Post-employment restrictions for participants in certain research funded by the Department of Defense

(a) In general Except as provided under subsection (c), as a condition of becoming or remaining a principal investigator of a covered defense research project, a person shall agree that during the 10-year period beginning on the last day the person is a principal investigator of such research, such person may not seek or accept employment, or conduct any activity, for which a foreign entity of concern provides financial compensation or in-kind benefits. (b) Critical or emerging technology For purposes of subsection (a), a critical or emerging technology is a technology that the Secretary of Defense determines to be critical or emerging. Not later than 270 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Secretary shall determine which technologies are critical or emerging from among the technologies for which the Department of Defense funds research, and shall make the results of such determination publicly available. (c) Waiver authority The Secretary may waive the restriction under subsection (a) with respect to a United States person if, not later than 30 days before issuing the waiver, the Secretary submits to the congressional defense committees a notice of the waiver that includes— (1) an unclassified justification for the waiver; and (2) a description of any Department of Defense funds provided to the person for which the waiver is issued or to the research in which the person participated. (d) Applicability This section shall apply with respect to research that begins on or after the date that is one year after the date of the enactment of this Act. (e) Definitions (1) Foreign entity of concern In this section, the term foreign entity of concern has the meaning given that term in section 10612(a) of the Research and Development, Competition, and Innovation Act (42 U.S.C. 19221(a)) and includes a foreign entity that is identified on the list published under section 1286(c)(9)(A) of the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019 (Public Law 115–232; 10 U.S.C. 4001 note). (2) Covered defense research project The term covered defense research project means a research project that is— (A) operated by an institution of higher education or a subsidiary of an institution of higher education; (B) funded, in whole or in part, by the Department of Defense; and (C) which involves a critical or emerging technology, as defined in subsection (b) of this section. (3) Institution of higher education The term institution of higher education has the meaning given that term in section 102 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1002).