Government Revises Research Restrictions

The Bush administration indicated last week that it would roll back one of its proposed restrictions on foreign-born researchers, although many of the remaining regulations could still affect scholars at Harvard.

The Bush Commerce Department initially said its restrictions would be based on scholars’ country of origin. But one administration official’s comments last week suggested that the restrictions would instead be based on country of citizenship, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.

For example, the revised restrictions would apply to a scholar at Harvard who is a Chinese citizen—but not to a Chinese-born scholar who has since immigrated to the U.S.

A March 2004 report from the Commerce Department’s Office of Inspector General recommended measures “to prevent countries and entities of concern from acquiring sensitive U.S. technology.”

Some of the countries listed in that report have longstanding rivalries with the U.S., including Cuba, Iran, Libya, and North Korea. But others on the list, including Israel, are more closely aligned with the U.S. China, India, Iraq, Pakistan, Russia, Sudan, and Syria are also listed in the 2004 report.

The decision to jettison the country-of-origin provision came after academics and industry representatives protested the proposal.

The assistant secretary of commerce for export administration, Peter Lichtenbaum, announced the changes at a meeting last Friday, according to Harvard’s senior director of federal and state relations, Kevin Casey.

“That’s a welcomed development, but there remains several other very important key revisions that we’re hoping will also be modified,” Casey said.

The proposed regulations came after the March 2004 report warned that foreign scholars studying in the U.S. could transfer information about computers, semiconductors, lasers, and other technologies to their homelands.

The report found that foreigners at American research institutions could potentially give spies and terrorists access to these technologies.

But Casey said that the Commerce Department controls would not mitigate the threat.

Casey said the Bush administration proposal “would slow down research.” But, he added, “it would not necessarily further national security.”

Officials at universities are continuing to hold meetings with Lichtenbaum and are urging the Commerce Department to make further revisions, Casey said.

Universities have interpreted current Commerce Department guidelines to allow foreign scholars to participate in basic research that will be published widely, according to Casey. But under the proposed new rules, that could change.

“This new regulation...would require an exceptional amount of investigation from the university’s perspective into whose interaction with what equipment would require a license,” Casey said. “In order to drill to that level, it would be an incredibly expansive regulatory exercise to go through.”

And it’s an exercise that, according to some students, would be unnecessary.

“It won’t work,” said Jeffrey B. Miller, who is a fifth-year graduate student in applied physics. “It’s a waste of the government’s time trying to invade in the pursuit of knowledge—something they have shown over and over again they know nothing about.”

Even with last week’s roll-back in the regulations, professors worried that the proposed controls could limit scientific knowledge.

“The idea of the ruling is just such a big departure from the idea that science should be open for everybody,” said Roger W. Brockett, the Wang professor of computer science and electrical engineering.

If enacted, the regulations could place American universities at a disadvantage to foreign institutions.

“I’m sure that the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford are thrilled,” Miller said. “It’ll be a lot easier for them to attract top students.”

Professor of Physics Charles M. Marcus said the proposed regulations were an example of “xenophobia.” He added, “If this encroachment continues, I’ll be out of business.”

Marcus said that foreign scholars often bring new ideas to his lab, so the proposed regulations could cut the U.S. off from innovation rather than confining advancements to this country.

“I learn more from my students than they learn from me,” he said.

—Staff writer Lulu Zhou can be reached at luluzhou@fas.harvard.edu.