The document summarizes concerns held by major U.S. research universities regarding the Department of Defense (DOD) Inspector General’s March 2004 report on export-controlled technology at research facilities. The primary issue raised is the potential requirement, as recommended by the DOD IG, to insert broad, mandatory export control compliance clauses into DOD contracts with universities without adequately acknowledging the long-standing “fundamental research exclusion” (as established by NSDD-189). This exclusion protects university-based fundamental research from the typical export control licensing and access restrictions due to its open and public nature. University representatives warn that failing to recognize this exclusion would result in an inappropriate and burdensome proliferation of export control terms in research contracts and subcontracts, especially those stemming from industry partners. Such changes could be difficult to reverse and risk hampering collaborative, multidisciplinary research activities, including those involving foreign nationals.
Additional concerns center on the feasibility and cost of implementing new physical and procedural security requirements on open campuses, and the inapplicability of certain security models (such as those developed for biological agents) to other fields like computer science and engineering, where technological diffusion is broad and consumer access is widespread. The document emphasizes that DOD-supported basic (6.1) and applied (6.2) research should continue to be recognized as “fundamental” and excluded from export controls. Universities urge the DOD to clarify policy interpretations and involve the academic community in developing any new compliance language. Ultimately, the universities caution that implementing the IG report’s recommendations as proposed would introduce significant administrative burdens, limit participation by international scholars, undermine research openness, and weaken the productive partnership between U.S. universities and defense agencies.
