Two senior Republican lawmakers have written to NASA and the FBI, expressing worries about potential Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-linked research collaborations using US taxpayer-funded grants, including one from NASA. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley and House Select Committee on the CCP Chairman John Moolenaar raised these concerns in letters dated February 12 to FBI Director Kash Patel and NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. They highlighted the CCP’s influence on US universities and research institutions, emphasizing the risk of China acquiring US knowledge and intellectual property through taxpayer-funded research.
The lawmakers referred to an investigative report from December 17, 2025, by the House Select Committee on China and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. The report alleged that the CCP exploits US Department of Energy (DOE) resources to divert American taxpayer-funded research for its military and technological advancements. One specific case mentioned in the report involved Stanford Professor Wendy Mao, who, while working on a DOE-funded project, also held a position at an organization within the Chinese Academy of Engineering Physics listed on the US Department of Commerce’s Entity List.
The letters also highlighted a 2024 research publication that received support from NASA’s Exoplanet Programme and the National Science Foundation. The publication, which involved collaboration with a Chinese university’s supercomputing center, raised concerns about potential violations of the Wolf Amendment. This amendment prohibits NASA and its researchers from engaging in bilateral collaborations with Chinese entities without specific authorization and certification to Congress and the FBI.
In their communication with the FBI, the lawmakers sought information on whether a Wolf Amendment waiver was requested for a specific NASA award, the number of waivers requested since 2015, and the FBI’s assessment processes for such applications. They also requested NASA to provide records for the mentioned award, including subaward details, and to clarify the internal guidelines governing the application of the Wolf Amendment.
