National Science, Technology, and Security Roundtable Capstone: Proceedings of a Workshop (2025)
Chapter: 1 Introduction
1
Introduction
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s National Science, Technology, and Security Roundtable (NSTSR) was called for in the Fiscal Year 2020 National Defense Authorization Act1 to bring together individuals from federal research agencies, intelligence, law enforcement, academic research, and business communities to explore critical issues related to protecting U.S. national and economic security while ensuring the open exchange of ideas and the international talent required for American leadership in science and technology (S&T). The NSTSR’s original charge can be found in its Statement of Task in Box 1-1. The NSTSR’s discussions evolved to focus on security threats resulting from the open and collaborative nature of research and efforts by foreign actors to exploit federally funded research using illicit methods. The NSTSR also broadened the scope of its work beyond the focus on research security in the Statement of Task to include challenges facing U.S. global preeminence in S&T and ways to enhance U.S. S&T capabilities and competitiveness.
Between November 2020 and May 2024, the NSTSR held a total of 14 meetings. These included regional meetings around the United States where the NSTSR engaged with researchers, institutions, national laboratories, and industry representatives in the region to gather information and perspectives on a range of issues pertaining to research security
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1 National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020, P.L. 116-92, Section 1746(b).
BOX 1-1
National Science, Technology, and Security Roundtable Statement of Task
The open exchange of scientific and technical information has long been a fundamental tenet of science and an important feature of academic and federally funded research in the United States. Recent reports of foreign governments acquiring information and materials from foreign students and faculty studying and working in U.S. institutions and from U.S. faculty engaged in collaborative research activities abroad are raising concerns that the open exchange of U.S. scientific and technical know-how may be presenting new national and economic security risks in an increasingly global and competitive environment. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine will establish a National Science, Technology, and Security Roundtable to provide a neutral venue where individuals from the national intelligence and law enforcement communities can meet with representatives from industry and the academic research community to discuss current threats, benefits, and potential risks. The roundtable will (1) explore critical issues related to protecting U.S. national and economic security; (2) identify and consider security threats and risks associated with federally funded research and development; (3) identify effective approaches to communicating threats and risks; (4) share best practices for addressing and mitigating the threats and risks; and (5) examine potential near- and long-term responses by stakeholders in the research enterprise to mitigate and address the risks associated with foreign threats. Proceedings of the roundtable discussions will be produced as will an overarching summary at the end of 4 years.
(see Appendix A for abbreviated agendas of NSTSR regional meetings). Regional meetings were held at the University of Maryland, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Northwestern University, Hoover Institution at Stanford University, and Texas A&M University.2 The NSTSR also convened a workshop on November 14 and 15, 2022, entitled Openness,
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2 For NSTSR and regional meeting agendas from 2020 to 2024, see https://www.dropbox.com/home/NSTSR%20Capstone%20Workshop%20July%2016-17%2C%202024/NSTSR%20Meeting%20Agendas%202020-2024.
International Engagement, and the Federally Funded Science and Technology Research Enterprise.3
On July 16 and 17, 2024, an ad hoc committee under the auspices of the National Academies convened a Capstone Workshop in Washington, D.C.,4 which served as the culmination of the NSTSR’s 4 years of convenings. The Capstone Workshop focused on national security issues resulting from the way in which federally funded research is conducted in the United States, efforts to exploit the open research ecosystem, and ways to mitigate risks. The workshop was structured to highlight how different stakeholders perceive threats to the U.S. S&T ecosystem, what has been done to address threats, and what should be done. The workshop also focused on things the United States should do to enhance our S&T capabilities and global competitiveness.
The workshop included panels on the work of the NSTSR; the U.S. research system’s role in national and economic security; the evolution of university and national lab responses on research security; the evolution of funding agency responses on research security; the evolution of law enforcement agency responses on research security; the nature of the geopolitical challenge; legislative, regulatory, and other types of responses on research security; and potential near- and long-term responses on research security.
Members of the NSTSR served as moderators for panel sessions, with each having the option to provide their perspectives from their 4 years of work with the roundtable during the session. Panel presentations were followed by discussion. At the end of the workshop, members of the NSTSR offered concluding reflections on issues of U.S. national security and the U.S. S&T ecosystem.
The NSTSR Capstone Workshop was organized by a planning committee whose role was limited to identification of topics and speakers. This Proceedings of the Capstone Workshop was prepared by a rapporteur as a factual summary of the presentations and discussions that took place at the workshop. Statements, recommendations, and opinions expressed are those of individual presenters and participants and do not necessarily represent
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3 For Proceedings in Brief from the NSTSR workshop Openness, International Engagement, and the Federally Funded Science and Technology Research Enterprise, see https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/27091/openness-international-engagement-and-the-federally-funded-science-and-technology-research-enterprise.
4 See Appendixes B–E for the Capstone Workshop agenda, advance reading materials, slide presentations, and biographies for Capstone Workshop participants.
the positions of the workshop participants as a whole, the planning committee, or the National Academies, and should not be construed as reflecting any group consensus.
