Washington

Scientific societies say that they have been locked out of a government task force that is drafting restrictions on the flow of international students into the United States in the wake of last autumn's terrorist attacks.

The task force on student visas is expected to release draft proposals within the next month for the entry of both undergraduate and graduate students. It is made up of officials from the White House Office of Homeland Security and the Office of Science and Technology Policy, together with representatives from the state and justice departments, which oversee immigration.

Irving Lerch, head of international affairs at the American Physical Society, says that universities and societies are not involved in the debate. “When you have such important discussions going on within the government, without the participation of those who know what the problems are, you have a prescription for disaster,” he says.

Lerch fears that the final criteria will curtail recruitment from 'sensitive' countries such as India and China, which supply the United States with large numbers of graduate students.

The closed nature of the process is “of enormous concern”, says Vic Johnson, director of public policy at the Association for International Educators, a Washington-based group that promotes student exchanges. “Let's not go overboard and cut off scientific exchange,” he says.

But the White House says that the panel's findings will be discussed with universities before they are implemented. “As soon as we have something we can share, we plan to share it,” a White House official says.