Before Investing More in R&D, We Must Secure Research Institutions From Outside Threats

There’s a chance for bipartisan legislation that would do so, but universities are resistant to potential restrictions on international students.

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The Senate is expected to pass the United States Innovation and Competition Act of 2021 before breaking for the Memorial Day recess. The bipartisan package would authorize large funding increases for federal research and development. While the bill’s future in the House of Representatives is unclear, the ongoing debate on Capitol Hill has revealed strong bipartisan support for protecting American campuses and research centers from nation-state threats. 

The centerpiece of the legislation is the Endless Frontier Act, bipartisan legislation sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and 13 co-sponsors. The act would expand the mission of the National Science Foundation to include funding for technological innovation and authorize large funding increases for NSF. The package also includes more than $50 billion in appropriations to promote the American semiconductor sector, including to pay for new programs authorized by the National Defense Authorization Act in December. A central purpose of the overall package is to compete with the Chinese government’s industrial policy and plans to achieve technological superiority in the coming years.

But a key question about the legislation as it advances on Capitol Hill is whether the final package will include new security requirements to protect research institutions from ongoing nation-state espionage exposed by recent bipartisan investigations led by Ohio Sen. Rob Portman. Failing to require colleges and universities to update their security measures could allow foreign adversaries to steal sensitive information about the innovative new technologies funded by new federal R&D investment.

The Biden administration and congressional leaders have a unique opportunity to achieve bipartisan consensus by pairing historic federal investments in research and development with security measures to protect American innovations from nation-state espionage. But they must overcome resistance from American universities that are opposed to new reporting requirements and potential restrictions on foreign students studying in the United States.

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  1. mle

    Theoretically interesting, but practically difficult. If you look at the major universities with STEM graduate programs, a huge percentage of the graduate students are foreign, and most of them are from Russia/China/India. I attended the Stanford Management Science and Engineering graduation a few years ago, and almost none of the people graduating from their masters and PhD programs were American-born. If we want to promote research in the sciences at our universities, we will continue to have foreign students learning our cutting edge technology until we can convince American students to stop majoring in sociology/English/journalism and instead pick a STEM major and then science grad school instead of business school.

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      David Chen

      Well my state of California is going to make math and the SAT racist. If that becomes mainstream, don't expect many natives from even having the basic competencies to attend those programs.

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  2. P Satter

    Very interesting article. The "According to the Justice Department" link provided is quite an eye-opening read.
    The financial stability of American universities should not rely on their facilitation of US taxpayers indirectly funding R&D for the People's Republic of China.


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  3. Mary Stine

    A family we are friends with sponsored a Chinese exchange student. A year after her arrival the student admonished the father, a designer and craftsman, to never publish his work on social media, as it would be instantly copied by China.
    I also think it's telling that universities are opposing this legislation. I've watched the tuition of even state universities in the Midwest skyrocket over the last 20 years. How much of this is due to foreign students being willing and able to spend far above the "local" average? The state of Kansas used to have a free tuition program at its State universities for Kansas high school graduates who qualified academically. Then some of our Republican lawmakers began denigrating this as "freeloading" and eventually succeeded in ending it altogether just as tuition began to soar out of reach. I am not opposed to universities or even professors making money, but I am opposed to graft and corruption anywhere. The greater scrutiny of our colleges, the better.
    Then maybe we could comment on the inconsistencies of organizations like the NCAA and get somewhere.

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    MatthewRobin

    Great to see this issue being taken seriously by politicians. I hope the bills can work its way through the committee system and be further improved. For example, Yuval Levin asks good questions about which agencies should be the recipient of this new funding. https://www.nationalreview.com/2021/05/the-right-way-to-supercharge-american-rd/

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    Jason Gibson

    people funneling technology to China?

    Cold War II anyone?

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