Balancing Scientific Publication and National Security Concerns: Issues for Congress Page: 5 of 34
This report is part of the collection entitled: Congressional Research Service Reports and was provided to UNT Digital Library by the UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.
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CRS-2
Research in an Age of Terrorism, which recommended an oversight structure, based
on institutional biosafety committees, for research in select areas of concern.
Following some of the recommendations presented in the National Academies'
report, the Department of Health and Human Services established the National
Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity. Policymakers may wish to determine what
changes, if any, should be made to current government policy regarding publication
of federally funded research results, and whether the options currently under
consideration adequately balance the concerns and needs of the security and scientific
communities.
Since the 1950s, the United States has developed an established policy of
identifying, prior to publication, areas of basic and applied research where
information controls may be required. This research, typically related to weapon
systems or nuclear technologies, may be designated classified and have strict
information controls placed upon it. When fundamental research is not classified,
no other information controls are placed upon it.
This policy remained essentially unchanged until the 1970s when controls were
developed on the export of domestically developed, advanced, dual-use technologies
and technological information.4 Under export control regulations, even if a
technology is barred from export, the fundamental, basic science underlying the
technology is generally exempt from controls and can be published in the open
literature.
In the early 1980s, foreign student and scientist access to technological
information that might fall under export control regulations became the focus of a
Department of Defense effort to restrict such information presented in classrooms
and conferences. In 1985, following a report from the National Academy of Sciences
asserting that openness in science leads to stronger long-term security,5 President
Reagan issued National Security Decision Directive 189 (NSDD-189), reiterating that
fundamental research results were to be controlled only through classification.
NSDD-189 continues to define federal policy on restricting the dissemination of
fundamental research results.
Since that time, the conduct of science and the composition of the scientific
community have become increasingly international, and there have been growing
concerns about the effectiveness of export control regulations. The internationalspread and independent development of dual-use technologies has made the United
States less often a sole technology source. Concern that export control regulation is
negatively impacting domestic business prosperity has led to attempts to lower the
trade barriers erected by export control. Additionally, the presence of foreign
students and scientists in the United States has increased the availability of education
and training in basic skills which may be transferred to other countries upon the
return of those individuals to their home countries.
4 Dual-use technologies are those technologies that have both a legitimate civilian and
military use.
5 National Academy of Sciences, Scientific Communication and National Security,
(Washington DC: National Academy Press), 1982.
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Shea, Dana A. Balancing Scientific Publication and National Security Concerns: Issues for Congress, report, December 16, 2004; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metacrs6030/m1/5/?q=%22science%20policy%22: accessed May 2, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.