Benefits outweigh the costs.

Choking off the flow of talent—or worse, giving that talent over to our adversaries—would pose a significant national security risk. At the same time, the risks posed to U.S. intellectual property from espionage are also significant, especially from individuals with access to classified or sensitive information. In a report for the Office of Science and Technology Policy, the Institute for Defense Analyses investigated the costs and benefits of retaining foreign STEM talent inside the United States and found that the benefits far outweigh the costs.30 First, the report analyzed cases of Chinese violations of intellectual property rights and found that the most important avenue for misappropriating U.S. trade secrets is through cybercrime. Second, it did not find evidence that foreign-born STEM talent is more likely to engage in espionage on U.S. weapons systems than citizens born in the United States. Altogether, the findings highlight the need to develop counter-espionage methods and further develop integrity provision and vetting procedures so that the United States does not deny itself a source of talent that contributes 1.7%–1.9% of GDP.