Senator Joni Ernst demands data on possible Chinese and Russian infiltration of US laboratories
Republican Senator Joni Ernst is sounding the alarm about “foreign adversaries,” including China and Russia, infiltrating American laboratories, after a recent Congressional report revealed that thousands of foreign nationals were granted access to research facilities last year.
“National Laboratories are prime targets for espionage and theft by foreign adversaries,” the Iowa lawmaker wrote in a letter to Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm on Wednesday.
“For decades, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has been actively recruiting scientists from national laboratories to work on its own military programs and stealing our research using students and visiting scholars.”
Ernst has demanded data from the Energy Department on the access that Chinese, Russian and Iranian citizens have gained to the department's 17 national laboratories in recent years.
He cited a Senate Intelligence Committee report that found that “approximately 40,000 nationals of foreign countries, including more than 8,000 nationals of China and Russia, gained access to the labs’ facilities, information, or technology” in fiscal year 2023.
“After COVID-19 we should have learned our lesson about trusting scientists from Communist China,” the Hawkeye state Republican told The Post.
“We know our adversaries are running sophisticated spyware programs to steal research; we don’t need to invite them to participate.”
The details of the findings of the Congressional report were revealed in a recent bill backed by Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner (D-Va.) earlier this year.
Some estimates suggest that more than 4,400 scientists from China and 300 from Russia have visited the Energy Department's network of laboratories this year, Ernst's office said.
The Iowa senator is now demanding data on the number of visitors to national laboratories in Russia, China and Iran in fiscal years 2024, 2023 and 2022.
He also wants information on the number of people who were previously considered “counterintelligence risks.”
Ernst gave a deadline of November 29 for Granholm's team to deliver that data.
The Department of Energy has 17 national laboratories spread across the country, including Ames National Laboratory in Iowa.
Amid geopolitical tensions with China, Russia and Iran, concerns have grown over the protection of American technological secrets.
In March, for example, a US citizen was… Arrested for allegedly seeking to steal secrets from Google's Artificial Intelligence program.
Some Estimates suggest that the United States is losing about $600 billion a year in intellectual property theft due to Chinese espionage.
Ernst had worked on legislation to address concerns about U.S. trade secrets in the past. 2022, for exampleShe helped craft a bill aimed at preventing Chinese and Russian companies from obtaining sensitive technology secrets from Small Business Administration programs.
He also backed legislation to ban funding for research in adversary nations.
The Post has reached out to an Energy Department spokesperson for comment.
