Do you need state department approval to transport a foreign night vision device out of the United States,That was purchased in the U.S. but made in another country?

Yes, you need proper paperwork and a data sheet to prove specs. Cheap Gen 1 requires nothing but that said custom guys know nothing about night vision. Your anus could be reamed or not...

My friend has a Lucie using XR5 tube and facing the same problem, he wants to take the google to u.s for a tour and take it out.

anther question is whehter it is legit if he declare the device in customs when comming into u.s then taking out.

night vision and a lot of other military applicalable technology has a lot of restrictions.





besides what most people are familiar with as far as traveling outside the country as itar restrictions, there are restrictions on what can be import to restricted countries, and lists of embargoed countries.
for example:



to import foreign night vision devices for sale in the U.S., you need to file with the ATF for permission to import and sell in U.S. it's applicability for military use further classifies it to what jurisdictions govern the device.





some items, while not itar restricted in another foreign country, once imported into the U.S., becomes items that now fall under itar and other state department restrictions.





hyperthetical example, you get a gen3 tube from someone in the U.S. that was imported,  say for example, france. The item may be legal for export from france, to the U.S, but not to many other countries. once imported into the U.S., because the item has military applications, it may now be a itar restricted item, and may need permission to even return to france, the country of origin.





this is meant to prevent someone from importing a bunch of night vision
from europe, then exporting it back out to an embargoed country.
for example, related to intelectual property, there were some tank plans in gm canada, that was accessible from gm USA. a copy of the plans were copied on to a USA based server, accessable to gm canada. the state department fined gm USA for not restricting access or applying for permission for access to the plans (even though they were still on a server in canada, I think) as the plans now were itar items.





I think anything above gen 1 will need an application to the state department for permission to take it out of the country legally.





and, regardless of how someone may say that they are just traveling with a restricted device, for personal use and will be returing to the U.S. with it, the act of taking it out of the U.S. is considered an act of exporting the device, and you may get in trouble for attempting to travel with such a device





edit - and I forgot to add - some foreign countries restrict the import of night vision devices into those countries, so even if you got permission to take a device out of the U.S, you still need to check and may have to get permission to take it into certain countries if it is permitted.




       

 

lol so taking out the device is ok [no customs] bring it back is where they get you... So cheap Chinese night vision devices gen 1 is ok to buy and bring into the country because its a gen 1...