Federal government funding agencies are under a mandate to ensure US taxpayer-funded research is not being exploited by foreign governments in ways that reduce the benefit to or even harm US national security. One of the new approaches to meeting this objective is withholding funding when elevated risks are identified unless it is determined that the risks can be effectively mitigated.
The government has identified entities that have been determined to pose a risk to U.S. national security, including to U.S. federally funded research. Before funding decisions are finalized, the collaborations (people and entities) of proposed key personnel are reviewed for elevated risk factors. Required disclosures in Current and Pending, Other Support, Biographical Sketches, and COA Tables, are reviewed and assessed for risk. In addition, through the use of AI-driven tools that search and analyze publication indices, prior publications, current and past affiliations, and funding acknowledgments, are reviewed for risk factors and to determine potential non-disclosure by key personnel. Collaborations, affiliations, or other activity with entities on the U.S. Government restricted entities lists are a key factor in reviews.
[Note: All co-authors on publications on which a federal award is acknowledged are assessed for risk. It is critical to disclose all collaborators and collaborating entities on a proposal, according to the requirements of each agency, not just those with which there was direct funding.]
In addition to these reviews, many of the agencies are or plan to include prohibitions on collaborating with these entities, and researchers affiliated with them, as a condition of award. The Department of War (all components) will now include these provisions for new awards and the National Science Foundation recently issued a draft policy with the same provisions. Other agencies, including the Department of Energy and the National Institutes of Health, are also considering similar prohibitions.
The restricted entities are contained in thirteen (13) lists maintained by various U.S. Government agencies and/or codified in law. Recognizing the challenge in searching for an entity name among these 13 lists, this tool was designed to provide you with a single checkpoint. Enter the name of the institution in the search bar. If the institution is restricted, the lists on which the institution is included will appear in the search results.
In addition to using this tool to search potential collaborator institutions and co-authorships, it is also highly recommended that you consult this search tool before: 1) accepting invitations to international conferences, in order to determine if the organizer(s) and hosting institution or key sponsors are listed entities; 2) accepting gifts; 3) accepting editorial board roles with international journals.
This tool does not yet have a fuzzy search capability, so the name of the institution needs to be spelled correctly. If you are uncertain of the spelling or have questions, please contact the Research Security Office: researchsecurity@umd.edu.
[Note: While these are the lists referenced by agencies in their review matrices and policies, there may still be other concerns about an institution that is not listed, if that institution is in a Foreign Country of Concern (FCOC), defined in Public Law 117-176 as China, Russia, Iran and North Korea. The University has received queries from funding agencies regarding collaborations with institutions that are not currently listed. Please contact the Research Security Office if you would like to discuss a prospective collaborator from a FCOC.]