Export Controls in the Age of AI & Quantum with Doni Bloomfield (Part 1)

Export controls have long determined which American technologies can cross borders—and which must remain secret. In Part 1 of this two-part series, Elisa is joined by Professor Doni Bloomfield to trace the evolution of U.S. export controls from World War I through the Cold War, examining how wartime censorship, patent secrecy, atomic technology, semiconductors, and cryptography shaped the modern regulatory system. Together, they explore the government’s expanding role in restricting sensitive information, the tension between national security and scientific openness, and the historical foundations of today’s debates over emerging technology.Doni Bloomfield is an Associate Professor of Law at Fordham Law School whose work focuses on intellectual property, biosecurity, national security law, and health law. References:Bloomfield, Doni. “Export Controls as Intellectual Property Regulation.” Iowa Law Review, vol. 111, 2026, pp. 1955–2005.Bloomfield, Doni, and Jeff Gordon. “The New Export-Control Equilibrium.” SSRN, Fordham Law Legal Studies Research Paper no. 6634758, 23 Apr. 2026Trading With The Enemy Act of 1917The Espionage Act (1917)The Sedition Act (1918)The Invention Secrecy Act (1951)Gross, Daniel P. “The Consequences of Invention Secrecy.” NBER Working Paper no. 25545, 2019.National Security Decision Directive 189