April 19, 2019
An Iranian scientist was recently kicked off the site of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) just outside Washington, DC, because he is Iranian.
The Washington Post reports that several other Iranians have been denied entry to NIH because it has begun enforcing, for the first time, a 2011 rule restricting entry to Health Department buildings by Iranian, Sudanese, Syrian and North Korean nationals. Those four countries are the only countries listed by the State Department as “state sponsors of terrorism.”
NIH is requiring all visitors — including patients — to disclose their citizenship as a condition of entry.
In one incident, The Washington Post said a Georgetown University graduate student from Iran, arriving for a job interview, was held up at security, then allowed to proceed to one of the campus buildings. But as he prepared to make a presentation, NIH police arrived, removed him from a lab and escorted him off campus, according to a complaint to a group that represents staff scientists.
In another incident, an Iranian-born brain researcher said he was told to leave, then delayed at security for nearly an hour filling out online forms. After interventions by NIH police and other officials, he was told an exception had been made that would allow him to deliver his presentation to two dozen waiting researchers.
Both men had green cards and US driver’s licenses and had previously visited NIH without incident.
“I am very surprised and disappointed that there are all these restrictions,” the brain researcher told the Post on condition of anonymity to avoid jeopardizing his relationships at NIH. He said he worked at NIH from 2009 to 2014 on an H-1B visa and had been invited to speak on his specialty last week. As recently as two months ago, he said, he had no problem entering the campus.
The tightened security at the biomedical research center comes as the agency is under mounting pressure to more strictly scrutinize potential security risks. In recent months, NIH and the FBI have warned U.S. scientists to beware of Chinese spies intent on stealing biomedical research from NIH-funded laboratories at universities. But Chinese nationals are not covered by the new restrictions.
The staff of Republican Sen. Charles E. Grassley of Iowa has demanded that NIH be more aggressive about vetting foreign researchers before giving them access to facilities and research money, the senator’s aides told the Post.
“These individuals have already been vetted,” said Ryan Costello, policy director at the National Iranian American Council. “They’re green-card holders, they have been participating in US life for years, contributing to scientific knowledge. It’s really ridiculous to be suspected solely on their national origin.”
A few days later, NIH Director Francis Collins apologized to the Iranians. He said he had not known about the new security restrictions until he read the report in The Washington Post.
The rules do not bar Iranians from federal buildings. NIH spokeswoman Renate Myles said nationals of countries on the list of state sponsors of terrorism have been required for many years to obtain advance permission to visit any site that is part of the Department of Health and Human Services. It appeared that NIH had not been aware of that rule until recently.