Moolenaar: Pentagon Right to Order National Security Audits of Federally-Funded Research at Universities

Chairman John Moolenaar of the Select Committee on China made the following statement regarding the Pentagon’s order for 30 U.S. institutions of higher education to conduct comprehensive audits of their academic, financial, and research relationships with Chinese entities of concern:

"Universities that repeatedly fail to follow basic research security guidelines and ignore problematic foreign relationships should face real consequences for their abuse of American taxpayer dollars," said Moolenaar. "Research partnerships and collaboration with Chinese entities linked to the CCP and the PLA present undeniable national security risks. Secretary Hegseth is taking an important step to protect taxpayer-funded research from exploitation by the Chinese Communist Party and other foreign adversaries."

Background

Many of the 30 universities under review by the Department of War have previously appeared in research security investigations published by the Select Committee. These investigations brought to light serious concerns involving national security and research integrity concerns. In certain cases, the investigations uncovered efforts to obscure relevant relationships or provide incomplete or misleading information to federal officials and congressional investigators.

Moolenaar has previously said federal research agencies should follow the Pentagon’s lead by adopting a consistent standard prohibiting federally funded researchers from collaborating with entities identified on U.S. government restricted lists. Congress should reinforce and make that standard government-wide by passing Moolenaar’s Securing Innovation and Research from Adversaries (SIRA) Act, which would prohibit federal research funds from supporting collaborations with entities that the U.S. government has determined pose national security or other risks.