Comment from Rouven Essig

[200.202(e), 200.220] To Whom it May Concern: I am a professor in theoretical particle physics. 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. My research group includes graduate students from the US and multiple other countries, including China, and I collaborate regularly with scientists at institutions around the world. These are normal and essential features of how theoretical physics is done. Requiring explicit agency approval for each such interaction would impose a bureaucratic burden entirely disproportionate to any conceivable risk, and would send a chilling message to the international students and researchers who have chosen to build their scientific careers in the United States. I urge OMB not to finalize these provisions as proposed, and to ensure that any national security measures are narrowly tailored so that they do not impede legitimate and beneficial scientific collaboration in fields that have no national security implications whatsoever.