Comment from Daniel Borrero

[200.202(e), 200.220] To Whom it May Concern: My name is Daniel Borrero and I am Chair of the Physics Department at Willamette University and a fluid dynamics researcher. I am writing in my personal capacity to oppose the proposed revisions to sections 200.202(e) and 200.220 that would restrict international scientific collaboration and isolate American scientists. Back in 2008, I was part of a team that led the Hands-on School on Complex Systems Research. As part of this project, we conducted a two week workshop in Cameroon, which was attended by participants from 50 African nations. As a result of this workshop, several of the American faculty were able to meet incredibly gifted students, who then came and did ground breaking research in the US and then returned to the their home countries and started new research groups. Many of these groups actively collaborate with faculty in the US. Overall, participants left with an improved opinion of the US and it was a minor soft power win. Had the policy laid out in Section 200.220 been in place, this summer school might likely not have taken place given that there were participants from a number of countries that are facing sanctions or are otherwise considered "undesirable" by US foreign policy. With the ebbs and flows of international relations and how they evolve as different parties come into power in the US, many much larger collaborations might be in jeopardy. Large scientific instruments/facilities like the Large Hadron Collider or the International Space Station that the US has invested billion of dollars in, might become inaccessible to US scientists or might have to be shut down if the US withdraws funding. Building equivalent infrastructure in the US would not only be redundant, but it would be incredibly expensive. Science thrives when the best people are working together. This requires unimpeded collaboration across national borders, despite any political tensions that there might be between countries. The policies proposed in Section 200.220 weaken the United States position on the world scientific stage and could take us from being a leader to being a pariah (or at least a bureaucratic black hole that nobody wants to deal with).