Why the White House is taking so long to issue new research security rules

Despite broad bipartisan agreement that U.S. academic research is vulnerable to threats from China, the White House remains deadlocked over how to implement a policy issued by former President Donald Trump’s administration in its last week that is intended to protect data, technology, and other fruits of federally funded scientific studies from foreign interference. University administrators have spent the past 3 years trying to anticipate what will be expected from their institutions to comply with the pending standards, which will regulate the conduct of every scientist who receives government support. And their wait isn’t over, Arati Prabhakar, President Joe Biden’s science adviser, told the science committee of the U.S. House of Representatives during a hearing yesterday called to examine why the standards have been delayed for so long. “Getting research security right is more complex [than expected] and has taken much longer than I would have liked,” Prabhakar testified. “But it remains a significant priority for me.” Although the rules will apply to all foreign interactions by U.S.-funded scientists, China’s increasingly aggressive approach to acquiring innovative technologies has made scientific collaborations with that country the focus of U.S. efforts to improve research security. In 2018 the Trump administration launched a campaign to thwart economic espionage but gave it a name—the China Initiative—that made clear its real targ...
Source: ScienceNOW - Category: Science Source Type: news