WASHINGTON - ONCE becomes president of the United States, Barack Obama should reform US export and visa controls for foreign students and scientists to benefit the economy and national security, a report recommended on Thursday.

Many of the current controls were 'developed during the Cold War era to prevent the transfer of technological and scientific advances to our enemies,' said the report by the National Research Council, which called for updating the restrictions.

'In the modern globalised world of science and technology, restrictions on the flow of information, technology, and scientists can negatively impact both US competitiveness and security,' said Stanford University President John Hennessy, co-chair of the committee that wrote the report.

Export controls slow military equipment maintenance and can discourage foreign defense contractors from purchasing US equipment, said the report by the congressionally-chartered council.

The restrictions also 'hamper international trade that could provide valuable information on the technical capabilities of foreign militaries,' said the council, the principal agency of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering.

The United States 'needs to change to a philosophy that everything is open and restricted only when it is demonstrated that it needs to be', said committee co-chair Brent Scowcroft, a former national security adviser under US presidents Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush.

To reform visa controls and grant US businesses access to the most talented scientists, the report recommends streamlining and including 'skills-based preferential processing' in the visa application process to facilitate entry into the country for foreign researchers and students.

Foreign student visas should also be extended so that recent graduates can properly search for work with US-based employers, the report recommended. -- AFP