Washington, June 24 (IANS) Two senior Republican senators have urged the Trump administration to curb Chinese nationals’ access to America’s national laboratories, warning that the practice exposes sensitive research and advanced technologies to potential exploitation by Beijing.
In a letter to Energy Secretary Chris Wright, Senators Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Mike Lee of Utah said Department of Energy data showed thousands of Chinese nationals continued to visit, work and conduct research at US national laboratories despite longstanding concerns about intellectual property theft and technology transfer.
“We write expressing serious concern regarding the Department of Energy’s (DOE) continued practice of permitting foreign nationals from China to access facilities across the National Laboratory complex and work alongside American scientists,” the senators wrote.
The two Senators said DOE data showed approximately 1,900 short-term visits by Chinese nationals in fiscal year 2025, alongside roughly 1,300 long-term research assignments and about 2,100 formal employment positions.
They also noted that Chinese nationals physically or remotely accessed National Laboratory user facilities more than 5,000 times during the year.
“Recent DOE data underscores that this practice puts the nation’s research enterprise at risk of foreign intelligence collection and technology transfers that will benefit our adversaries,” the letter said.
The senators argued that the figures point to what they described as significant vulnerabilities within some of America’s most sensitive scientific institutions.
“China is our main competitor in research and development and the race for emerging tech, where it seeks to surpass the United States by stealing American intellectual property and technologies,” they wrote. “This is widely known and well-documented, and yet for decades we continue to give Chinese national scientists access to our National Laboratories.”
Cotton and Lee asked the Energy Department how its security framework accounts for China’s National Intelligence Law, which they said requires Chinese citizens to cooperate with Chinese intelligence services when called upon.
The senators also sought details on whether Chinese nationals are permitted access to controlled technologies, export-controlled technologies or other sensitive research environments within the laboratory system.
Among the questions raised were why Chinese nationals continue to work alongside American scientists, what steps are being taken to reduce remote access, whether DOE plans to limit participation in unclassified research programmes, and what counter-intelligence assessments have been conducted regarding concentrations of Chinese researchers in specific laboratories or facilities.
“These numbers are not small, nor are they incidental,” the senators wrote. “They represent a systemic exposure of our National Labs, including the American scientists who work there and topics they are working on, to an adversary determined to defeat the United States.”
The lawmakers concluded that DOE’s mission to protect national security and critical technologies “can’t be achieved when it’s undermined by thousands of Chinese nationals infiltrating the National Labs each year.”
The letter follows an earlier appeal by Cotton, Lee and nine other senators in January asking the department to address the issue. The senators also pointed to legislation they introduced in March 2025 — the Guarding American Technology from Exploitation (GATE) Act — which they said would restrict access by nationals from adversarial countries to DOE laboratories.
America’s network of national laboratories conducts research in areas ranging from artificial intelligence and advanced computing to energy systems, materials science and nuclear security. Many of the facilities play a central role in maintaining US technological leadership and supporting national security objectives.
–IANS
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