Does accountability legislation threaten integrity of U.S. research enterprise?

Mildred Dresselhaus coauthored a report to be released Feb. 17.

National Academy of Sciences (NAS) President Bruce M. Alberts was so concerned by the accountability provision buried in last year's "omnibus" budget legislation that on Jan. 26 he sent a letter to Office of Management and Budget Director Jacob Lew in which he writes that he's "convinced that the new legislation will have serious, unintended consequences for the nation's research enterprise." Speaking at the recent American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) meeting as part of a symposium on emerging science policy issues, Rosina Bierbaum, associate director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, called the accountability provision a "sleeper." The provision states that all data produced by federal funding must be available to the public under FOIA, a 1966 law intended to make the government more accountable to the public. Prior to the addition, only sponsor...