Washington, Feb 20 (NationPress) Two prominent Republican lawmakers have reached out to both NASA and the FBI expressing their apprehensions regarding what they view as potential collaborations in research linked to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). These collaborations reportedly involve grants funded by U.S. taxpayers, including a notable award from NASA.

In correspondence dated February 12 addressed to FBI Director Kash Patel and NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Charles E. Grassley, along with John Moolenaar, Chairman of the House Select Committee on the CCP, expressed their intent to oversee the influence of the CCP on our nation’s universities and various research institutions.

The lawmakers articulated that "Our university systems are well-known as vulnerable targets in China’s ongoing efforts to acquire U.S. knowledge, research, and intellectual property, often funded by our taxpayers," as noted in their letter shared with the media on Thursday.

The letters reference a December 17, 2025, investigative report by the House Select Committee on China and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, which contends that the CCP "manipulates the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to access and redirect American taxpayer-funded research to bolster its military and technological advancements."

One of the case studies highlighted in the report involves Stanford Professor Wendy Mao. The lawmakers assert that while she was conducting research under a DOE-funded award, she was also affiliated with the Center for High Pressure Science and Technology Advanced Research (HPSTAR)—an organization part of the Chinese Academy of Engineering Physics (CAEP), which has been listed on the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) Entity List since 1997.

Furthermore, they noted that "Professor Mao has co-authored at least 58 publications that recognize DOE funding or support, with 31 of those publications linked to HPSTAR since 2013."

The letters refer to a 2024 research publication that acknowledged backing from NASA’s Exoplanet Programme and the National Science Foundation, while also attributing computational resources to a supercomputing center at a Chinese university. The publication "features only Stanford and Chinese co-authors yet explicitly acknowledges NASA funding, which—without an FBI-certified congressional waiver—raises significant concerns about potential violations of the Wolf Amendment."

The Wolf Amendment, included in annual appropriations legislation, prohibits NASA and researchers funded by NASA from engaging in bilateral collaborations with Chinese entities unless specific authorization and certification are provided to Congress and the FBI.

In their letter to the FBI, the lawmakers inquired whether a Wolf Amendment waiver was sought for NASA Award No. 80NSSC23K0265, how many such waivers have been requested since 2015, and what internal processes the Bureau follows when evaluating applications.

They also requested NASA to furnish "all records for Award No. 80NSSC23K0265 including subaward records" and to clarify "what internal legal guidance, memoranda, or policy interpretations dictate NASA’s application of the Wolf Amendment, and when were they last revised."

The lawmakers set a deadline of February 26, 2026, for responses.