Pentagon Threatens Funding Cuts to 30 Universities Over China Ties

Thirty US universities risk losing federal funding unless they review and cut foreign academic partnerships the Pentagon considers a national security threat within the next two weeks, under a directive aimed largely at ties to Chinese institutions.

Harvard, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Johns Hopkins, Georgetown and Cornell are among the schools ordered to conduct and report the reviews — and end problematic partnerships — by August 31, according to a US official who provided the full list to the Guardian.

"The Department of War has zero tolerance for academic partnerships that compromise our national security," Emil Michael, the Pentagon's chief technology officer, said in a news release Monday.

The Pentagon said the reviews aim to protect taxpayer-funded research from unauthorized technology transfers, intellectual property theft and exploitation by foreign adversaries.

The list also includes the University of California, Berkeley; the University of California, San Diego; Penn State University; the University of California, Los Angeles; the University of Southern California; Duke University; and New York University, the official said. The Pentagon's public release did not name the universities.

The order follows the Pentagon's release last month of an updated list of 130 foreign universities and research institutions it says pose a risk that US-funded research could be misappropriated. Most are Chinese institutions, including the University of Science and Technology of China and the Academy of Military Medical Sciences, along with several Russian and Iranian institutions. The list, required under the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act, was first developed during President Trump's first term with help from the American Council on Education.

The campaign has increasingly placed American universities under scrutiny. Last November, more than three dozen universities, including Harvard and Duke, faced potential suspension from the State Department's Diplomacy Lab program over diversity, equity and inclusion hiring practices.

Harvard has been a particular target of the administration. A federal judge recently dismissed the university's lawsuit claiming it failed to protect Jewish and Israeli students from harassment after the war in Gaza. The Justice Department is also investigating whether Harvard allowed Chinese donors to establish scholarships that excluded American students.

A Chinese embassy spokesperson told the Associated Press that Beijing opposed the "politicization" of academic exchanges and urged Washington to abandon a "cold war mentality."