Following Committee’s Work, NASA Strengthens Research Security Enforcement

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) recently took significant steps to strengthen its enforcement of the Wolf Amendment and address research security vulnerabilities identified in the Select Committee on China’s report, “Research Security for America’s Future in Space: NASA’s Enforcement of the Wolf Amendment.”

“NASA deserves credit for taking important steps to protect American research and innovation. In May, we identified serious weaknesses in NASA’s enforcement of the Wolf Amendment and made clear that stronger enhancements in research security and accountability are necessary. Now NASA is reviewing $40 million in awards for potential violations. This is crucial to proactively identifying prohibited collaborations and referring them for appropriate enforcement. I commend NASA’s leadership and the Trump Administration for taking these concrete steps needed to protect taxpayer-funded research," said Moolenaar.

Following the Committee’s report, NASA has suspended more than $40 million across 40 active research awards pending review of potential Wolf Amendment compliance issues involving bilateral research collaborations with Chinese institutions.

NASA also initiated administrative enforcement actions and established a coordinated process between NASA’s research security office and the NASA Office of Inspector General to refer confirmed violations for further investigation and potential referral to the Department of Justice for enforcement.

In addition, NASA has developed and implemented an automated process to proactively identify publications that may involve prohibited or high-risk collaborations and created additional screening procedures for grantees to ensure compliance.