I assume everyone received the Grants Office's email reminder about the protection of research information, especially against "foreign nationals," or even a conference where foreign nationals may be in attendance.

Does this bother anyone in the least bit?  (I'm not making any suggestion about the Grants Office, I'm talking about the subject matter.)  The email dealt with what would seem fairly straight-forward topics of national security, such as the obvious topics of nuclear or military research.  But what of other topics and where is the line?  In today's world where even knowledge about another culture, e.g., the Taliban or Kurds, is and will be used by our federal government to their advantage, it would seem that there is no research that could not be construed to fall under "national security."  Even the seemingly innocuous research conducted by cultural anthropologists or sociologists, and their eventual publication, could be construed as "breeching national security."  What if a "foreign national" at UTC is conducting research on American culture?  Would that put them at risk for "spying," especially in the wake of the so-called Patriot Act.  Would a foreign national have to apply for approval for research that an American citizen would not?  Where is the line between this "deemed export control" and "intellectual" or "academic freedom?"  When dealing with nuclear physics I can understand a little more, but it seems that in today's world, even someone’s research on subways systems (sociology) or urban water treatment plants (environmental science) would have to run through the "deemed export approval process."  These are suspected targets, are they not?

As a forensic anthropologist, I conduct research on methods to identify the dead; research that could be used by the American military's Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP) to identify bodies or aid in cause of death determinations of war victims (both sides).  Although I am adjunct faculty and my research is mostly conducted under the rubric of the medical examiner system, this "deemed export control" requirement makes me feel like anything I present at a conference is something that our military/government would potentially use, and therefore potentially lay "national security" claim to.  And you can bet there are plenty of foreign scientists at the forensic meetings I attend (all very nice people I might add).  

Where is this line?  Or do we just have to run everything by the US gov't before researching or presenting our findings?  In my opinion, this announcement is disturbing to my intellectual freedom, even though it may have been on the books long before this email.  My responsibility to disseminate scientific information for the good of humanity supersedes any worldly governmental requirement.  

I'm not in the middle of any such research (well, I don't think) but I would like to hear other's comments about this, and where the line is between what research needs to be protected and what doesn't.  This announcement makes it sound as if everything we (researchers, in whatever field) do "could be used against us."  

Tom Bodkin, MA, F-AAFS
Forensic Anthropologist, Hamilton County MEO
Adjunct, Dept. of Sociology, Anthropology, and Geography