A new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s National Science, Technology, and Security Roundtable (NSTR) concludes that the United States needs to take a multi-pronged approach to maintain the country’s global leadership in science and technology. In addition to protecting the U.S. scientific research enterprise from intellectual property theft and espionage by nations such as China, the report argued, the country must also uphold scientific openness and increase federal investments in research and talent.
The report captures proceedings from the capstone workshop of the roundtable, held last year in July in Washington. The NSTR was first convened in 2020 as a result of a directive contained in the FY20 National Defense Authorization Act to bring together individuals from the scientific research, national intelligence, and law enforcement communities to identify “security threats and risks associated with federally funded research and development” and to identify approaches for mitigating those threats and risks.
As the report noted, the roundtable’s participants identified the People’s Republic of China as raising “the most significant challenge” to U.S. preeminence in science. The report said this owed to China’s increasing investments in science and because of its government’s willingness to engage in nefarious, unethical, and sometimes illegal practices such as stealing intellectual property.
“China has stated S&T [science and technology] ambitions to outcompete the United States and has developed a whole-of-system approach, devoting considerable resources to building a robust and high performing research ecosystem for advancing its national interests,” the report said.
In order to compete with China, the roundtable’s participants agreed that the United States must also develop an “all-of-system approach” that protects research from theft and invests in scientific research infrastructure.
Participants called for “a flexible, risk-based approach” that allows the United States to continue benefiting from the progress that comes with scientific openness and international collaboration, while at the same time protecting sensitive work that has implications for national security.
In addition, participants “felt that the United States can win the current nation-state competition by ‘running faster’” and making much-needed investments in science, including in workforce development. As Kathryn A. Moler, chair of the capstone workshop, wrote, “Federal funding has declined as a percentage of gross domestic product” and the United States needs to “invest sufficiently to remain at the forefront of discovery.” In addition, she wrote, “The best way we can tackle momentous challenges is to cultivate a smart, creative, and capable new generation [of talent], drawing both from domestic and immigrant sources.”
AAU Senior Vice President for Government Relations and Public Policy Toby Smith participated in the capstone workshop and reiterated some of these same arguments in his comments. Smith pointed to the number of actions universities and federal entities have already taken to enhance research security and emphasized the importance of not burdening faculty and institutions with “excessive and duplicative” reporting requirements. He also discussed the need to ensure that the scientific research enterprise remains welcoming to researchers from all backgrounds.
“The United States no longer has a monopoly on the top science,” Smith said at the workshop, continuing: “National security requires investments in fundamental scientific research and not merely walling it off. National security also requires the development of a national talent recruitment, retention, and development strategy. Universities and government must work together to ensure research security, research integrity, and continued scientific openness.”
Kritika Agarwal is senior editorial officer at AAU.