United States Research Protection Act
The United States Research Protection Act would clarify and tighten the government’s rules around “malign foreign talent recruitment” by refining the definition of the term “foreign country” to “foreign country of concern” in the applicable statute. It also reorganizes the related provision’s subparagraph structure and broadens the restriction to cover both direct and indirect means of recruitment or placement. In practical terms, the bill aims to close loopholes by ensuring that recruitment activities connected to countries of concern—whether carried out directly or through intermediaries—fall within the restriction and are subject to oversight or prohibition as defined by the law. The changes are technical (primarily edits to how the provision is worded and structured) but collectively signal a tighter, more comprehensive scope for the malign foreign talent recruitment restriction in federal research policy. The bill as written is currently in the Senate after a House passage, and would affect how U.S. research institutions, universities, and employers comply with restrictions on certain foreign talent recruitment activities.
Key Points
- 1Adds the qualifier “of concern” to the term “foreign country” wherever it appears, creating a more focused category of countries that trigger the malign foreign talent recruitment restriction.
- 2Reframes and clarifies the statutory language by replacing the starting wording of the defined term with “means any program, position, or activity,” ensuring the restriction covers the full range of involved activities.
- 3Eliminates subparagraph (B) from the list within the section, and renumbers the remaining items from (i)-(ix) to (A)-(I) with formatting adjustments.
- 4Expands applicability to include recruitment or placement that is provided indirectly, by replacing “directly provided” with “whether directly or indirectly provided.”
- 5Finalizes the grammatical structure of the section so the restricted activities end with a clear period, removing trailing conjunctions.