Leading US universities are pushing back against a proposed State Department rule that would bar foreign students from more research projects and classes involving information seen as vital to national security.  Barack Obama’s administration proposed the new rule in response to growing worries in Washington over a rise in intellectual property theft from foreign adversaries, such as China.  Research related to defense technology, such as munitions, nuclear engineering and satellite technology, would be particularly affected by the rule, which is still in the proposal process and has not been widely reported.  Defense contractors such as Northrop Grumman, Boeing and Lockheed Martin regularly sponsor university research, but did not respond to requests for comment.  The new rule, which largely applies to company-sponsored research, threatens to shrink the pool of research opportunities available for US colleges, which have grown strongly in popularity among high-paying foreign students in recent years.  Related: Charges withdrawn against professor accused of stealing US secrets for China  Some top US schools do not accept any research grants that restrict participation by foreign citizens because it runs counter to policies of academic freedom and non-discrimination.  In a letter to the State Department, Stanford University said it joined the Association of American Universities (AAU), MIT and the University of Pennsylvania in criticizing the rule, warning of “disastrous consequences”. The AAU represents 62 leading research institutions, including Harvard, Duke University, and the University of Chicago.  The universities say the rule would tip the balance too far in favor of national security against academic freedom.  “We wouldn’t be able to perform the same basic foundational research that we do,” said Stanford’s director of export compliance Steve Eisner. “Stanford has a policy of conducting research openly regardless of citizenship. We’re not going to tell our Chinese students that they can’t participate.”  No current cases of industrial espionage involve university research, though government officials said they suspect university faculty are violating loosely defined research rules.  A 2011 FBI report said “foreign adversaries and competitors take advantage” of the openness of information on college campuses, and that a small percentage of students, researchers and foreign professors are “working at the behest of another government”.  There were just under 1 million foreign students at US colleges in the 2014-2015 school year, 31% of whom were Chinese, according to the Institute of International Education. That has grown from fewer than 100,000 in the 1960s, when the United States began regulating their access to research.  In 2015, the number of intellectual property cases investigated by the FBI rose 53% from the previous year.  The FBI says China is the main culprit. It has accused Chinese nationals of attempting to export technology from the United States, including genetically modified corn seed and sensitive military information stored on Boeing computers.  The Department of Justice said in a statement: “We know that some foreign spies and criminals target students and faculty alike to steal valuable technology and intellectual property.” It added that it was working with universities and laboratories to raise awareness of the threat.  A spokesman for China’s ministry of foreign affairs, Hong Lei, said the US should be improving cooperation with China instead of adding restrictions on foreign students.  “China’s scientific and technological developments have been achieved through the hard struggle of the Chinese people,” Lei said at a ministry briefing on Thursday.  State Department officials said they were aware of universities’ opposition, but had received no complaints or advice from companies that sponsor university research.  Federal funding for research still dwarfs business funding, but the two are trending in opposite directions.  Over the period from 2011 to 2014, federal funds for university research fell to $37.9bn from $40.8bn, according to the National Science Foundation. Over the same period, industry-sponsored university research grew to $5.9bn from $4.9bn.  Experts in counter-terrorism and counter-nuclear proliferation told the State Department tighter restrictions on research access were necessary because universities were “a soft target”, said Tony Dearth, director of defense trade controls licensing at the State Department.  The proposed rule would expand the definition of research classified as “technical” to any project that undergoes a pre-publication review by a private sponsor.  Unlike less-sensitive “fundamental” research, technical research is regulated in a variety of ways including a requirement that foreign students must apply for a license. Students from China, Iran and North Korea are usually denied licenses, said university officials.  The State Department argues that if a company wants to take a second look at research because it may be sensitive to its economic interests, foreign student involvement should be regulated.  Colleges that object to the government’s foreign-student restrictions have long avoided technical research and focused solely on projects classed as fundamental. The new rule would force them to either loosen their policies or give up defense-related research.
Stanford, MIT and University of Pennsylvania join coalition of 62 research institutions in opposing State Department security proposal