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Pentagon Says 30 Universities Cut Ties With Foreign Research Entities

Defense Department says all 30 schools it ordered to review foreign partnerships have mitigated identified relationships

By AXY Defense Desk ·

Reporting via Military Times
Reporting via Military Times (Military Times)

Key points

The Pentagon said Monday that all 30 American universities it ordered to review their ties with foreign institutions have dealt with the relationships it flagged, a result the Department of Defense presented as proof that its research security campaign is working. In a department announcement, the Pentagon said "all 30 universities have fully mitigated identified relationships with foreign entities of concern" and that the audits produced "more than 80 termination-related actions across the 30 universities." The claim, first reported by Military Times, marks the Pentagon's public account of a directive that began in August and aims to keep American government-funded research from flowing to foreign entities the department considers security threats.

What the Pentagon ordered in August

In August, the Defense Department directed 30 private and state universities to examine their relationships with foreign institutions listed under Section 1286 of the fiscal 2019 National Defense Authorization Act. The Defense Department, usually called the Pentagon, is the federal agency responsible for U.S. military operations and a major funder of university research. The National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, is the annual law that sets defense policy and spending priorities, and its provisions often carry requirements that reach far beyond the military itself. Section 1286 of the fiscal 2019 act is aimed at restricting nations such as China and Russia from gaining access to American research and technology.

The order carried a clear consequence. Universities that failed to comply could have faced a cutoff of federal research funding. For institutions that depend heavily on federal grants to pay for laboratories, graduate students and faculty salaries, that threat gave the review real financial weight. The order was not limited to the 2019 law's list. The Pentagon also asked the universities to review partnerships with "organizations associated with rebranded Confucius Institutes," a reference that connects the review to a longstanding and politically sensitive debate about Chinese government influence on campuses.

Results of the review and the seven named institutions

The Pentagon did not publicly list the 30 universities that were reviewed. Instead, it named seven that it said had gone "above and beyond" by "quickly terminating problematic relationships." Those seven were Oklahoma State University, The Pennsylvania State University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of South Carolina, the University of Southern California, the University of Texas at Austin and Virginia Tech. The department did not say how many terminations each of those schools had carried out, and the announcement did not identify which foreign entities were involved in individual cases.

Joseph Jewell, assistant secretary of defense for science and technology, praised the seven institutions in the department's statement. "These academic institutions that went above and beyond deserve immense credit for setting the benchmark in domestic research security," Jewell said. He added that "rather than settling for minimum compliance, these institutions took bold, self-initiated steps to protect their labs, faculty, and intellectual property from foreign exploitation." The phrasing signals that the Pentagon wants universities to go beyond what the order strictly required, not simply to meet a minimum standard.

The department also said that, beyond the entities named on its list, colleges carried out "precautionary terminations involving entities not specifically identified on the list." That detail suggests that some universities chose to cut ties with organizations that were not formally on the government's list, a sign that the review affected more than the narrowest reading of the order.

Why the rules focus on foreign research ties

The concern behind these actions is that openly funded research can be taken, copied or redirected by foreign actors. The Pentagon's July update of its list of "foreign institutions engaging in problematic activities" made that concern explicit. The department said the institutions on the list had "been confirmed to engage in activities that increase the likelihood of U.S. government-funded research and development efforts being misappropriated." In plain terms, the government believes that work paid for by American taxpayers could end up benefiting foreign militaries or competitors if collaboration is not tightly controlled.

Universities sit at the centre of this issue because they combine open scientific exchange with government money. Many research projects involve international students, visiting scholars and joint research with overseas partners. Those relationships have long been part of how science advances, which is why the policy debate involves a difficult balance between security and openness. Analysts who study research security often note that the most sensitive work, including work involving defense technology, advanced computing and materials, is where officials see the greatest risk. Universities must now decide how to protect that work without shutting down collaborations that many scientists consider essential.

For students and faculty, the practical effect can be significant. A terminated partnership can mean lost access to joint projects, changes to visiting-scholar arrangements or new reporting obligations for staff who hold affiliations abroad. The Pentagon's announcement did not describe how individual researchers were affected, so the full human impact remains unclear from the source material.

Confucius Institutes and the broader China focus

Confucius Institutes are language and culture centres that have been hosted at universities in many countries and funded in part by the Chinese government. Supporters say they offer Chinese language teaching and cultural exchange. U.S. officials and some academics have argued that they can be used to shape how China is presented on campus and to promote Beijing's views, a concern that led many American universities to close or restructure their Confucius Institutes in the years before this review. The Pentagon's reference to "rebranded" Confucius Institutes suggests that some of these programmes continued under new names, and the department wants universities to examine those successor arrangements as well.

The review also sits within a wider effort by Washington to limit research collaboration with China. The Pentagon's order covers both military and civilian research, and the department's language is directed largely at entities it associates with China, Russia and Iran. The source material does not describe every legal basis for that wider effort, but it shows that the government is pressing universities to treat research partnerships as a national security matter.

The 130-institution list and the July update

The August review followed the Pentagon's July release of its fiscal 2025 update of foreign institutions engaging in problematic activities. That list named 130 academic and research institutions located in China, Russia and Iran. The size of the list shows how broad the government's concern has become. A list of that length means universities across several departments may have to check existing partnerships, grant agreements, visiting-scholar programmes and joint publications to see whether any involve listed organisations.

The Pentagon said that the review had resulted in terminations involving entities named on the list and in other cases where colleges acted precautionarily. What remains unclear from the announcement is how many of the 130 listed institutions were actually connected to the 30 universities under review. That gap matters because it determines whether the reported results are a complete picture of exposure across American higher education or only a sample of schools chosen for review.

Wider crackdown: Ohio State settlement and the UK move

The Pentagon's announcement comes amid a broader pattern of enforcement. The source material notes that in August, Ohio State University agreed to a $2.1 million settlement after civil allegations that it failed to disclose employee affiliations with Chinese institutions in connection with NASA and National Science Foundation projects. The National Science Foundation is a federal agency that funds basic research, and NASA is the U.S. space agency. The case shows that disclosure of foreign affiliations is a central concern for federal research funders, separate from the Pentagon's own review.

Other governments are taking similar steps. Last month, the United Kingdom ordered British universities to stop working with the China General Technology Research Institute, which British security services believe to be a front for Chinese espionage. Beijing has denied the allegations. The parallel moves in Washington and London suggest that concern about academic collaboration with China has become a shared issue among Western governments, although the specific legal tools and rationales differ from country to country.

What to watch next

Several questions will shape how this policy develops. The first is whether the Pentagon will publish the names of the 30 universities or provide more detail on the terminations, which would allow researchers, lawmakers and the public to judge the scope of the review. The second is whether the seven named institutions' practices become a model for other schools, as the department's praise suggests it hopes. The third is how universities will handle the cost and disruption of ending partnerships, particularly for international students and scientists whose work depends on collaboration.

Analysts expect that universities will continue to tighten reporting, vetting and disclosure procedures, since the threat of losing federal research funding gives institutions a strong reason to act. Whether that leads to a more secure research environment or a narrower scientific exchange will depend on how the rules are applied and how clearly the government defines which entities count as foreign threats. For now, the Pentagon's statement presents the review as a success, while the details that would allow independent assessment remain limited to what the department chose to disclose.

Questions and answers

What did the Pentagon order universities to do?

In August, the Defense Department ordered 30 private and state universities to review their ties with foreign institutions listed under Section 1286 of the fiscal 2019 National Defense Authorization Act. Universities were also asked to review partnerships with organizations associated with rebranded Confucius Institutes.

Which universities did the Pentagon praise?

The Pentagon named seven universities for going above and beyond: Oklahoma State University, The Pennsylvania State University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of South Carolina, the University of Southern California, the University of Texas at Austin and Virginia Tech. It did not publicly list all 30 institutions reviewed.

What happens if universities do not comply?

According to the source material, failure to comply could have resulted in a cutoff of federal research funding. That threat gave the review significant financial weight for institutions that rely on federal grants.

Why is the Pentagon focused on foreign research ties?

The Pentagon said that institutions on its July list had been confirmed to engage in activities that increase the likelihood of U.S. government-funded research being misappropriated. The list named 130 academic and research institutions in China, Russia and Iran.

Topics: Pentagon, Department of Defense, research security, foreign entities of concern, Section 1286, Confucius Institutes, U.S. universities

Sources: Military Times

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