The Trump administration is directing USDA officials to investigate foreign scientists collaborating with the agency on research papers for evidence of “subversive or criminal activity.”
The new directive, part of a broader effort to tighten oversight of research with foreign partners, requires officials in the agency’s research division to use Google to check the backgrounds of all foreign nationals collaborating with scientists. Records reviewed by ProPublica show that the names of the scientists who received the reports were sent to the agency’s national security experts.
At a meeting last month, USDA regulators pushed back against the directive, with some calling it an “extraordinary situation” and others expressing shock and confusion, according to audio recordings reviewed by ProPublica.
USDA frequently collaborates with scientists based at universities in the United States and abroad. Some agency officials told ProPublica they were uncomfortable with the new requirements because they felt scientists could be targeted by the administration. Employees say students and postdocs are especially vulnerable because many are in the U.S. on temporary visas or green cards.
Jennifer Jones, director of the Center for Science and Democracy at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said the directive was a “return to McCarthyism” and could encourage scientists to avoid collaborating with the “best and brightest” researchers around the world.
“Asking scientists to spy on and report on their fellow co-authors” is a “classic feature of authoritarianism,” Jones said. The Union of Concerned Scientists is an organization that advocates for the integrity of science.
Jones was not aware of the directive until he was contacted by ProPublica, but said he had never witnessed such extreme policies during any previous administration or in his career as an academic scientist.
The new policy applies to pending scientific publications co-authored by USDA Agricultural Research Service employees who conduct research on crop yields, invasive species, plant genetics, and other agricultural issues.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has directed officials to prohibit USDA researchers from collaborating or publishing with scientists from “countries of concern,” including China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia, and Venezuela.
But the agency also vets scientists from countries not considered “countries of concern” before deciding whether USDA researchers can publish papers. Records reviewed by ProPublica show that officials included the names of foreign co-authors from countries such as Canada and Germany on a list shared with the Department of Homeland Security. The bureau leads the Department of Agriculture’s security initiatives and includes divisions that work with federal intelligence agencies. The records do not say what authorities plan to do with the list of names.
Asked about the change, the USDA sent a statement noting that during his first term, President Donald Trump signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at strengthening protections for U.S.-funded research across the federal government from interference by foreign governments. “The Department of Agriculture under the Biden administration has spent four years failing to implement this directive,” the statement said. The agency said Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins last year introduced “long-needed changes within USDA’s research operations, including a ban on publications written by foreign nationals from countries of concern.”
According to a page on the USDA website updated in 2024, international research is essential to the work of the Agricultural Research Service, and “from learning how to mitigate diseases before they reach the United States to testing models and crops in diverse growing conditions to accessing resources not available in the United States, collaboration with international partners provides solutions to current and future agricultural challenges.”
Still, the U.S. government has long worried that agricultural researchers act as spies, sometimes with good reason. In 2016, Chinese scientist Mo Hailong was sentenced to three years in prison for conspiring to steal patented corn seeds. And in 2022, Xiang Haitao admitted to stealing trade secrets from Monsanto.
National security questions have also been raised about the recent increase in foreign ownership of farmland. In 2022, Congress appropriated funding to establish a center to educate U.S. researchers on how to protect data in international collaborations.
Foreign researchers have faced increasing obstacles since President Trump took office last year. In March, a French researcher attending a conference was denied entry to the United States after his cell phone was searched at the airport and messages critical of President Trump were found. Last spring, the National Institutes of Health blocked researchers from China, Russia and other “countries of concern” from accessing various biomedical databases. And in August, the Department of Homeland Security proposed shortening the length of stay in the country for international students.
But the USDA’s latest directive represents a significant escalation, casting doubt on all researchers from outside the United States and requiring USDA officials to vet foreign nationals with whom they collaborate. It is unclear whether similar instructions have been given to employees at other federal agencies.
The new USDA policy was announced internally in November and follows Rollins’ July memo that highlighted the national security risks of working with scientists who are not U.S. citizens.
“Foreign competitors benefit from USDA-funded projects, receiving loans that support overseas operations and subsidies that enable foreign competitors to undermine U.S. economic and strategic interests,” Rollins wrote in the memo. “It is the responsibility of all USDA employees to prevent this from happening.” The memo calls on the department to “put America first” by taking a number of steps, including scrutinizing and listing the USDA’s arrangements for collaborating with foreign researchers and prohibiting USDA employees from participating in foreign programs that recruit scientists “whether maliciously or not.”
Rollins is a lawyer who studied agricultural development and co-founded the pro-Trump America First Policy Institute before being selected to head the agency.
There have long been restrictions on collaboration with researchers from certain countries, such as Iran and China. However, these new instructions result in a total ban on collaboration with scientists from “countries of concern.”
In a late November email to Agricultural Research Service staff at one regional office, a research leader instructed administrators to immediately stop research with scientists from “countries of concern” or working with agencies in those countries.
The email instructed employees to reject papers by foreign authors if they dealt with “sensitive subjects” such as “diversity” or “climate change.” National security concerns were cited as another reason for the refusal, and USDA research bureau officials were directed to ask whether foreign nationals could use the research on American farmers.
An audio recording of the December meeting showed some employees expressing concerns about being directed to investigate fellow scientists. One person involved in the meeting, which also included leaders from the Agricultural Research Bureau, said, “The part about using Google to determine whether a person is a foreigner or not is extremely pathetic.”
Faced with questions about how to verify the citizenship of co-authors, another official at the conference said researchers should do their best with a Google search, get their names listed, “and let the Department of Homeland Security do the behind-the-scenes searches.”
Rollins’ July memo specified that within 60 days of receiving a list of “current arrangements” involving foreign persons or entities, the Department of Agriculture, Homeland Security and the Office of the Chief Scientist and General Counsel must decide which arrangements to terminate. As a result of the policy changes outlined in the memo, the USDA laid off 70 employees in “countries of concern” last summer, NPR reported.
The Departments of Agriculture and Homeland Security declined to answer questions about what will happen to foreign researchers cited by their officials other than potentially having their research papers rejected.
The document also suggested new guidance would be issued on Jan. 1, but USDA officials interviewed by ProPublica said the review process is ongoing and they have not received any written updates. The staff member spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.
Scientists are often evaluated based on the results of new scientific research. Delaying or refusing to publish a pending paper can derail a researcher’s career. Over the past 40 years, the number of international collaborations among scientists has increased overall, said Caroline Wagner, professor emeritus of public policy at Ohio State University. “The more elite a researcher is, the more likely they are to be working at an international level,” says Wagner, who has spent more than 25 years studying international cooperation in science and technology.
Changes in the way the U.S. Department of Agriculture approaches collaboration with foreign researchers “will certainly reduce the novelty and innovative nature of science and reduce the flow of knowledge that has been so productive for science in recent years,” she said.
