Chairman Moolenaar’s Opening Statement: Research Security is National Security

Today, Select Committee on China Chairman John Moolenaar delivered his opening statement at the Select Committee’s hearing titled Protecting American Innovation: The Federal Research Security Enterprise.

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Good morning.

The United States leads the world in scientific discovery because we have built a research enterprise rooted in openness, innovation, and excellence. American taxpayers invest billions of dollars each year in fundamental research to advance national security, our economy, and human knowledge.

The discoveries made in our laboratories today have become the technologies that drive commercialization, sustain our industrial base, and protect our nation tomorrow.

Our free and open society is the envy of the world, and we value the scientific contributions Chinese Americans and members of the Chinese diaspora have made to our nation.

The Chinese Communist Party has a different agenda. It seeks to exploit American taxpayer-funded research. Its policies have long emphasized leveraging foreign universities, laboratories, and researchers to accelerate China's scientific, technological, economic, and military development. Some of those policies explicitly encourage overseas Chinese communities and individuals with cultural or familial ties to China to acquire knowledge and expertise in service of the Chinese government's national objectives.

China's military-civil fusion strategy erases the distinction between civilian and military innovation. And the CCP’s 2017 national security law makes clear that there is no such thing as a truly private company in China.

Scientific discoveries, commercial technologies, and academic partnerships are expected to serve the priorities of the CCP, including the modernization of the People's Liberation Army. China has openly declared its ambition to become the world's leading technological power and to build a military capable of challenging the United States and its allies.

China's theft and diversion of American technology and research is not theoretical.

It is documented through criminal prosecutions, intelligence assessments, congressional investigations, and the Chinese government's own public strategies.

The issue before us is not whether this occurs, but rather what we need to safeguard taxpayer-funded research against China’s exploitation.

At Duke University, Pentagon-funded research on military stealth technologies was ultimately diverted to China and reportedly contributed to stealth capabilities associated with the J-20 fighter aircraft.

We have a responsibility to ask one question: Should American taxpayer dollars be used for research with entities within China's defense research and military industrial base?

The commonsense answer is no.

Subsidizing an adversary that exploits our openness for malign purposes, commits human rights abuses, and seeks to displace the United States is unacceptable.

Over the past two years, the Select Committee has extensively documented research security vulnerabilities.

Our report, Fox in the Henhouse, identified approximately 2,400 recently published publications involving Department of War funding and Chinese institutions, including more than half involving entities within China's defense research and industrial base.

I want to thank Secretary Hegseth and his Department for acting on that report’s recommendations. The Pentagon has now strengthened post-award monitoring, enhanced compliance mechanisms, and prohibited research involving entities already on U.S. government restricted lists that identify entities posing national security and other risks.

Our investigation into the Department of Energy identified roughly 4,350 publications involving Chinese entities. This included:

• More than half connected to Chinese defense institutions,
• More than 200 involving the Seven Sons of National Defense universities,
• And dozens involving Chinese supercomputers linked to China's nuclear weapons enterprise.

DOE is taking some positive steps to correct these problems. But challenges remain and we look forward to discussing today how DOE can move faster to close the remaining gaps.

Finally, the committee’s investigative work on NASA demonstrated that meaningful reform is possible. NASA strengthened its policies, established a dedicated research security office, improved oversight, and suspended active awards that appear inconsistent with agency requirements and federal law.

What the Pentagon and NASA have done should be the standard across the federal government, which is why I, along with Senator Jim Banks, introduced the Securing Innovation and Research from Adversaries Act.

This legislation simply codifies what DOW has done and establishes a clear, government-wide prohibition on the use of federal research funds for collaborations with entities and individuals on U.S. government blacklists.

The American people expect the discoveries they fund will strengthen our nation and secure our future.

They do not expect those investments to accelerate the ambitions of China, a strategic competitor that openly seeks technological and military dominance at the expense of the United States.

That is the challenge before us today.

I now recognize Ranking Member Khanna for his remarks.