Penn State Among Universities Ordered by Pentagon to Audit Partnerships With Foreign Entities

Penn State is one of 30 universities ordered by the Department of Defense this week to audit partnerships with mostly Chinese institutions identified as foreign entities of concern.

The Pentagon directed the schools to conduct a comprehensive review of all foreign collaborations, implement mitigation plans for exposure of sensitive research and terminate problematic relationships by Aug. 31. Those that do not risk future eligibility for federal research funding.

“Penn State received notice from the Department of War to conduct a research security audit and has communicated to the department that that work is under way,” a university spokesperson told StateCollege.com in an email. “The University greatly values its relationship with the Department of War and shares its commitment to maintaining the highest standards in national security, research security and scientific integrity.”

While the majority of the organizations on the Pentagons’s updated list of 130 “foreign institutions engaging in problematic activities” that threaten U.S. security interests are Chinese, several in Iran and Russia are also included.

The aim of the audit, according to the Defense Department, is to protect taxpayer-funded research and technology from theft and exploitation.

“The Department of War has zero tolerance for academic partnerships that compromise our national security,” Emil Michael, Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering, said in a statement “Institutions that receive funding from American taxpayers must uphold the highest standards of research security, and these mandated audits will ensure accountability across the board.”

The audit comes as the Trump administration continues to express deep concern about China’s activities in the Americas, pushing back on Chinese ownership of ports at either end of the Panama Canal, infrastructure projects funded by China’s Belt and Road initiative in the region and Chinese investment in the telecommunications sector.

The Justice Department also is investigating whether Harvard University is allowing Chinese donors to create scholarships that exclude American students.

A spokesperson for the Chinese embassy said in a statement that the country opposes what it described as the politicization of “normal scientific, educational, and academic exchanges.”

“The U.S. side,” the statement continued, “should abandon the Cold War mentality and foster an open, fair, and non-discriminatory environment for educational, scientific, and people-to-people exchanges between China and the United States.” 

The 30 schools ordered to conduct the audits were not identified by the Pentagon, but DefenseScoop and Fox News both reported that they include:

• Georgetown University
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• University of California, Berkeley
• University of California, San Diego
• University of Texas at Austin
• Emory University
• Harvard University
• Oklahoma State University
• Penn State University
• University of California, Los Angeles
• University of Cincinnati
• University of Minnesota
• University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
• University of South Carolina
• University of Southern California
• Virginia Tech
• Worcester Polytechnic Institute
• Bryant University
• Cornell University
• Drake University
• Duke University
• Illinois Institute of Technology
• Johns Hopkins University
• New York University
• Northeastern State University, Tahlequah (Oklahoma)
• Portland State University
• Southern Illinois University, Carbondale
• Stony Brook University
• University of Delaware
• University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

“Universities are critical partners in executing a wide range of Department of War research programs, and the Department must therefore ensure that our research investments are well protected from foreign exploitation,” Joseph Jewell, Assistant Secretary of War for Science and Technology, said in a statement.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.