Washington, D.C. – Congressman Andy Barr’s (KY-06) latest proposal as part of the House China Task Force (CTF) establishes an initiative at the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to investigate the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) espionage efforts in federally funded research at American universities. This bill comes after a slew of criminal indictments related to CCP theft of American research on missile and aerospace technology and most recently—indictments for CCP hackers trying to steal COVID-19 research.
The Higher Education Research Protection Act of 2020 establishes a higher education initiative headed by the Assistant Director in the FBI Office of Private Sector. 56 FBI agents—one for each FBI field office in the United States—will be hired to carry out this mission, which is required to report any findings of CCP espionage efforts to Director of the FBI.
“The CCP consistently uses sophisticated espionage schemes to undermine or steal American research in higher education,” said Congressman Barr. “By creating an initiative at the FBI to investigate these criminal activities, we will empower the FBI with the needed tools, mandate, and manpower to defend our country against this threat. This FBI initiative will be a major roadblock to future Chinese espionage operations and will better protect research at American universities going forward.”
In a speech to the Council on Foreign Relations in 2019, FBI Director Christopher Wray warned of CCP intelligence operations at American Universities. Wray said “China has pioneered a societal approach to stealing innovation in any way it can from a wide array of businesses, universities and organizations. “They’re doing it through Chinese intelligence services, through state-owned enterprises, through ostensibly private companies, through graduate students and researchers, through a variety of actors, all working on behalf of China.”
Congressman Barr has been heavily involved in crafting legislation to counter CCP aggression and to hold the CCP accountable in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic that originated in Wuhan, China. Barr was appointed to the CTF in May by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (CA-23). Barr is currently Co-Chairing the Task Force subgroups on Economics and Energy as well as on Competitiveness. The final CTF report is expected on October 1.