Jeffrey MervisThe U.S. Congress appears poised to pass legislation making uniform what are now a hodgepodge of agency policies on when and how a scientist applying for a federal grant must disclose other sources of funding.The provisions don’t mention China, but they are designed to counter its aggressive moves to obtain cutting-edge technologies by tapping into work funded by the U.S.
government. Legislators from both parties have accused university officials of turning a blind eye to—or worse, being unwittingly complicit in—such attempts to steal government-funded discoveries by failing to keep tabs on the research activities of their faculty members.The new rules are tucked into the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which.