Federal Research: Agencies Need to Enhance Policies to Address Foreign Influence
Federal Research: Agencies Need to Enhance Policies to Address Foreign Influence, Report no. GAO-21-130, Dec, 2020
To protect U.S. investments in scientific research from undue foreign influence, federal agencies should have conflict of interest policies and require researchers to disclose foreign interests. Two of the 5 agencies we reviewed do not have agency-wide financial conflict of interest policies, and none of the 5 have non-financial policies (e.g., for researchers with multiple professional appointments). But all require researchers to disclose some non-financial interests in grant proposals—like foreign-provided lab space. We recommended that agencies develop agency-wide conflict of interest policies to help them assess risks of foreign influence.
Publication type:
policy brief
Publication language:
English
Publication date:
2020
Publication URL:
https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-21-130
Institute:
Science, Technology Assessment, and Analytics team of the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) (STAA)
Country:
United States of America
Project:
Federal Research: Agencies Need to Enhance Policies to Address Foreign Influence (STAA)

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