Pentagon effort could chill US innovation

A post on the USACM Technology Policy blog points out likely consequences of an effort by the Department of Defense to create new restrictions on foreign researchers’ access to export-controlled technology.

College officials fear that the mandate, if instituted as currently drawn, would drastically curtail academic freedom in laboratories where such studies are performed and in fields of research where large numbers of the graduate students participating in studies are foreigners...

An arguably greater fear is that deemed export control policy will ultimately have a chilling effect on research and development of new technologies in the United States by limiting or encumbering the work of talented individuals and encouraging organizations to move research activities overseas in an effort to remain competitive.