NSF SECURE Center
Research Security Briefing

Science reports that grant managers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and NASA have recently placed restrictions on the ability of U.S. scientists to publish with co-authors from other countries.  NIH units are privately instructing grantees to request prior approval for “foreign components” for any co-authorship with a researcher affiliated with a foreign institution, even when all the work was conducted in the United States.  In some cases, NIH grantees have been asked to remove published papers with foreign co-authors from annual research performance progress reports (RPPRs), creating an incentive to preemptively drop foreign collaborators from planned publications.  Concurrently, NASA has reportedly told some grantees that papers co-authored with researchers affiliated with Chinese entities may have violated the Wolf Amendment, which prohibits use of NASA funds for bilateral collaboration with China.  Neither agency has publicly issued formal guidance.  (more)

In a complete US-China scientific divorce, humanity loses
(University World News, 5/25/2026)

Writing in University World News, Denis Simon of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft argues that, while tightening restrictions on US-China scientific collaboration may be understandable given legitimate concerns about research security, intellectual property, and dual-use technologies, a move toward full decoupling would be a strategic mistake.  For nearly four decades, Simon asserts, the US-China relationship produced an interdependent innovation ecosystem, with Chinese scholars becoming integral to American research, and those returning to China helping to transform their country into a major scientific power, with joint work yielding advances in public health, climate science, and pandemic preparedness that neither country could have achieved alone. Simon calls instead for "selective cooperation" with stronger safeguards for genuinely sensitive technologies, but sustained collaboration in areas of shared global interest such as climate change, where complete disengagement would be counterproductive. (more)

RISC Bulletin

Texas A&M University’s Research and Innovation Security and Competitiveness (RISC) Institute disseminates weekly RISC Media Bulletins, covering topics related to research security, foreign influence, and the intersection of science, technology, and national security.  To join the distribution list for the RISC Bulletin or view previous editions, click here.