I apologize for sending so many updates.
I was able to get the feature I desire by adding the following to the top of the exported LaTeX and replacing "itemize" with "packed_item".
\newenvironment{packed_item}{
\begin{itemize}
\setlength{\itemsep}{1pt}
\setlength{\parskip}{0pt}
\setlength{\parsep}{0pt}
}{\end{itemize}}
It would be preferable by far to be able to get this effect straightaway in exported pdfs.
But I think I need to change my mode of outlining or else find a way to reduce the spacing in sectioning-based outlines in the exported LaTeX. Perhaps a macro to convert from ** based outlines to plain list (-) outlines.
Alan