The Department of Energy's Foreign Visitors Program is also under attack.
A number of the congressional initiatives calling for a moratorium on
foreign visitors directly target the Program. In the aftermath of the
Wen case, Secretary Richardson requested that the Secretary of Energy
Advisory Board form a working group to assess the policies and practices
of the DOE with regard to foreign visitors at the Department's laboratories
and to assess the balance between security and science. Proposed initiatives
seem to ignore the report produced by the working group, which stresses
that international collaborations are essential to the scientific and
technological strength of the United States. The report goes on to state
that these collaborations can take place without jeopardizing national
security and that they should continue.
According to Under-Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz, any kind of moratorium
would be devastating to our science and national security. Scientific
programs would be interrupted, and scientists who leave may not return.
Background
Free Exchange of Scientific Information
Foreign Visitors Program
Fallout on the Chinese Community
University Research Centers
AAAS Project Summary
