Having to register classified work would not only limit who has access to it, but subject the labs to obtrusive security measures such as stationing armed guards at the doors.

“The degree of physical security [required] is not paralleled” by anything in the past, Martin said.

According to Martin, such heightened security would greatly disrupt current research procedures, making it necessary to consult everyone in a lab before one specific project was approved.

Professor of the History of Science Everett I. Mendelsohn called the federal policy on biological agents “right on the edge” of limiting civil liberties.

But he said that other provisions of the PATRIOT Act—such as the FBI being able to subpoena individuals’ personal records—were more blatant violations.

“There is definitely a ratcheting up of the interests of the government,” he said.

Mendelsohn said Harvard professors will not likely sit on the sidelines and watch.

He said he reminded his fellow Faculty Council members last week that there is a long precedent of Harvard taking on the federal government. During the Cold War, University officials effectively lobbied to eliminate their responsibility to collect loyalty oaths from their students.

Martin said several Harvard officials have already expressed their concerns to federal officials at conferences, such as the National Academy of Scientists’ conference on confidentiality in biological defense held this past weekend.

The entire Faculty will have an opportunity to comment on this issue at the next Faculty meeting on Feb. 11.

Until then, Mendelsohn said concerns will likely continue to mount.

“When you piece all this together, there is a pattern of significantly moving towards restricting civil liberties,” he said. “They are crossing what had been a line of principle—the principle of democracy.”

—Staff writer Jessica E. Vascellaro can be reached at vascell@fas.harvard.edu.