GOP Lawmakers Seek Answers on Pentagon’s Redaction of China Funding Details

Sen. Joni Ernst and Rep. Elise Stefanik are seeking the lifting of redactions on spending data about research on pathogens with pandemic potential.
GOP Lawmakers Seek Answers on Pentagon’s Redaction of China Funding Details
Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), at a June 2023 Washington press conference with Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Mark Tapscott
Updated:
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Senate and House Republicans want new requirements that the Department of Defense (DOD) make public unclassified information it has redacted on Pentagon funding of enhancement research on pathogens with pandemic potential that is linked to the Chinese military.

Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) are acting in response to a Department of Defense Inspector General (DOD-IG) report that said auditors cannot track all such potential funding because of inadequacies in the Pentagon’s budget management system.

Ms. Ernst is Chair of the Senate Republican Policy Committee, while Ms. Stefanik is Chair of the House Republican Conference.

“The full extent of DOD funds provided to Chinese research laboratories or other foreign countries for research related to enhancement of pathogens of pandemic potential is unknown. Our results were consistent with observations identified by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) in a 2022 report,” the DOD-IG report said.
The DOD-IG did identify more than $8 million in DOD funding received by a Chinese firm with strong ties to China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA), but most of the information about such funding was redacted under the Pentagon’s Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) exemption.

The CUI exemption covers information generated by federal agencies that “while not meeting the threshold for classification as national security or atomic energy information, requires some level of protection from unauthorized access and release.”

Additionally, officials with the U.S. Navy did not respond to the DOD-IG auditors’ requests for information and documentation.

Ms. Ernst is not satisfied that the CUI legitimately covers information about U.S. tax dollars benefitting the PLA via the Pentagon.

A DOD-IG spokesman told The Epoch Times the CUI redactions resulted from a review by U.S. Army officials of the draft report, noting that the “process includes a security review by DOD Components where they determine what information is CUI and therefore cannot be released. In this case, the DOD OIG provided the Management Advisory to the U.S. Army, which then marked sections for redaction during its official security review as the originators of the information, as they retain the release authority.”

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) speaks at the 2024 Road to Majority Conference in Washington on June 21, 2024. (Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times)
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) speaks at the 2024 Road to Majority Conference in Washington on June 21, 2024. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times
Mark Tapscott
Mark Tapscott
Senior Congressional Correspondent
Mark Tapscott is an award-winning senior Congressional correspondent for The Epoch Times. He covers Congress, national politics, and policy. Mr. Tapscott previously worked for Washington Times, Washington Examiner, Montgomery Journal, and Daily Caller News Foundation.
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