By Rob Margetta, CQ Staff
U.S. caution over China's access to technology has extended to the Olympics, says the surveillance camera manufacturer Axsys Technologies, which went through a lengthy waiver process so its military-grade high-definition cameras could be used at the games.
Axsys found out the White House approved its waiver only a week before the Olympics began, concluding six months of feeding the State Department information about the V14 High Definition camera systems slated to be mounted on helicopters and boats to film outdoor events including cycling, rowing, the marathon and the opening and closing ceremonies.
The process was "severely controlled," according to Axsys Chief Operating Officer Scott Connor.
"We take that responsibility very seriously because, as they told us, people live and die by this technology," he said.
The cameras in question are five-axis, gyroscopic-stabilized, digital systems, meant to be mounted on a vehicle and controlled remotely by an operator using a joystick. Connor said not only do they provide steady shots that negate the shaking of the vehicles on which they are mounted, and can stay focused on an object even as the vehicle turns.
Axsys' biggest market is gyro-stabilized cameras for military and paramilitary outfits, but the company also is trying to expand in the civilian sector, Connor said. A year ago, it purchased Cineflex, another camera company focused on the entertainment and news industries. Axsys upgraded the Cineflex equipment with its own stabilizing technology developed for military use and continued selling it under the Cineflex brand name.
But, because the United States prohibits arms sales to China, that military-grade technology in the Cineflex cameras created a hurdle for their use in the Olympics. Connor said Axsys cannot buy from, nor sell parts to China.
The only reason the cameras were allowed into the country for the games, he said, was "because it was so critical to get leading-edge imagery."
While Axsys had its own waiver process, Aerial Camera Systems, the British company that is operating the eight cameras in China, also had to provide a security plan for each of the individual units.
According to Colleen Zimmermann, who handled the waiver process for Axsys, ACS is keeping the cameras locked up when they are not in use, and has a monitoring system to ensure that the cameras are not tampered with.
Connor said Axsys' waiver application went through the State Department, to the National Security Council and finally to the White House for approval.
"It was a nail-biter for us, because we wanted to be associated with this," he said, adding that he believes Axsys is the only aerial-mounted HD stabilized camera provider at the games, meaning that the wait would have been stressful for NBC and other broadcasters, too. "It would have been a real problem for them if it didn't happen. . . . They wouldn't have been able to get shots in HD."
But he said he considered the bureaucratic dealings worth it.
"It's a unique opportunity for sure, to show off what we think is industry-leading technology," he said.
Rob Margetta can be reached at rmargetta@cq.com.
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