A recent oversight
report demonstrated that numerous high-ranking American universities
have brought in Chinese scientists who have attended blacklisted Chinese
universities tied to and run by the Chinese Communist Party’s People’s
Liberation Army.
A conservative non-profit watchdog group, the American Accountability Foundation,
reported this week that it found nearly two dozen Chinese academics
working at elite U.S. schools and labs “who, because of the dual-use
threat of their research, close ties to the military research sector in
China, and/or clear ties to the Chinese Communist Party" are threats to
U.S. national security, and as such "should be expelled from the United
States or never be re-admitted."
The report laid out multiple instances of Chinese
scientists graduating from Chinese schools found under the umbrella of
the CCP’s so-called “Seven Sons of National Defense” or administered by
China’s State Administration for Science, Technology, and Industry for
National Defense, or SASTIND.
Document shows "troubling backgrounds"
The AAF research document — titled "Chinese Scientist Infiltration Threat Assessments" — says
that Chinese students working at some of America’s top colleges, often
receiving U.S. federal funding (some of it from the Pentagon) to conduct
research into advanced technologies, have troubling backgrounds which
could pose a risk to U.S. national security.
Previous reports by Just the News — detailing how American colleges and labs have brought in card-carrying members of the CCP, members of the infamous Thousand Talents Program, and former employees from blacklisted Chinese defense companies
to conduct advanced science and technology research in the U.S. — also
detail multiple other examples of Chinese academics who attended either
Seven Sons or SASTIND-run Chinese schools beforehand.
The Chinese schools in question include Northwestern
Polytechnical University, one of the Seven Sons schools, as well as the
SASTIND-run Chinese colleges of Xi’an Jiaotong University, Peking
University, Tsinghua University, South China University of Technology,
Zhejiang University, and Xidian University.
The American universities that these Chinese graduates
attend, work for, or have been affiliated with include Harvard and
others.
“It's called unrestricted war. What that means is it's a
‘People's War’ — focused on the people and weakening the inside, from
the inside out, under no rules,” Casey Fleming, the CEO of BlackOps
Partners, told the “Just the News, No Noise” TV show on Monday regarding
the CCP’s efforts to undermine America. “In World War Two, you had the
Geneva Conventions. Here there are no rules. Everything is fair, and
that's what they're doing. And there's over 100 different methods to
weaken us.”
The “Seven Sons” infiltrate America’s top research colleges
The House Select Committee on the CCP said
last year that the “Seven Sons” are “a group of elite Chinese
universities known for their deep ties to the PLA and central role in
military research and development.”
The House committee assessed that these seven academies are
“China’s leading defense-focused universities, whose primary mission is
to advance defense research and development and drive state-directed
military-civil fusion efforts” and that “most maintain partnerships with
state-owned defense conglomerates and operate as training grounds for
future military leaders, engineers, and technicians working on weapons
systems and defense programs.”
The committee warned that the Seven Sons “play a central
role in developing advanced military technologies, including hypersonic
weapons, unmanned systems, cyber warfare tools, and aerospace
engineering, often in direct coordination with the PLA and its
affiliates” and that “graduates from these institutions frequently enter
roles within China’s military, intelligence, or state-owned defense
enterprises.”
Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology wrote
in 2020 that “the Seven Sons of National Defense are important feeders
for China’s military and defense industry.” The center said the Seven
Sons “contribute the lion’s share of new hires at Chinese defense
state-owned enterprises” and “produce nearly three quarters of the elite
university graduates hired by China’s largest defense companies.”
The Hoover Institution in 2020 argued
that the Seven Sons “act as fronts for and extensions of the People’s
Liberation Army and the Ministry of State Security” and “directly
support military-civil fusion; the PLA; and the defense research and
industrial base, weapons programs, and myriad other entities that are
part of the PRC’s military, public security, and surveillance
apparatus.”
The RAND Corporation also warned in 2023 that the “Seven Sons universities contain researchers likely to be tied to China’s military-civil fusion strategy.”
SASTIND grads also make their way to America
The House CCP Committee referred to SASTIND as a “Chinese defense agency” linked to the PLA. The committee’s report from last year said
that SASTIND “co-administers 58 Chinese universities — out of more than
3,000 Chinese universities — engaged in military-civil fusion
research.”
“SASTIND-affiliated universities maintain specialized labs,
programs, and departments dedicated to military research,” the House
CCP committee said. “SASTIND plays a critical role in managing China’s
defense R&D outside the PLA, coordinating weapons development,
setting technical standards for defense industries, and integrating
efforts across provincial and national levels.”
The House report also called SASTIND “the Chinese
government agency responsible for coordinating the development of
military technologies, weapons systems, and dual-use scientific
research.”
The House CCP committee also assessed
last year that SASTIND is “the PRC’s principal civilian authority
overseeing national defense science, technology, and industrial
activities.”
The China Aerospace Studies Institute, a think tank within the U.S. Air Force, said
in 2020 that SASTIND is “responsible for the formulation and
implementation of national defense science and technology industrial
plans, policies, standards, and regulations.” The China-focused
Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) assessed
that the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology
“oversees China’s defence industry through its subordinate agency,
SASTIND.”
“SASTIND seeks to build institutions into ‘universities
with national defence characteristics’ by expanding their involvement in
training and research on defence technology and deepening their
cooperation with defence companies,” ASPI said.
Seven Sons grad at the University of Wisconsin
AAF’s report said that “as a leading researcher in
engineering physics with close ties to several critical nuclear research
organizations, Dr. Ziang Yu poses an immediate threat to U.S. security.
Dr. Yu’s attendance at one of China’s leading defense universities only
raises further concerns.”
Yu’s LinkedIn page and Google Scholar page say that he is a postdoctoral associate with the University of Wisconsin’s department of nuclear engineering and engineering physics.
The Chinese scientist’s LinkedIn profile also says he received an undergraduate degree at Northwestern Polytechnical University. It has been dubbed one of the CCP’s “Seven Sons of National Defense.”
Neither Yu nor the University of Wisconsin responded to a request for comment.
The university has long been on U.S. government blacklists, including being blacklisted by the Pentagon. The Defense Department has the Chinese school on its list
of “foreign institutions engaging in problematic activity” and says
this list “is an important continuing effort in highlighting and
countering mechanisms of unwanted technology transfer to foreign
countries of concern.”
The Commerce Department in 2021 described
the school as “a Chinese military university that is heavily involved
in military research and works closely with the People’s Liberation Army
on the advancement of its military capabilities.”
The House Select Committee on the CCP described the school as “a core Chinese military university” last year. The House committee said
that the school “was created by the merging of several engineering
universities and institutions — including the Air Force Engineering
Department of the PLA Military Engineering Institute.” The committee
said the university “hosts 13 major defense laboratories and 44
designated defense research areas.”
Neither Yu nor the University of Wisconsin responded to a request for comment.
Yu’s school profile
says he is a postdoc research associate at the Microstructure Materials
Modeling group at Wisconsin, which is also called “Professor Yongfeng
Zhang’s Research Group.” Dr. Yongfeng Zhang of the University of
Wisconsin himself received two degrees from the University of Science
and Technology of China, according to his online biography.
The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security added
that particular Chinese university to a blacklist “for acquiring and
attempting to acquire U.S.-origin items in support of advancing China's
quantum technology capabilities, which has serious ramifications for
U.S. national security given the military applications of quantum
technologies” and said it was “involved in advancing China's nuclear
program development.”
Zhang was previously a senior member of the U.S. government’s Center for Thermal Energy Transport under Irradiation, and was also a staff scientist in the Fuel Modeling and Simulation Department at Idaho National Lab. Zhang did not respond to a request for comment.
The Wisconsin lab, led by Zhang and counting Yu as a member, receives
funding from the Energy Department’s Nuclear Energy University Program,
the Idaho National Laboratory, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Yu’s co-author for a 2025 research paper received support from the Idaho National Lab.
“Yu presents security concerns as a graduate of
Northwestern Polytechnical University, a known collaborator of the
People’s Liberation Army and one of the Seven Sons of Defense in China,”
the AAF report argued.
Grad from “problematic” Chinese school did work for U.S. national laboratory
The AAF report assessed that “Zongliang Xie
is conducting research in fields that have potential military
applications. He is doing so at Lawrence National Laboratory, a lab with
a substantial amount of federal funding. The Chinese University, which
Xie attended, is a high-risk institution due to its ties with the CCP
military's adjacent research.”
Xie’s LinkedIn page lists him as a postdoctoral researcher at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, and his Google Scholar page lists him there too. Xie is part of the Molecular Foundry at the lab, and he says that “I’m working on AI-driven polymer design and nanocomposite fabrication techs.” Xie’s LinkedIn profile also says he received a PhD and undergraduate degree from Xi’an Jiaotong University.
The Pentagon has the Chinese school on its list of “foreign institutions engaging in problematic activity,” and the House Select Committee on the CCP assessed in 2025 that Xi’an Jiaotong is administered by SASTIND.
An alarm had been sounded last year
Bethany Allen, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s head of China investigations and analysis, warned
last year about the troubling joint venture between Xi’an Jiaotong
University in China and Liverpool University in Britain, with ASPI
saying the “findings raise serious questions about research
collaboration into sensitive technologies, including those with military
applications.”
Allen said that Xi’an Jiaotong is “a leading Chinese defence university that has supplied the Rocket Force of the People’s Liberation Army and is supervised by China’s defence-industry ministry.”
Neither Xie, the University of California, nor the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab responded to a request for comment.
The University of California manages Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science. The DOJ announced
in 2018 that the Advanced Persistent Threat 10 hacking group “acted in
association with the Tianjin State Security Bureau” to hack the national
laboratory.
A separate Chinese national last year reportedly
had his access to the national lab revoked due to his prior attendance
at the Harbin Institute of Technology, which is on the Department of
Commerce Bureau of Industry and Security’s blacklist since 2020 in part because the school “has sought to use U.S. technology for Chinese missile programs.”
The report by AAF argued that “concern is raised from Xie’s
academic background at Xi’an Jiaotong University, an institution
flagged as high-risk due to its affiliation with CCP research
initiatives” and concluded that Xie “is a high risk” to U.S. national
security.
Chinese academic who attended SASTIND school was “in good standing” in Florida
The report released by AAF argued that “Jinghan Gao's
research on high-temperature-resistant materials and related work in
energy-efficient storage and semiconductor technologies represent
serious dual-use risk technology and national security concerns.”
Gao’s LinkedIn page and her University of Florida profile say she received her PhD and her undergraduate degree at Xi’an Jiaotong University.
Gao’s LinkedIn says
she was a postdoctoral associate at the University of Florida until
last year, but that she is now a postdoc fellow at the University of
Michigan. Her Google Scholar profile lists her at Michigan, and the electrical and computer engineering department at Michigan lists her
as a research fellow. “Jinghan Gao was a postdoctoral research
associate at the University of Florida in the Department of Electrical
and Computer Engineering,” a spokesperson for the University of Florida
told Just the News. “She left UF in 2025 in good standing.” The
spokesperson did not answer specific questions related to any concerns
the U.S. university may have had about Gao’s attendance at a Chinese
military-linked school. The University of Michigan did not respond to a
request for comment.
Gao is still listed as a post-doctoral research associate at the Interdisciplinary Microsystems Group at the University of Florida, where she is listed as a member of Professor Roozbeh Tabrizian’s Research Group.
The “sponsors” for the microsystems group include
the National Energy Technology Laboratory, NIH, NASA, Air Force Office
of Scientific Research, the National Science Foundation, and DARPA.
The AAF report contended that “Gao’s research on
high-temperature stability materials has clear defense implications” and
said “these risks are elevated by Gao’s academic and research
affiliations” including attending “a high-risk institution in China.”
Chinese student from “high risk” school went on to AI research in Indiana
The report written by AAF described Xiaoyi Chen as “an
expert in AI machine learning, who comes to the U.S. from PLA-tied
universities, and whose mentor at Indiana University was raided by the
FBI.”
Chen’s GitHub page states that “I’m currently a Postdoctoral Researcher at Indiana University Bloomington, under the supervision of Prof. XiaoFeng Wang and Prof. Haixu Tang. Before joining Indiana University, I completed my Ph.D. in Computer Software and Theory from Peking University.”
The House Select Committee on the CCP assessed in 2025 that Peking University is administered by SASTIND. ASPI says
that Peking University “is assessed as high risk for its high number of
defence laboratories and defence research areas, strong relationship
with the defence industry, supervision by SASTIND, secret-level security
clearance, and links to China’s nuclear weapons program.” The
U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission in 2022 also said the Chinese military’s air force “established the ‘Dual-Enrollment Program’ with” Peking University.
Wang — directly mentioned by Chen as her mentor — was fired by Indiana University in March of last year the same day that the FBI searched Wang’s home. Wang has denied wrongdoing and has not been charged. The Department of Justice has revealed few details, and the investigation is ongoing.
Chen, for her part, lists her research areas as “Backdoor Attacks and Defenses” and “AI Web Security.” Indiana University has previously highlighted Chen’s AI research work under Wang’s guidance. Chen also previously conducted web application firewall research funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China.
Neither Chen nor Indiana University responded to a request for comment.
“Dr. Chen poses serious national security concerns. Her
research presents notable dual-use and national-security concerns due to
her specialization in AI machine-learning security and backdoor
attacks,” the AAF report concluded. “Further, she has academic ties to
PRC institutions with documented links to China’s military and
intelligence ecosystem, and she received funding from the Chinese
Government during her time at Peking University.”
“PLA-aligned” university grad went on to Harvard and Michigan State
The report by AAF warned about “Bao Xianyang, at Harvard,
who is working on Department of War-funded polymers research that could
enhance the PLA’s capabilities in a broad variety of military materiel,
from vehicles to protective equipment to weapons.”
Bao’s LinkedIn says he studied at the South China University of Technology. The House Select Committee on the CCP assessed in 2025 that the school is administered by SASTIND. The China Aerospace Studies Institute said the South China University of Technology is a “PLA and defense-aligned” college.
Bao has a profile at Michigan State which says that he is a postdoctoral research associate at the Extreme Soft Materials Laboratory, which aims at developing next-generation technologies” including “physics-empowered tactile robots.” The profile
for Bao at Michigan State says that “he aims to develop tough and
sustainable soft materials for engineering and biomedical applications.”
Bao did not respond to a request for comment.
A spokesperson for Michigan State told Just the News
that “any inquiries regarding the employment status of a particular
individual at the university must be made through the Freedom of
Information Act.”
Bao is also listed as a research associate at Harvard, and his X profile lists him as a postdoc researcher at Harvard’s Suo Group. Harvard did not respond to a request for comment.
Bao has dozens of publications through the Harvard group. Bao has also received federal research funding. Harvard said
in 2025 that a paper co-authored by Bao “had federal support from the
National Science Foundation under the Materials Research Science and
Engineering Centers and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research.”
Chinese “Military-Civil Fusion” college grad in Wisconsin
The report penned by AAF said that Yujie Zhu of the
University of Wisconsin-Madison “is a leading expert in the development
of the next generation of semiconductors and came to the U.S. from a
Chinese university with close ties to the CCP.”
Zhu’s Google Scholar page lists him as a postdoc researcher at Wisconsin. His profile
at Wisconsin says that he “received his B.S. in Electrical Engineering
from North China Electric Power University (Beijing) in 2017 and
received his PhD. in Electrical Engineering from Tsinghua University in
2023.”
The House Select Committee on the CCP committee has warned
about Tsinghua University, which is administered by SASTIND. The
committee also said that Tsinghua “has a documented history of serving
the PRC’s national security and defense apparatus, including involvement
in defense research and alleged cyberattacks targeting various
international entities.”
The Pentagon assessed
in 2020 there were “Military-Civil Fusion linkages” with Tsinghua,
noting the school’s “PLA-affiliated labs.” A report prepared for the
U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission in 2022 also noted the PLA Air Force “established the ‘Dual-Enrollment Program’ with Tsinghua University.”
Zhu is currently listed as a researcher at the Mesoscale Computational Modeling Research Group at Wisconsin. Zhu’s research at Wisconsin has been supported by
the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, the Office
of Naval Research, the Air Force Research Lab, and the Department of
Energy.
Neither Zhu nor the University of Wisconsin responded to a request for comment.
The AAF report argued that “Dr. Zhu’s research has put him
in partnership with researchers directly funded by United States
military research laboratories” and that “Dr. Zhu’s work on technology
that could lead to significant technological advancements in national
security and defense applications make him a high-risk visa holder.”
“Not just any Chinese academic institution”: Chinese grad at Wisconsin and Michigan
The report penned by AAF said that Xiangwei Guo’s “work on
technology that could lead to significant technological advancements in
national security and defense applications make him a high-risk visa
holder” and that “combined with his field of study, Guo and his fellow
research team’s Chinese education background make them a massive
national security liability in the United States.”
Guo’s Google Scholar page
lists him as affiliated with both the University of Wisconsin-Madison
and the University of Michigan, with his online profiles indicating he
was a postdoctoral researcher at Wisconsin until last year, and that he
is now at Michigan.
Guo himself previously attended Zhejiang University, a school with close ties to China’s defense industry.
The House Select Committee on the CCP assessed
last year that Zhejiang “is not just any Chinese academic institution —
it is co-administered by SASTIND, holds classified PRC research
credentials, and operates several defense laboratories” and “it has a
documented history of involvement in Military-Civil Fusion projects and
has conducted cybersecurity research funded by the Ministry of State
Security — China’s internal security and intelligence agency.”
Neither the University of Wisconsin nor the University of Michigan responded to a request for comment. Just the News attempted to reach Guo through emails to both schools, but did not receive a response.
Guo had been listed as a postdoctoral researcher at the Mesoscale Computational Modeling Research Group at Wisconsin, and has received Chinese government funding
when conducting research, including from the Shenyang National
Laboratory for Materials Science and the University of Science and
Technology of China.
Research projects which Guo has been involved with have also received U.S. government support from the Army Research Office, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, and DARPA.
The report by AAF concluded that “Guo attended a university
in China known to work directly on defense applications” and that
“Guo’s research is part of a real concern that the Chinese could
overtake the United States in critical technology like semiconductors,
making Dr. Guo a high-risk visa holder.”
Chinese “military research” university grad came to key U.S. research institute
The AAF report says that Xuewen Dong is “at Stevens
Institute of Technology” and that he “is doing leading research on edge
computing with application for drones and unmanned vehicles” and “comes
to the U.S. from a university affiliated with the defense infrastructure
in China.”
“It is not Stevens’ policy to provide information on a
member (or former member) of its community beyond identifying their role
with Stevens and their dates of service,” a spokesperson for the
Stevens Institute told Just the News. “In this case, Dr. Hong
[sic] was a visiting scholar at Stevens from January 2024 through
September 2025. As is typical at most research universities, visiting
scholars are unpaid and spend their time observing and assisting
existing university faculty.”
Dong is currently listed as an associate professor and doctoral supervisor for “Computer System Architecture” at Xidian University. His faculty profile page
for the Chinese university also says that he received his undergraduate
degree, his master’s degree, and his PhD from that school. Dong did not
respond to a request for comment.
The House Select Committee on the CCP noted
that Xidian is administered by SASTIND. The committee also assessed
that the university is “one of the country’s core institutions
supporting military research.”
The Pentagon has blacklisted the Defense S&T Key
Laboratory of Antennas and Microwave Technology at the university as
well as the Defense S&T Key Laboratory of Radar Signal Processing at
the school, putting them on the list of “foreign institutions engaging in problematic activity.”
Dong has been named
as the co-author of a 2025 paper which lists his affiliation as being
with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the
Stevens Institute of Technology.
The Stevens Institute receives federal funding from the Defense Department, the Energy Department, HHS, NASA, and the NSF, and it also receives tens of millions of dollars in federal funding, including from NIH, ONR, the Department of Transportation, and other agencies.
Dong is also currently listed
as the deputy director of the Engineering Research Center for
Blockchain Technology Application and Evaluation of the Ministry of
Education and the deputy director of the Xi'an Key Laboratory of
Intelligent System Security — both run by the Chinese government.
“His research into mobile intelligent vehicles could
provide optimization for technologies such as unmanned aerial drones,
autonomous ground vehicles, and advanced predictive targeting or
navigation systems,” the report by AAF said of Dong. “Compounding the
concern is Dong’s institutional affiliation with Xidian University,
which is affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party.”
FBI Director Kash Patel told “Just the News, No Noise” on
Friday that part of the reason that the China challenge is so large is
“because for four years, there was an open border policy that allowed
them and other adversaries to infiltrate America, not just through cyber
warfare, but personally come here, buy land, go to our universities,
and inject themselves illegally, and if not, improperly, into our way of
life.”
