For more than 18 months, the U.S. State Department blocked technology company AEM Inc. from exporting fuses used in satellites, a move that cost the company millions of dollars and threatened its reputation in the global niche market.
The department’s export-control arm, which reviews proposed sales to determine any threat to the national security, imposed a so-called “policy of denial” on San Diego-based AEM in early 2009. The policy presumed that any request from AEM for an export license should be denied.
