Moolenaar: Trump Admin Right to Investigate Foreign Funding at Duke and the University of North Dakota

The Department of Education and the Department of State launched two new Section 117 foreign funding investigations into Duke University and the University of North Dakota following concerns that the universities submitted incomplete, inaccurate, and late disclosures required under Section 117 of the Higher Education Act. This action comes on the heels of the Department of War’s letter to 30 U.S. universities, including Duke, requiring them to address research security lapses and review their relationships with foreign entities of concern.

“The Trump Administration is holding universities accountable and demanding transparency for the secretive funding these institutions accepted from China. Secretary McMahon and Secretary Rubio deserve tremendous credit for launching these investigations on behalf of American taxpayers who deserve to know why these universities take federal money yet hide foreign funding sources. These institutions have a responsibility to be transparent and protect U.S. research from our adversaries,” said Chairman John Moolenaar of the Select Committee on China.

Duke, in particular, has repeatedly appeared in Select Committee investigations examining research security and U.S. university relationships with entities connected to China’s defense and technology-transfer apparatus. In 2025, the committee sent a letter to Duke outlining numerous concerns with the University's relationship with Wuhan University and its Duke Kunshan joint institute.

• Duke Kunshan University: Duke operates a joint university in China with Wuhan University. Committee investigations identified Chinese government documents describing Duke Kunshan University as a platform used in municipal talent recruitment programs to attract domestic and overseas academics, academic leaders, and leading science and technology entrepreneurs. Duke Kunshan faculty have also been offered funding opportunities through China’s National Security Academic Fund, which is co-administered by the Chinese Academy of Engineering Physics, China’s primary nuclear weapons research and development complex. (SCC report Joint Institutes: Divided Loyalties)
• AFOSR-Funded Stealth Technology: Technology developed through an Air Force-funded Duke research project was allegedly transferred to China by a former Duke Ph.D. student and was later associated with Chinese military stealth applications. (SCC report Fox in the Henhouse)
• Hundreds of Publications with Chinese Defense Entities: From 2020 through 2025, Duke researchers co-authored hundreds of publications with researchers affiliated with Chinese defense-linked institutions, including China’s “Seven Sons of National Defense,” on topics including hypersonics, metamaterials, advanced alloys, aerodynamics, sensors, coatings, and encryption. (SCC report, Fox in the Henhouse)
• NPU-Duke Hypersonics Laboratory: A federally funded Duke professor simultaneously served as a consulting professor at Northwestern Polytechnical University (A “Seven Sons of National Defense”) and co-directed an NPU-Duke laboratory conducting research involving hypersonics, aeroelasticity, propulsion, and aerodynamic heating. The professor also represented Duke in the University Consortium for Applied Hypersonics, whose mission is to support U.S. Department of War hypersonic research and development requirements. (SCC report Fox in the Henhouse)