A House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party report says NASA-funded researchers produced hundreds of publications involving Chinese institutions despite a federal law restricting NASA cooperation with China.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
A House investigation has found that NASA-funded researchers in the United States may have violated federal restrictions on collaboration with China hundreds of times through joint scientific work with Chinese institutions, according to a Just the News report.
The report, released Wednesday by the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, said investigators identified hundreds of publications in which U.S. researchers receiving NASA funding appeared to conduct joint research with Chinese institutions without seeking waivers required under federal law. In some cases, the committee said, the work involved NASA scientists and institutions connected to “China’s defense research and industrial base.”
The findings come as the United States and China continue competing in space exploration. NASA’s Artemis program recently advanced with the successful Artemis II mission, which demonstrated the agency’s ability to return Americans to lunar orbit and supports the goal of reaching the lunar surface by 2028. China has said it plans to land its own astronauts, known as taikonauts, on the moon by 2030.
“The successful Artemis II mission made all Americans proud of the incredible work happening at NASA. We are the world leader in space exploration, and we want to make sure the taxpayer-funded research that keeps America ahead is protected from adversaries including China,” Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Mich., chairman of the committee, said in a statement.
“NASA worked cooperatively with the Committee throughout this review, acknowledged areas where improvements were needed, and demonstrated it is taking these issues seriously through concrete steps to improve its research security and compliance processes moving forward,” Moolenaar said.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman told Just the News that the review by the House panel and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, exposed gaps in the agency’s previous compliance practices.
“I appreciate the rigorous review that the House Select Committee on China and Chairman Moolenaar as well as the Senate Judiciary Committee and Chairman Grassley have undertaken, which has brought needed visibility to gaps in NASA’s past compliance practices,” Isaacman said.
“I take these findings seriously. It is clear that earlier policies did not provide the safeguards necessary to ensure full adherence to the Wolf Amendment. That is unacceptable. Protecting U.S. innovation and intellectual property is critical to maintaining American leadership in space,” he continued.
The Wolf Amendment, first enacted in 2011 and authored by former Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., bars NASA and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy from using federal funds for bilateral work, coordination or joint research with China or Chinese-owned entities. Exceptions require specific congressional authorization or FBI certification that the activity does not pose a national security risk.
The law was enacted amid concerns over China’s human rights record and its efforts to acquire foreign technology for military development. Congress has renewed the restriction annually under both Republican and Democratic control.
“The law is clear: compliance is not optional,” Wolf wrote in a foreword to the committee report.
“This report raises serious concerns that the law has not been adequately enforced. As the author of the Wolf Amendment, it is unacceptable to learn, fifteen years later, that NASA has failed to properly enforce this law and that universities have continued to engage in conduct that appears inconsistent with both the letter and the intent of the statute,” Wolf added.
The committee highlighted Arizona State University and Stanford University among the cases it described as most serious. Investigators said the universities submitted certifications to NASA stating they were not collaborating with Chinese entities under an active grant, but the principal investigator on the award later listed a 2024 co-authored publication involving undisclosed Chinese affiliations as part of that NASA grant.
After Moolenaar and Grassley alerted NASA, the agency reviewed the award and found “a significant breakdown in compliance with the Wolf Amendment driven by inaccurate and incomplete institutional disclosures,” according to the committee report.
The principal investigator on that grant, Dr. Wendy Mao, had previously faced scrutiny from the committee over work at a U.S. Energy Department laboratory while allegedly failing to disclose her position at a subsidiary of China’s primary nuclear weapons research complex.
That subsidiary, the Center for High Pressure Science and Technology Advanced Research, has been designated by the Commerce Department since 1997 as “reasonably believed” to be “involved […] in activities contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests” of the United States, Just the News previously reported.
The report also identified NASA-supported work involving Chinese institutions linked to the country’s defense establishment, including universities within China’s “Seven Sons of National Defense,” a group of schools with close ties to the People’s Liberation Army. Other cases involved entities already listed on U.S. government restricted lists.
The committee said the research areas included hypersonics, autonomous systems, radar signal processing and advanced aerospace engineering, fields that align with China’s military-civil fusion priorities.
In one previously settled case, University of Delaware professor Xiao-Hai Yan received NASA grant funding while maintaining affiliations with the Chinese government, including employment at a Chinese university. Yan was also part of China’s “Thousand Talents Program”, a government initiative aimed at recruiting scientists, primarily overseas Chinese researchers, to bring knowledge and experience back to China.
The committee said its additional research found that Yan led development of China’s first low-cost synthetic aperture radar small satellite, work that appeared to overlap with his U.S. government-funded research. The University of Delaware paid a civil settlement to the Justice Department in December 2024 over its failure to disclose Yan’s affiliations.
The committee report said NASA’s public guidance, available since at least 2013, made clear that co-authorship between U.S. and Chinese researchers can qualify as prohibited bilateral collaboration under the Wolf Amendment.
“Universities cannot credibly claim ignorance where the agency has made its expectations explicit and accessible for over a decade,” the report states.
The committee said NASA has taken steps since being notified of the issues, including creating a dedicated research security office, revising award terms and conditions and coordinating with the agency’s inspector general.
“The Select Committee commends NASA for these actions, which represent meaningful progress and demonstrate that large federal agencies can adapt quickly when gaps are identified,” the committee wrote.
The panel recommended that the NASA inspector general and Justice Department create a joint task force to investigate potential Wolf Amendment violations, including possible False Claims Act liability for institutions accused of submitting fraudulent certifications. It also urged Congress to bar researchers conducting federally funded work from collaborating with entities on U.S. government restricted lists.
“Under my leadership, strengthened controls have already been put in place, and the Office of Inspector General will conduct a thorough review to ensure accountability where any violations have occurred. The stakes in space are high; we all understand the national security implications of this domain and the cost of mistakes,” Isaacman told Just the News. “At NASA, we are committed to ensuring complete compliance to the Wolf Amendment and ensuring America’s leadership in space.”
The committee’s findings place new pressure on NASA, universities and federal research funders to tighten oversight of foreign affiliations, co-authorship and institutional certifications as the United States seeks to maintain its lead in space research and exploration.
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