Congressman John Moolenaar Chairman of the Select Committee on the CCP | Official U.S. House headshot
Congressman John Moolenaar Chairman of the Select Committee on the CCP | Official U.S. House headshot
Following a year-long investigation, Chairman John Moolenaar (R-MI) of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party and Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC) of the House Education and Workforce Committee have uncovered that hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S. federal research funding over the last decade have contributed to China’s technological advancements and military modernization. Through nearly 9,000 joint research publications funded by the Department of Defense or the Intelligence Community, it was discovered that Americans worked with Chinese researchers on strategic technology research with potential military applications.
The investigation revealed six case studies involving institutions such as UCLA and UC Berkeley. These cases illustrate how China's defense and security establishment benefits from technological advances developed by federally funded researchers. The six researchers involved leveraged expertise developed through years of receiving federal funding to help China achieve advancements in nuclear weapons technology, artificial intelligence, advanced lasers, graphene semiconductors, and robotics.
US-Chinese joint education institutes like UC Berkeley’s partnership with Tsinghua University and the University of Pittsburgh's partnership with Sichuan University were also identified as conduits for transferring critical U.S. technologies and expertise to China. These transfers included entities linked to China’s defense machine and its security apparatus used for human rights abuses.
“The results of our joint investigation are alarming," said Chairman Moolenaar. "The Chinese Communist Party is driving its military advancements through US taxpayer-funded research and through joint US-PRC institutes in China." He praised Georgia Tech for shutting down its PRC-based joint institute and called for other universities to follow suit.
Chairwoman Foxx emphasized the need for transparency regarding foreign investment in American universities: “Our research universities have a responsibility to avoid any complicity in the CCP’s atrocious human rights abuses or attempts to undermine our national security.” She urged schools with similar partnerships to cut all ties and advocated for making the DETERRENT Act law.
Chair Cathy McMorris-Rodgers of the House Energy and Commerce Committee expressed gratitude towards Moolenaar and Foxx for their investigative work: “To win the future and beat the Chinese Communist Party in developing next-generation technology, we must stop government research that bolsters our adversaries' military and intelligence-gathering capabilities.”
The report indicates that due to a lack of legal guardrails around federally funded research, hundreds of millions of dollars have helped China achieve advancements in dual-use, critical, and emerging technologies like hypersonic weapons, artificial intelligence, fourth-generation nuclear weapons technology, and semiconductor technology.
Specific findings include over 8,800 publications supported by DOD funding published with coauthors affiliated with PRC institutions. An additional 185 such publications were supported by IC funding. Many papers covered topics like hypersonics, directed energy, nuclear physics, artificial intelligence, high-performance explosives, tracking targets, drone operation networks—all areas where PLA could use these technologies against U.S. forces if conflict arises.
In response to these findings:
1. Strengthening guardrails around research collaboration on dual-use technologies.
2. Implementing post-award restrictions on collaborations with blacklisted entities.
3. Adopting enhanced transparency requirements from universities regarding foreign gifts.
4. Strengthening oversight enforcement on foreign gift reporting mandates under existing laws.
Georgia Tech has already terminated its PRC-based joint institute following engagement during this investigation while UC Berkeley has begun unwinding its partnership process related to TBSI.
The Committees recommend stronger safeguards against foreign influence over U.S.-funded R&D projects alongside more robust enforcement mechanisms moving forward.
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