I saw this shocking story on Digg: the FBI has been going around to schools in Massachusetts demanding that students stop traveling internationally or showing interest in other people's work! Oh no! The horror!
Except, if you dig through the articles and actually read the document that FBI published, it doesn't say any of that. All it says is that spies very often engage in espionage after a major life trauma or as part of acting out on a mental illness, and accordingly, here's a list of things to be aware of. Included on that list is "unreported international travel." As in, if some student took a random trip to Dubai _and didn't tell anybody about it_, that might be weird. And I tend to agree.
Also on the list is interest in sensitive research. Now, yes, we should be concerned about the chilling effect of being suspicious of intellectual curiosity, especially from foreign students, but nonetheless...the FBI never recommended a ban on student travel, nor are they saying you should report everyone who is interested in your research. They're just trying to give out a list of possible indicators of suspicious activity, and I would imagine they would expect you to use your judgment. That's what they're supposed to do. They're the FBI. I don't think this is unreasonable, at least not yet.
The lesson: always do your fact checking, and never believe stupid tabloids when they say something sensational.
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