Chairman Moolenaar, Chairman Grassley Alert NASA, FBI to CCP-Linked Research Collaboration

Chairman John Moolenaar of the Select Committee on China and Chairman Chuck Grassley of the Senate Judiciary Committee sent letters to NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman and FBI Director Kash Patel alerting them to CCP-linked research funded by American taxpayers.

"We write to you concerning our oversight efforts relating to the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) influence over our nation’s universities and other research institutions. It is well established that our university systems serve as soft targets in China’s quest to acquire U.S. knowledge, research, and intellectual property, which is often funded by our taxpayers," the lawmakers begin.

"On December 17, 2025, the House Select Committee on China and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) released an investigative report revealing how the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) exploits the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to gain access and divert American taxpayer-funded research to fuel its military and technological rise. One of the case studies in the report showed that Stanford Professor Wendy Mao, while conducting research on a DOE-funded award, concurrently held a position at the Center for High Pressure Science and Technology Advanced Research (HPSTAR)— an organization within the Chinese Academy of Engineering Physics (CAEP), which has been listed on the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) Entity List since 1997," they continue.

"According to publication data, Professor Mao has at least 58 co-authored publications acknowledging DOE funding or support, including 31 publications with HPSTAR since 2013," they add. "The publication lists only Stanford and Chinese co-authors yet explicitly acknowledges NASA funding, which—absent an FBI-certified congressional waiver—raises questions about potential violations of the Wolf Amendment. That federal law prohibits NASA and NASA-funded researchers from engaging in bilateral collaboration with Chinese entities."

The letters conclude with information requests aimed at protecting American research security from China, including:

• What internal legal guidance, memoranda, or policy interpretations govern NASA’s application of the Wolf Amendment, and when were they last updated?
• What processes does NASA have in place to monitor Wolf Amendment compliance after an award is issued, including the identification of new or undisclosed PRC institutional participation, subawards, data-sharing arrangements, or research collaborations that arise during the period of performance, and how does NASA enforce corrective action when such activity is identified?

Read the full letter to NASA here.

Read the full letter to the FBI here.