Lawmakers on Capitol Hill are considering expanding a ban on preventing all foreign-born nationals from adversarial nations from working in the Department of Energy’s (DoE) 17 national labs, citing risks of espionage.
During a Feb. 20 hearing of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, legislators and witnesses agreed on the need for increased cybersecurity protections to counter DoE staffers who may be conducting espionage and gaining access to sensitive information on technological advancements critical to U.S. national security.
“From the Manhattan Project to cutting edge AI [artificial intelligence] research, DoE’s national labs have pushed the boundaries of innovation and strengthened our national security, but for those very same reasons, they’ve also become a prime target for espionage,” committee Chairman Mike Lee, R-Utah, in opening statements.
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