Department of Energy Funded Research Collaborations with Chinese Military-Industrial Complex

The Department of Energy funded thousands of research publications conducted with entities within China’s military-industrial complex, according to a bombshell congressional investigation that raises fresh concerns about the Chinese Communist Party using U.S. taxpayer-funded research to bolster its military capabilities.

The investigation uncovered 4,350 research papers between June 2023 and June 2025 that involved Chinese entities and received funding or support from the Department of Energy. Roughly half of those publications were created with entities tied to China’s defense research and industrial base, according to a new report laying out the investigation’s findings.

“The examples reviewed reveal a pervasive and deeply troubling pattern of U.S. taxpayer-funded research being conducted in collaboration with Chinese entities that are directly tied to China’s defense research and industrial base—many of which appear on various U.S. government national security entity lists,” the report reads.

“These collaborations involved research in sensitive technical domains such as quantum sensing, semiconductors, machine learning, artificial intelligence (AI), advanced materials, nuclear science, and explosion science—many with clear dual-use, national security, and military applications.”

Some of the Department of Energy’s partnerships were with Chinese state-administered universities, including the “seven sons of national defense,” Chinese schools with deep ties to the CCP’s ministry of industry and information technology. Congressional investigators also identified multiple instances where Chinese entities responsible for human rights abuses and mass surveillance were linked to Department of Energy-funded research.

The Chinese Scholarship Council, the CCP’s main vehicle for giving out academic scholarships, supported researchers affiliated with Chinese laboratories, universities, and defense-linked entities who participated in research funded by the Department of Energy. Additionally, the Department of Energy’s national laboratory system either employs or hosts close to 2,000 Chinese national security researchers and contractors, potentially creating pipelines for significant knowledge transfers.

The House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party conducted the investigation in collaboration with the House and Senate Intelligence Committees. It is based on publication data, grant and funding records, Chinese-language source materials, and briefings, meetings, and materials provided by offices within the Department of Energy.

“This investigation reveals a deeply alarming problem: The Department of Energy failed to ensure the security of its research and it put American taxpayers on the hook for funding the military rise of our nation’s foremost adversary. The department, which oversees critical research and technological innovation, allowed research collaborations that were exploited by China,” said John Moolenaar (R., Mich.), chairman of the House China Committee.

“The department must stop providing funding to grantees who allow this exploitation and protect hard-earned taxpayer dollars.”

The congressional report identifies key shortcomings in the Department of Energy’s research security policies related to vetting, risk assessment, oversight, and compliance. This recklessness exists even though the Energy Department is at the forefront of supporting research into cutting-edge technologies and scientific discoveries.

“For decades, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has conducted intellectual property theft, cyber espionage, and illicit technology transfers under the guise of international research collaboration,” said House Intelligence Committee chairman Rick Crawford (R., Ark.).

“They are actively working to exploit lapses in research security to steal our innovation and use it not only to their benefit but also to the clear and direct detriment of the U.S. This systematic plunder allows the CCP to accelerate what took the U. S. decades and trillions of dollars to develop – leapfrogging entire generations of research and development in emerging technology fields – eroding America’s technological edge.”

A case study the report mentions is researchers at the University of Tennessee and the Oak Ridge National Lab co-authoring a study on electronic conductivity with the Chinese Electronic Technology Group Corporation, a Chinese state-owned defense conglomerate. The case is one of numerous examples of U.S. researchers writing papers with Chinese counterparts at the heart of the CCP’s military-industrial complex.

Earlier this year, the China Committee released similar findings from an investigation of U.S. Department of Defense research collaborations with the CCP. The Biden administration’s Department of Defense spent $2.5 billion on military-related research performed in tandem with CCP entities, the committee found. The Chinese research partnerships with taxpayer-funded institutions are part of the CCP’s broader strategy to exploit U.S. research institutions to advance Chinese military and economic priorities.

Reprinted with permission from National Review by James Lynch.

The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of AMAC or AMAC Action.