“In this age of science we must build legal foundations that are sound in science as well as in law.”
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court Stephen G. Breyer, February 1998

Committee on a New Government-University Partnership for Science and Security

This study is sponsored by the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health

With encouragement from the House Science Committee and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, NSF and NIH have requested that the Committee on Science, Technology, and Law establish an ad hoc Committee on a New Government-University Partnership for Science and Security.

This new Committee has been charged with organizing three regional meetings that will 1) bring together faculty and research administrators, government officials from research and national security agencies, and congressional members; and 2) focus on a. restrictive clauses in federal contracts and grants; b. dissemination of scientific information; c. sensitive but unclassified information; and d. the management of biological agents in academic research. Each regional meeting will address all four topics, although with different emphasis depending on the research focus of a particular host institution/region. To the extent possible, the Committee will ask the host institutions to provide data on how their institutions are handling these four issues.

The Committee will organize a convocation in Washington, DC in 2006 where it will report on what it has learned from the regional meetings. Finally, the Committee will issue a report identifying the key issues raised during the regional meetings along with the range of policy considerations available. Briefings of the interested communities will follow release of the report.

The Committee will hold its first meeting in Washington, DC on January 12-13, 2006. The regional meetings will be held in Spring/Summer 2006.

Agenda for the First Regional Meeting is forthcoming.