[Onelifetogive]

I'm just curious why a private company needs permission the the State Dept...

I guess they would need permission from every State Department on earth. All 200 or so. If ours has jurisdiction, they all must.

[Frank_Discussion]

Nope. The US has the most to lose in space technology transfer. The rest of the world says: "Sure, come work with us! Hey, show us how you made that again..."