National Academy Defends Open Research Policies
Poorly considered security restrictions on unclassified research and limits on foreign scientists’ access to U.S. laboratories could erode U.S. scientific and engineering prowess, a recent report from the National Academy of Sciences concluded.
“The success of U.S. science and engineering has been built on a system of information sharing and open communication, not only among U.S. institutions, but also with the international science and technology communities.”
“Given the current diminishing rates of new scientific and engineering talent in the United States … the size of the U.S. research and development effort cannot be sustained without a significant and steady infusion of foreign nationals,” the report said.
See “To Maintain National Security, U.S. Policies Should Continue to Promote Open Exchange of Research,” NAS news release, October 18.
Our environmental system was built for 1970s-era pollution control, but today it needs stable, integrated, multi-level governance that can make tradeoffs, share and use evidence, and deliver infrastructure while demonstrating that improved trust and participation are essential to future progress.
Durable and legitimate climate action requires a government capable of clearly weighting, explaining, and managing cost tradeoffs to the widest away of audiences, which in turn requires strong technocratic competency.
FAS is launching the Center for Regulatory Ingenuity (CRI) to build a new, transpartisan vision of government that works – that has the capacity to achieve ambitious goals while adeptly responding to people’s basic needs.
This runs counter to public opinion: 4 in 5 of all Americans, across party lines, want to see the government take stronger climate action.