A large government research lab appears to be oppressing foreign scientists

One of the US government officials scientific research labs is taking steps that could drive foreign scientists away, change lawmakers and sources say WIRED could cost the country valuable technology and damage the agency’s credibility.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) helps determine the frameworks that underpin everything from cybersecurity to semiconductor manufacturing. Some of NIST’s recent activities include establishing guidelines for protecting AI systems and identifying health problems with air purifiers and firefighting gloves. Many of the organization’s thousands of employees, postdoctoral scientists, contractors, and visiting researchers are brought in from around the world with their specialized expertise.

“For weeks, rumors of new measures have spread like wildfire, and my staff’s questions at NIST have gone unanswered,” Zoe Lofgren, the top Democrat on the House Science, Environment, and Technology Committee, said. he wrote in a book sent to NIST acting director Craig Burkhardt on Thursday. April McClain Delaney, also a Democrat on the committee, signed the message.

Lofgren wrote that while his staff had heard of several rumored changes, they confirmed with unnamed sources that the Trump administration “has begun to take steps to limit the ability of foreign-born researchers to do their work at NIST.”

The letter of congress follows a Boulder Reporting Lab article on February 12 that said international graduate students and postdoctoral researchers will be limited to three years at NIST going forward, despite many of them needing five to seven years to complete their work.

A NIST employee tells WIRED that some plans to bring in foreign workers through the Agency’s Research and Experience program were recently canceled because of uncertainty about whether they would pass new security agreements. The employee, who did not want to be named because they are not authorized to speak to the media, said that the agency has not discussed in detail what the new restrictions will be or why it believes they are appropriate.

Thursday, Colorado Sun report that “non-citizens” lost after-hours access to the NIST lab last month and may be banned from the facility altogether.

Jennifer Huergo, a spokeswoman for NIST, tells WIRED that the proposed changes are intended to protect American science from theft and abuse, echoing a similar statement released this week to other media outlets. Huergo declined to comment on who must approve the proposal for it to be finalized and when a decision will be made. He did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawyers’ letter.

Preventing foreign adversaries from stealing valuable American intelligence has been a top priority for both sides, and NIST is among the agencies to find out in recent years. congressional scrutiny about the adequacy of its background checks and security policies. Just last month, Republican lawmakers renewed calls imposing restrictions that prevent Chinese nationals from working in national laboratories run by the Ministry of Energy.

But Lofgren’s letter argues that the rumored restrictions on non-US scientists at NIST go beyond “what is reasonable and appropriate to protect research security.” The letter calls for the new policies to be unveiled on February 26 and to be put on hold “until Congress can consider whether these changes are necessary.”

The potential loss of research talent at NIST would add to a series of other Trump administration policies that some US tech industry leaders have warned will disrupt the lives of immigrant researchers already living in the US and hamper economic growth. Travel expenses are open IH-1B tech visacanceling thousands of student visas, and doing so the legal deportation of many people they all represent a push for people eager to work in science and technology in the US to go elsewhere instead. The Trump administration also announced mitigation plans post-graduate work training for international students.

Pat Gallagher, who served as director of NIST from 2009 to 2013 under President Barack Obama, says the changes could erode trust in the agency, which has long provided the technological foundation that industry and governments around the world rely on. “What makes NIST special is that it’s scientifically credible,” he told WIRED. “Industry, universities, and the global measurement community knew they could work with NIST.”

Like much of the federal government, NIST has been in turmoil for much of the past year. Parts of it were paralyzed for months rumors of DOGE making the cut spreading. In the end, the agency lost hundreds of thousands of its employees due to budget cuts, and the impending funding pressure.

Since a few years ago, NIST was adopted 800 researchers on average every year outside the US to work in its offices and interact directly with employees.

Lofgren expressed fear that the rumors could be enough to scare off researchers and destroy US competitiveness in important research. “Our scientific success depends on attracting the best and brightest from around the world,” he wrote in the letter.

This story first appeared on wired.com.