January 28,2020
Grassley Statement on Harvard Chemist Accused of Concealing Chinese Government Ties
Grassley Has Been Probing Chinese Government Influence within American Research Institutions and Theft of U.S. Intellectual Property
Washington – Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley
(R-Iowa) today released the following statement regarding reports
that Charles Lieber, the head of Harvard University’s chemistry department, was
arrested on charges of allegedly lying to the Department of Defense and
National Institutes of Health regarding ties to the Chinese communist
government.
“Americans
have invested billions of dollars in scientific research through direct funding
and the tax code. Taxpayers deserve to know that those resources are kept safe
and not stolen or misused by foreign organizations or governments,” Grassley
said. “I’m glad the FBI appears to be taking foreign threats to
taxpayer-funded research seriously, but I fear that this case is only the tip
of the iceberg. For years, the Chinese communist government has taken advantage
of our educational and research system that encourages collaboration, openness
and the sharing of information. This is a concerted effort. At the very least,
individuals conducting research within the United States should be required to
disclose any foreign ties, especially if taxpayers are footing the bill. I’ll
continue to conduct oversight and explore legislative opportunities to ensure
American research institutions are protected.”
Grassley
led a hearing
last June regarding foreign threats to taxpayer-funded research and has been a
leading advocate
for oversight opportunities and policy solutions, particularly with respect to
Chinese influence at leading U.S. educational and research institutions and
theft of intellectual property. At the hearing, Grassley said,
“…people deserve to know how the government is working to protect that research
and the resulting intellectual property from foreign threats. We know that
China is by far the most prolific offender…”
Grassley
is a leading voice in the effort to protect the integrity of taxpayer-funded
research. Grassley began
looking into foreign threats to taxpayer-funded research in October 2018 with a
letter
to the director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Grassley continued
to seek further information from NIH after retaking the helm of the Finance
Committee at the beginning of last year. Following his inquiries, NIH research
projects were referred
to the NIH inspector general for their failure to disclose foreign
affiliations. The HHS OIG released
a report on the failure of NIH to consider the risks posed by providing
foreign individuals access to sensitive information.
Grassley
also wrote to the HHS OIG on January 17, 2019 requesting
actions the OIG has taken with respect to threats to research integrity. Last
September, Grassley called
for immediate action on three HHS OIG reports that raised concern about NIH
research oversight.
In
August of last year, Grassley sent a letter
to the Comptroller General of the United States requesting that the Government
Accountability Office (GAO) perform a review of how the federal government is
implementing conflict-of-interest policies in taxpayer-supported research and
what updates should be made by the executive branch to shore up its ability to
detect and deter foreign threats to research. GAO has agreed
to perform such a review.
Grassley
has also extensively
probed grant integrity at the National Science Foundation.
Grassley
is also probing
foreign threats to Department of Defense (DoD) research, finding
that DoD does not vet all researchers working on taxpayer-funded projects, as
well as numerous other failures in due diligence.
Grassley
has also written
to the Justice Department about concerns relating to Confucius Institutes and
their abuse of our academic environment and why they have not registered as
foreign agents under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
Grassley
has written
that even his home state of Iowa is not immune to foreign threats to
taxpayer-funded research.
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