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