Research institutions should take note of the newly introduced Securing Innovation and Research from Adversaries (SIRA) Act, which would impose sweeping prohibitions on the use of federal research funds for a broad range of “research collaborations” with foreign entities or individuals included on U.S. government restricted lists (e.g., BIS Entity List, OFAC SDN List, among others). While targeted restrictions exist under current law—including export controls, sanctions compliance, and grant-specific requirements—the proposed legislation would significantly expand the scope of restricted activity by defining “research collaboration” to include routine activities conducted as part of federally funded awards, such as co-authorship, data sharing, material transfer, visiting scholar appointments, and joint supervision of students. If enacted, the SIRA Act would materially increase compliance obligations for federal funding recipients, requiring enhanced due diligence and screening of co-authors, collaborators, visiting researchers, and students, and would likely constrain certain international partnerships. Although the bill remains at a very early stage, it reflects a continued shift toward stricter federal oversight of foreign research collaborations. read the proposed legislation