The dangers of sharing knowledge with friends: the FSX Controversy and the use of US export controls against Japan in the 1980s and 1990s

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article places the US–Japanese controversy over the co-development of the FSX jet fighter in the context of US debates about ‘economic security’. During the 1980s, this concept became the widely used shorthand for describing a new calculus of national security and foreign economic policy, closely linking defense economics, competitiveness in commercial global markets and the crucial role of dual-use technologies in both spheres. The article shows that the dangers of sharing dual-use know-how were at the heart of the US security concerns in the FSX case, prompting the US government to use export controls – during the Cold War the sharpest economic weapon against the Eastern bloc – against its close ally Japan.