Countries like China and Russia are trying to lure and hire away the thousands of researchers and scientists working in US federal agencies that have been laid off by the Trump administration the over last month or so. That’s the warning from Sudip Parikh, who chairs a task force of the non-partisan Science and Technology Action Committee that released a Vision for American Science and Technology (Vast) in February.

‘We are in a global race for discovery and innovation that will deliver better health, greater prosperity and stronger national security for the winner,’ stated Parikh, who is also chief executive of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. From 2001 to 2009, he served as science adviser to the Republican leadership of the Senate Appropriations Committee and was responsible for negotiating the budgets of the National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as several other scientific and health agencies.

‘As we appear to stumble from self-inflicted uncertainty and indiscriminate cuts in the scientific enterprise, China and other countries are trying to capitalise on what they see as a vulnerable moment,’ Parikh continued in a 10 March statement. ‘They are openly recruiting American scientists and international scientists working in the US with the goal of tipping the balance of global talent toward themselves.’

US competitors around the world are ‘closely watching’ the US’s next moves and fortifying their capabilities, Parikh suggested. He noted that Vast provides a gameplan to go on the offence by dismantling barriers that stifle innovation, creating an environment where researchers can thrive and committing to strategies that ensure cutting-edge innovations are discovered and built on US soil. This can help the US attract and retain the world’s top scientific minds, he said.