Proposed US panel would review visa applications for students of sensitive
science. | By Harvey Black
According to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP),
students from nations that sponsor terrorism could be learning in American
universities the very skills they need to harm the US later on. To address
this potential threat,
OSTP is proposing a special panel to review visa applications from would-be
students of "sensitive" science — a change from current policy, under which
the State Department performs background checks on such visa applicants —
and some worry, a possible threat to learning and research.
The House of Representatives Science Committee heard testimony on October 10
from OSTP director John Marburger about the need for an Interagency Panel on
Advanced Science and Security (IPASS). The panel would take over review of
visa applications from foreign nationals planning study in fields such as
nuclear engineering, organic chemistry, biotechnology-related disciplines,
and others that might be applied to warfare.
In addition, Marburger told the committee, "IPASS will assess what uniquely
available sensitive scientific knowledge is emerging, where it is available,
and which terrorist organizations might be trying to gain access to it. IPASS
will work closely with US educational institutions and scientific societies
in this effort."
At the hearing, committee member Ralph Hall of Texas echoed OSTP's concerns,
stating, "We must be sure that we don't help train the enemy. We did just that
for the 9-11 cowards by allowing them to go to flight schools. If we do that
again with biological and chemical agents, the price would be unthinkable."
However, testimony from University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC) chancellor
M.R.C. Greenwood reminded the committee that the US is "no longer the only
nation that can provide access to specialized information," likening restrict-
ions on foreign students to "closing the barn door after the horse has left."
She added, "We would be much better advised to strengthen our overall science
and technology enterprise than to try to restrict access."
Details of the rules under which IPASS would operate have not been made public,
but the Association of American Universities (AAU), representing some 60 US
institutions, supports the idea, according to spokeswoman Victoria Churchville.
She noted,
though, "We are also very concerned about academic freedom. It's important to
us that we continue to do the great job that we already do of picking the best
and brightest scientists and researchers from wherever they appear and shepherd
them into a safe and free research environment." In addition, Churchville said,
the onus of screening students should be on the federal government and not on
universities.
The number of foreign students who would be affected is not substantial, accor-
ding to a recent study by Georgia State University economics professor Paula
Stephan. Using National Science Foundation (NSF) data, Stephan and colleagues
determined that
during the 1990s US universities awarded 62,000 doctorates to holders of temp-
orary visas, 1215 of whom were from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Sudan, and Syria —
nations the government has labeled sponsors of terrorism. Of those degrees,
only 147 were conferred in sensitive research areas, Stephan found, and she
thinks the White House's concern may be overblown.
"I can't say the numbers convince us that they didn't learn anything that was
sensitive. But it's a very small number," Stephan told The Scientist. "Even if
it were zero, people wouldn't want to think we're completely safe. But we bel-
ieve in sharing knowledge. That's what the scientific enterprise is about."
Stephan undertook the study in order "to inform the debate" over foreign stud-
ent visas in light of heightened terrorism awareness, she said, and concludes
that universities may well have a role to play in the effort to deal with pot-
ential terror threats in this arena.
"Probably the best implementation is to get heavy 'buy-in' at the local level.
People in the Physics Department at the University of Wisconsin, for example,
have a pretty good idea of what their students are studying," she explained.
"They're going to have a much clearer idea than somebody in Washington looking
at somebody's visa application, and so at least you have to have people at the
local level sharing some of these concerns."