Pentagon Gives 30 Universities Two Weeks to Audit and Cut Chinese Research Partnerships or Lose Funding

The Defense Department ordered 30 U.S. universities on Monday to audit their partnerships with mostly Chinese universities and military training institutions. Schools that do not complete a review and terminate arrangements deemed problematic within two weeks face losing funding. "The Department of War has zero tolerance for academic partnerships that compromise our national security," said Emil Michael, the Pentagon's chief technology officer. The release did not name the schools; a U.S. official speaking anonymously told the AP they include Harvard, MIT and Johns Hopkins. The order follows an updated Pentagon list of 130 foreign institutions accused of putting federally funded research at risk of misappropriation.

Conditioning existing research funding on a two-week self-audit places the compliance burden and the deadline on the institutions rather than on any agency finding, and applies it to a named set of schools that has not been made public.

Sarah Spreitzer of the American Council on Education said the announcement implies wrongdoing without evidence and noted her members helped build the original list during Trump's first term. The schools did not immediately respond to the AP. A Chinese embassy spokesperson said Beijing opposes the politicization of academic exchange.