purplecthulhu

Seems that the FBI wants to head back to the days of academic blacklists.

According to a report. 'Faculty, staff and students are encouraged to monitor their colleagues for signs of suspicious behaviour and report any concerns to the FBI or the military.'

And what do they classify as suspicious behaviour?

'Unexplained affluence, failing to report overseas travel, showing unusual interest in information outside the job scope, keeping unusual work hours, unreported contacts with foreign nationals, unreported contact with foreign government, military, or intelligence officials, attempting to gain new accesses without the need to know, and unexplained absences are all considered potential espionage indicators.'

So no getting a second job, no friends abroad, no broad-minded interest outside your subject (there goes interdisciplinary research), in fact no curiosity at all!

There are often complaints about universities being academic sausage factories where narrow-minded speciality is encouraged. This complaint is often leveled at places like MIT, in the US, or Imperial, in the UK, which specialise in science and technology. It would seem this is exactly what the FBI and military think that universities are for.

How long before this kind of thing comes to the UK? Not long, I suspect...