House Democrat says U.S. no longer stands tallest in innovation

The U.S. isn’t the undisputed world leader in technology and innovation, according to the House Science Committee’s top Democrat, who expressed alarm Thursday about China’s rise.

Recognition that America may be losing its global edge in research and innovation is setting in among Democratic policymakers in charge in Washington.

Rep. Zoe Lofgren, California Democrat, said at a science committee hearing that Congress may need to reconsider research security issues that it wouldn’t need to do if America still led the way.

“The U.S. is no longer the unquestioned leader in science, technology and innovation,” she said. “When we were, our risk calculus might have been different than it is now. In addition to our worthy, but mostly like-minded, competitors around the globe, we face a growing strategic competitor and, I would say, a threat from China.”

While Ms. Lofgren didn’t pinpoint when America lost its championship title, a top White House aide to President Biden identified the new global order as a recent development.

Researchers are operating in an environment characterized by fierce economic and military competition that didn’t exist in the same way just a short while ago, according to White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Arati Prabhakar.

Ms. Prabhakar on Thursday said China was America’s only competitor intent on overhauling the world order that has the means to get it done. She told the House Science Committee that Mr. Biden is telling private industry and academia that times have changed.

“The purpose of all of these efforts is to make sure that universities and researchers understand our altered global landscape,” Ms. Prabhakar said. “The world is not the same as it was a few years ago.”

Ms. Prabhakar said the Biden administration’s efforts to shape private researchers’ and developers’ behavior include export controls on tech, a push for semiconductor manufacturing, prosecutions of trade secret theft and economic espionage, as well as implementation of other federal laws.

Congressional investigators, however, have found those efforts failing.

For example, the House Foreign Affairs Committee said in December that the Commerce Department overwhelmingly approves the transfer of technology to prohibited companies identified as national security risks by the same Commerce Department. The committee determined the department had enabled the flow of tech to China, helping transform the communist country into an economic, military and tech superpower.

Securing America’s research environment from foreign theft and influence is a task the Biden administration acknowledges is a work in progress.

“Getting research security right has been a complex task; it’s one that has required more time than expected,” Ms. Prabhakar said.

Critics say the Biden administration has yet to get research security right, and it’s causing problems nationwide.

House Science Committee Chairman Frank Lucas, Oklahoma Republican, said the Biden administration has failed to develop clear and consistent guidance for federal agencies and researchers.

“We’ve heard from agencies and stakeholders saying they are having trouble implementing their own research security guidelines because there are no governmentwide standards yet,” Mr. Lucas said at Thursday’s hearing.

Mr. Lucas said America’s open research environment sets it apart from its communist rivals, and he wants the U.S. to remain a desirable place for brilliant minds to come and make their home.

Democratic policymakers are concerned that future research controls could be colored by racism, but they appear more open to exercising new restrictions.

Ms. Lofgren said America must not confuse loyalty and ethnicity as directly related. She said more than half of startups valued at $1 billion or more were created by immigrants to the U.S.

“We don’t have to close our doors in the name of securing research, but we have to preserve our global vision and be the best country in the world to be a researcher,” Ms. Lofgren said.