Senate bill to curb foreign threats raises alarms

doi:10.1126/science.368.6498.1415

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DOI	10.1126/science.368.6498.1415
	Senate bill to curb foreign threats raises alarms
	Jeffrey Mervis
	2020-06-26
发表期刊	Science
出版年	2020
英文摘要	A bipartisan group of U.S. senators last week proposed sweeping—and controversial—changes in how the federal government manages academic research in the face of foreign threats. The authors of the legislation, more than 1 year in the making, claim it will stop China and other countries from stealing the fruits of federally funded research without weakening a system that has made the United States a global leader in innovation. But research advocates worry the bill, if enacted, would restrict the exchange of talent and ideas. Drafted by Senators Rob Portman (R–OH) and Tom Carper (D–DE) and with eight Republican and five Democratic co-sponsors, the Safeguarding American Innovation Act is the latest and most substantive attempt in Congress to reconcile scientific security and openness. One contentious provision would give the State Department grounds to reject a visa application from anyone with ties to a foreign government seen as hostile to the United States. Critics worry such power could be used to keep out the tens of thousands of Chinese graduate students and postdocs who seek to study in the United States each year. Other provisions would expose scientists who fail to disclose ties to foreign governments to criminal penalties including jail time, require international partners to embrace U.S. scientific norms, lower the size of foreign gifts that universities must report, and give the White House budget office new powers to oversee research security. “For nearly 2 decades, the federal government has been asleep at the wheel while foreign governments have exploited the lack of transparency in our education system and bought access and influence,” says Portman, who leads the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which has issued several reports sharply critical of current federal efforts. “This bill will help us stop foreign governments from stealing our research and innovation.” The sponsors don't hide their intended target. “America's research enterprise is the best in the world and the Chinese Communist Party knows it,” says Senator Josh Hawley (R–MO). “That's why they've spent the last 20 years stealing American taxpayer-funded intellectual property.” Carper, the top Democrat on the investigative panel and a co-sponsor, uses more judicious language. The legislation, he says, is a “common sense [approach] to protect American intellectual property and better leverage our international research partnerships.” A Portman press release claims “widespread support” from academia. But all of the supportive statements come from institutions in his home state of Ohio, and many also hint at the need to tweak some of its provisions. “We endorse [its] goals to modernize the safety and security of our nation and we look forward to continuing to collaborate with Sen. Portman as the legislation moves forward,” says Barbara Snyder, who is stepping down this fall as president of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland to lead the Association of American Universities (AAU), a coalition of 65 major research institutions. In private, research advocates express grave reservations. “It violates the culture of openness that is fundamental to academic research,” one says. “I don't think the higher education community is going to like any of this,” says another, who, like many advocates, requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak for their organization. Although the bill's language is subtle, it contains “key provisions … [that] are overly broad and will only serve to harm American science without improving national security,” says AAU's Tobin Smith. One such provision, Smith and others say, would give the State Department the authority to reject a visa application from anyone based on their “cooperation with … military organizations adversarial to the United States, foreign institutions involved in the theft of United States research, [or] a government that seeks to undermine the integrity and security of the United States research community.” But staffers on the subcommittee that Portman leads say the language would apply to fewer researchers than the critics fear. “The focus of the bill is on bad actors,” one staffer noted. “The vast majority of foreign researchers [asking to come to the United States] are benign, and we need their talents.” The bill would also empower the State Department to reject or restrict the activities of a visa applicant if officials decide that giving the applicant access to “goods, technologies, or sensitive information” would harm the United States. Extensive rules already limit the sharing and export of research products deemed sensitive. But lobbyists say the new provision could require universities to impose additional restrictions on visa holders, such as blocking them from attending open lectures or visiting laboratories doing unclassified research. Again, the staffers accuse the research community of overreacting. “We're not locking down campuses,” one staffer says. But universities and other federally funded institutions “don't need to give everyone access to everything.” There is no companion bill in the House of Representatives, and the House's Democratic leadership is more skeptical that the problem of foreign influence warrants wholesale legislative changes. Little time remains for the Senate to act on the legislation before the November elections. But research advocates expect the debate in Congress to continue regardless of the outcome of the vote.
领域	气候变化 ; 资源环境
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文献类型	期刊论文
条目标识符	http://119.78.100.173/C666/handle/2XK7JSWQ/278189
专题	气候变化资源环境科学
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714	Jeffrey Mervis. Senate bill to curb foreign threats raises alarms[J]. Science,2020.
APA	Jeffrey Mervis.(2020).Senate bill to curb foreign threats raises alarms.Science.
MLA	Jeffrey Mervis."Senate bill to curb foreign threats raises alarms".Science (2020).