Discontent in defense sector over export controls.

• Position: From the National Defense Blog

Aerospace and defense firms have cheered the Ohama administration's five-year effort to overhaul the U.S. export licensing system at a time when American manufacturers seek international growth.

But industry groups of late are voicing displeasure with the pace and substance of the reforms. They also fear that the administration is weighing new export controls over increasingly sought-after technologies such as cloud computing, cyber security and encryption.

Over the past 18 months, the administration has acted to remove civilian, or "dual use" technologies like aircraft components and communications satellites from the U.S. munitions list--managed by the...