‘Undisclosed and unmonitored financial relationships between U.S. academia and the CCP are glaring national security risks,’ Sen. Tom Cotton said.
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) has asked the Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate schools that may have ties with China’s communist regime amid concerns over Chinese infiltration into the U.S. education system.
In a
letter dated Aug. 5 to Attorney General Merrick Garland, Cotton and seven GOP senators said that universities’ failure to disclose their financial ties with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could threaten U.S. national security.
“Undisclosed and unmonitored financial relationships between U.S. academia and the CCP are glaring national security risks. Such relationships leave the U.S. vulnerable to intellectual property theft, improper influence, and even espionage,” the Arkansas senator said in a
press release. “It is imperative that DOJ take additional steps to swiftly address this concern.”
Cotton also requested Garland’s assessment of the CCP’s threat to American students and federal research initiatives and steps needed from the DOJ to mitigate that threat to the U.S. education system.
Threat to US Academia
Last year, former Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.), then chairman of the House Select Committee on the CCP, warned about the CCP’s threat to U.S. education in a
speech to 70 university presidents at the Annual Meeting of the Association of American Universities.
“For decades, the Chinese Communist Party has exploited the very openness at the heart of American society, and our higher education system in particular, twisting this strength to the Party’s own advantage,” he said.
“The Party’s goal is not mutual benefit. The CCP’s goal is to leverage technological advances, spread its coercive influence, and enmesh dependencies to strengthen its international position while eroding ours.”
The FBI has listed
multiple tactics foreign adversaries use to target U.S. academia, including funding and donations, talent recruitment or “brain gain” programs, such as China’s Thousand Talents Program, language and cultural training, joint research opportunities, and unsolicited invitations.
A 2023 study by the Washington-based think tank Hudson Institute examined the CCP’s “
cognitive warfare” campaign, which
aimed to “promote CCP propaganda, spy on and intimidate Chinese exchange students, shape American views about the United States, and steal scientific, technological, and military research.”
Transnational Repression on US Campuses
A January
report by Freedom House found, “The biggest threat to international students and scholars studying and working in the United States is the government of China.”
According to the report, authoritarian regimes use tools to intimidate, harass, and monitor international students, scholars, and faculty to suppress criticism across U.S. campuses.
“University administrators lack sufficient awareness of the threats posed by foreign governments to members of their campus communities. As a result, targeted individuals have to try to protect themselves,” the report reads.
CCP’s Influence on US K-12 Schools
Last year, the Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education Subcommittee held a
hearing titled “Academic Freedom Under Attack: Loosening the CCP’s Grip on America’s Classrooms.” The hearing revealed the CCP’s aggressive influence on U.S. K-12 schools.
A 2023
report by the nonprofit group Parents Defending Education found that the CCP has allegedly established ties with school districts near 20 American military bases, including Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, San Diego Naval Base in California, and Langley Air Force Base in Virginia.
In August 2023, Sen. Kevin Crame (R-N.D.) and multiple GOP senators sent a letter to Department of Education Secretary Miguel Cardona,
urging him to investigate the CCP’s influence in the U.S. K-12 system.
“The CCP is the greatest threat to America’s security today. The CCP’s involvement in the K-12 education system further demonstrates how far the Chinese government is willing to go to expand its influence and promote its authoritarian agenda,” the senators wrote.
“We cannot sit idle and allow this expansion of CCP propaganda. Parents deserve transparency and policymakers must know the extent of the problem so we can work on solutions to protect both our students and our national security.”
