China is ‘Pretty Good at Stealing’ Technology, NASA Chief Says

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Administrator Bill Nelson testifies during a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on NASA's fiscal year 2022 budget request at the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington on June 15, 2021. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

China’s communist regime is engaged in a campaign to illicitly co-opt U.S. space technologies, according to NASA’s highest-ranking official, who said the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is adept at stealing the United States’ most vital technological secrets.

“Yeah, they’re pretty good at stealing,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said during a May 17 House Appropriations Committee hearing. “And I think that’s incumbent upon us to take cybersecurity very, very seriously.”