Comment from Sarbani Basu

[200.202(e), 200.220] To Whom it May Concern: I am a professor of astronomy. 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. I am an astronomer, and all of astronomy is international. The day-night cycle on earth makes it imperative that we collaborate with scientists in other countries for continuous observations. Most of my collaborations are international. I use data from the Global Oscillation Network Group. This is a network of 6 telescopes around the world, and this proposed rule would have made it extremely hard, if not impossible, to build some of the stations where they are. And yet, GONG provides crucial data that not only advances science, but also helps with space-weather mitigation efforts. I was a member, and a working-group leader, in the Kepler Asteroseismic Science Consortium (KASC) that had members from about 50 countries worldwide. I am currently a member of the TESS Asteroseismic Science Consortium and a member of its steering committee. Again, this has members from around the world. These two consortia have actually helped in advancing US science. Talking of my field, I can see network of solar telescopes being affected, as well as night-time telescopes based outside the US. The effect will be worse on experiments that study the Earth's ionosphere and magnetosphere --- detectors are placed around the world, and many in countries that might be deemed "undesirable", yet this research is essential for society. Many Chinese and Russian scientists are in consortia that I am a member of. Banning collaboration will harm my science and harm science in the US broadly. These days, the number of papers in my field written by Chinese scientists constitute a large fraction of the papers; collaboration with them will help us remain at the cutting edge. These collaborations allow us to access data available from Chinese facilities (e.g., LAMOST); access to these data will be almost impossible without bilateral collaborations. Science is an international endeavor. Restricting international collaborations will hurt US science badly.