Pentagon probes 30 U.S. academic institutions for potential ties to adversaries
Defense Department leaders instructed 30 American universities and specialized technology institutes to immediately audit their academic, financial and research connections to foreign entities that the government considers too risky or hostile to engage with.
The initiation of these probes, revealed on Monday, marks DOD’s latest move in a yearslong effort to counter what it views as adversarial influences infiltrating U.S. academia.
“To maintain eligibility for future federal research funding, the notified universities must complete a comprehensive audit of all identified foreign collaborations, assess the exposure of sensitive or export-controlled research, and implement strict mitigation plans, including the termination of problematic partnerships,” the Pentagon’s press release stated. “Institutions are required to report their findings and actions directly to the Department no later than August 31, 2026.”
A U.S. official told DefenseScoop that the DOD’s full list of notified schools includes:
- Georgetown University
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- University of California, Berkeley
- University of California, San Diego
- University of Texas at Austin
- Emory University
- Harvard University
- Oklahoma State University
- Penn State University
- University of California, Los Angeles
- University of Cincinnati
- University of Minnesota
- University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
- University of South Carolina
- University of Southern California
- Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
- Worcester Polytechnic Institute
- Bryant University
- Cornell University
- Drake University
- Duke University
- Illinois Institute of Technology
- Johns Hopkins University
- New York University
- Northeastern State University, Tahlequah (Oklahoma)
- Portland State University
- Southern Illinois University, Carbondale
- Stony Brook University
- University of Delaware
- University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
According to Monday’s announcement, the fast-tracked auditing effort “is designed to protect American taxpayer-funded research investments from unauthorized technology transfer, intellectual property theft and adversarial exploitation.”
Details about why those 30 universities have been flagged for review were not disclosed by the U.S. official, or in the Pentagon’s press release.
The in-depth investigations are intended to get after the institutions’ connections to “foreign entities of concern” under Section 1286 of the fiscal 2019 National Defense Authorization Act, or the department’s standard policy for handling international actors that could threaten or weaken America’s domestic security.
Last year, DOD published an updated list identifying 130 academic and research institutions — located in China, Russia and Iran — that it found to be misappropriating U.S.-funded technology pursuits.
DOD’s release this week said the plan targets ties to those entities and “organizations associated with rebranded Confucius Institutes,” which refer to controversial China-affiliated public educational and cultural programs that operated on U.S. campuses from 2004 through the early 2020s.
Their mass closures were sparked by intensifying U.S. government scrutiny over the institutes’ links to the Chinese Communist Party.
The Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, led by Emil Michael, is steering the DOD’s comprehensive institutional review process. In a statement Monday, he said that the Pentagon “has zero tolerance” for educational partnerships that compromise national security.
“Institutions that receive funding from American taxpayers must uphold the highest standards of research security, and these mandated audits will ensure accountability across the board,” Michael said.
