AAU SENDS LETTER ON NDAA TO ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEES' LEADERSHIP
The Association of American Universities (AAU), of which Duke is a member, and the American Public and Land-Grant Universities (APLU) transmitted a joint letter to the Hill this week outlining shared conference priorities for the final FY26 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). They endorsed provisions extending existing research security policies, expanding classified research infrastructure at universities and maintaining fair reimbursement for research costs. However, the associations opposed measures they deemed unworkable or duplicative, including post-employment restrictions for researchers, overly broad prohibitions on foreign contracts and a provision tying federal funding to campus responses to antisemitic demonstrations. The letter urged negotiators to "continue to enact policies that support and protect university-based research and reject those that would undermine the United States’ ability to out-innovate strategic competitors."
