> American students will work on Iran nuclear research. And we will "forbid" any spy from Iran govt how does it play? Will Iran govt play "nice" care about good

> American students will work on Iran nuclear research. And we will "forbid" any spy from Iran govt how does it play? Will Iran govt play "nice" care about good points? Just to be clear, is the argument here, "we should be more like Iran?" We're not playing 'nice', we're talking about what strategies are actually in the US's best interests. The author makes the point that very little of this research is actually private, and that society as a whole benefits from open sharing anyway. A lot of our research happens via cooperation with other countries -- and if you throw that away because you're worried about some bad actors, eventually you're just going to be cutting off your own nose to spite your face. Private research moves slower than collaborative research. The author goes on to make the point that a much more effective way of keeping talent in the US is to keep talent in the US. Make it easier for entrepreneurs and researchers who immigrate to the US to stay here permanently and join our economy. If you really want to be competitive with China, think of it this way: every talented scientist or engineer that immigrates to the US from China, is one less talented researcher at the disposal of China's economy. Whoever heard of a competitive business that decided not to hire the best workers indiscriminately, and not to make it attractive and easy for them to stay in the company for long periods of time? Yet the current US immigration strategy is to bring in effectively "interns", build a hostile work environment where they are distrusted, and then offer them no alternative except to go back to their original countries with the knowledge they've gained. Any business owner can tell you that's a recipe for disaster. > You may hate Disney, Microsoft, Cisco, etc. But they bring jobs, revenues, and wealth with their IP. Disney, Microsoft, and Cisco are all independent companies. If they wanted to give their secrets to the Chinese government, the US government would have no way to stop them. They don't have any special, contractual allegiance to the US beyond written law -- and there is no written law that would compel them to spy on foreign-born employees. I expect the majority of these companies already conduct some research in other countries with the cooperation of other governments.