SCIENCE sciencemag.org 15 FEBRUARY 2019 • VOL 363 ISSUE 6428 675PH
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he U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)
in Washington, D.C., has drafted new
restrictions on research collabora-
tions between the scientists it funds
and certain foreign governments
suspected of trying to steal sensitive
technologies. DOE officials are still debat-
ing the scope of the new rules, which cover
researchers at DOE’s 17 national laborato-
ries, as well as grantees. But some scien-
tists are worried DOE is overreacting to
growing concerns about scientific espio-
nage and the theft of intellectual property.
The new policies, described in two re-
cent memos to lab directors and other
department officials from DOE Deputy
Secretary Dan Brouillette, would prohibit
DOE-funded researchers working in cer-
tain “emerging research areas and technol-
ogies” from collaborating with colleagues
from “sensitive” countries. A 14 December
201 8 memo says DOE-funded scientists
working in those fields “will be generally
prohibited” from traveling to those coun-
tries, although it does not identify either
the nations or the emerging fields.
A 31 January memo, first reported by The
Wall Street Journal, would bar research-
ers from participating in so-called talentrecruitment programs, which typically in-
volve U.S. scientists spending at least some
time abroad. Many countries sponsor such
programs, but China’s decade-old Thou-
sand Talents program has attracted the
most scrutiny from U.S. officials, both be-
cause it involves thousands of scientists
and because a handful of participants have
been prosecuted by the U.S. government
for espionage.
DOE security policies historically have
focused on protecting nuclear secrets,
says Paul Dabbar, DOE’s undersecretary
for science, who oversees the national labs
and its extramural research program. But
he says that approach does not address
newer technologies, such as quantum in-
formation science and genomics, which
could also alter the balance of power
among nations.
DOE “has done a very good job ... of keep-
ing the peace around highly sensitive tech-
nologies ... and has made certain that certain
types of R&D are held tightly within the
lab context,” he says. “But we’re dealing
with a new reality.”
Dabbar did not quantify how many re-
searchers might be affected by the new
policies. But he says DOE grantees rep-
resent “an extremely narrow segment” of
the overall U.S. scientific community, andthat scientists with other sources of fund-
ing will still have the chance to collabo-
rate with their peers around the world.
“We’re not saying that universities can’t
take money from these countries; that is
their decision,” he explains. But academic
researchers who maintain foreign col-
laborations that DOE deems risky would
no longer be able to compete for depart-
ment grants.
The ban on participating in foreign-
talent programs similarly targets a rela-
tive handful of scientists, he adds. “If
you’re working for [DOE], and taking tax-
payer dollars, we don’t want you to work
for [foreign countries] at the same time,”
he explains.
DOE will allow exemptions for “govern-
ment to government” collaborations, the
December memo notes. That suggests the
policy shouldn’t affect major international
projects such as the ITER fusion experi-
ment under construction near Cadarache
in France, or the Long-Baseline Neutrino
Facility being developed at Fermi Na-
tional Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia,
Illinois. The memo says DOE will also al-
low smaller collaborations if researchers
can provide officials with “a clear descrip-
tion of why this agreement benefits the
United States.”IN DEPTH
By Jeffrey MervisU.S. NATIONAL SECURITYDOE to limit foreign research collaborations
Recent memos describe crackdown on grantees and on lab scientists with foreign ties
New U.S. Department of Energy rules
on foreign ties could affect scientists
at Argonne National Laboratory in
Lemont, Illinois, and other facilities.Published by AAASon February 14, 2019^http://science.sciencemag.org/Downloaded from