 authority, OCC-IS assists BIS in limiting the importation of specified items that would threaten U.S. national security based on the quantity of their imports or other considerations. Through development of the Export Administration Regulations (EAR), OCC-IS assists BIS in ensuring that America’s most critical items (e.g., commodities, software, and technology) stay out of the hands of our adversaries. Through enforcement of the EAR, OCC-IS ensures that businesses and individuals are held to account when they send those items in a way that violates the EAR and potentially compromises national security. OCC-IS also assists the Office of Information and Communications Technology and Services (OICTS) in its work to address threats posed by foreign adversaries, malicious cyber actors, and other groups through their access to information and communications technology and services supply chains. 

Every day, OCC-IS attorneys meet with BIS and OGC leadership, draft legal documents for internal and external use, review policy and regulatory documents prepared by BIS, coordinate with interagency legal partners (including the Departments of Justice, War, the Treasury, Energy, and State, among others), work with BIS Special Agents to enforce the EAR, and analyze industry data.