Tag: Department of Defense

U.S. Government Awarded Sensitive Research Grants to Scientists in Chinese Communist Party Talent Programs

Daily Caller News Foundation
China President Xi Jinping

U.S. government agencies have awarded sensitive scientific, military and energy grants to dozens of researchers participating in Chinese government programs linked to economic espionage, a Daily Caller News Foundation investigation found.

The DCNF identified 50 federally-funded researchers currently working in U.S. universities and/or national laboratories who are listed as experts of Chinese government talent recruitment schemes, like the Thousand Talents Plan (TTP) and Chang Jiang Scholars program, following a months-long review of the talent plans’ websites, Chinese government documents, university profiles and state-run media reports.

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DOD Sends an Additional $988 Million Package to Ukraine

The Center Square
Biden and Ukraine

The U.S. Department of Defense announced a new round of nearly $1 billion in U.S. taxpayer money for Ukraine as the conflict with Russia continues. Total U.S. taxpayer funding for Ukraine now totals $62 billion since the war began.

The latest package will provide Ukraine with munitions for rocket systems, Unmanned Aerial Systems, and maintenance and repair programs to sustain and bolster its combat power.

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Trump Tells DOD Nominee Pete Hegseth to ‘Keep Fighting’, But Readies Alternatives

Just the News

President-elect Donald Trump has told Pete Hegseth, his nominee to lead the Pentagon, to continue pursuing support for his nomination, but is also reportedly planning other options should Hegseth fail to secure the votes to claim the job.

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Pentagon Still Can’t Pass Audit Despite Years of Trying

The Center Square
Pentagon Money

The U.S. Department of Defense’s annual audit once again resulted in a disclaimer. 

That means the federal government’s largest agency – with a budget of more than $840 billion – can’t fully explain its spending. The disclaimer this year was expected. And it’s expected again next year. The Pentagon previously said it will be able to accurately account for its spending by 2027.

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Republican Lawmakers Push Defense Department to Blacklist Chinese EV Battery Company Tied to CCP

Daily Caller News Foundation
Moolenaar Rubio

Republican lawmakers are urging the Department of Defense (DOD) to bar a Chinese electric vehicle (EV) battery manufacturer from receiving U.S. military contracts and deter the company’s U.S. clients from using its services.

Republican Rep. John Moolenaar of Michigan and Republican Florida Sen. Marco Rubio sent a letter to the Pentagon Wednesday requesting EV battery-maker CATL be added to its 1260H list that identifies company’s “involved in bolstering Beijing’s military ambitions” and prohibits them from being awarded defense contracts. The lawmakers accused CATL of being controlled by China due to “subsidies, tax incentives [and] favorable procurement deals” from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and of furthering the interests of China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) by supporting its battery infrastructure.

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China Poised to Cut Off US Military from Key Mineral as America’s Own Reserves Lay Buried Under Red Tape

Daily Caller News Foundation
Mineral mining

China is planning to restrict exports of a key mineral needed to make weapons while a U.S. company that could be reducing America’s reliance on foreign suppliers is languishing in red tape, energy experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The Chinese government announced on August 15 that it will restrict exports of antimony, a critical mineral that dominates the production of weapons globally and is essential for producing equipment like munitions, night vision goggles and bullets that are essential to national security, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Perpetua Resources, an American mining company, has been navigating red tape for years to develop a mine in Valley County, Idaho,  that could decrease reliance on the Chinese supply of antimony, but the slow permitting process is getting in the way, energy experts told the DCNF.

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One Rule Has Saved Americans from Billions in Wasteful Government Spending

Daily Caller News Foundation
United States Capitol Building

A rule requiring the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to publish annual reports on wasteful spending has saved billions of taxpayer dollars since 2011, according to an Open the Books report released Wednesday.

Former Republican Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn amended the Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010 to require the GAO to include an investigation into duplicate spending between government entities in its annual report, which has saved the government $667.5 billion since its first report in 2011, according to Open the Books. Congress, however, had made efforts to stifle the GAO’s mission, threatening to cut its funding right after its first report, and has been the slowest to adopt the GAO’s waste-cutting recommendations.

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DEI, Critical Race Theory Pervades Military Trainings: Report

South Carolina Sun Staff
Military DEI

Diversity, equity and inclusion and critical race theory topics now pervade U.S. Armed Forces educational trainings and programs, according to newly published research.

The recent report out of Arizona State University’s Center for American Institutions detailed the extensiveness of DEI training throughout the branches of the military and military academies, as well as highlighted an increasing budget for DEI training.

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Pentagon Doesn’t Know If It Funds Dangerous Biological Research in China, New Audit Reveals

Just the News
Medical research lab

Despite years of warnings that China operates an illicit biological weapons program, the U.S. military remains unable to determine whether it sends American tax dollars to Beijing for research that could make pathogens more dangerous or deadly, the Pentagon’s chief watchdog declared in a stunning new warning to policymakers.

“The DoD did not track funding at the level of detail necessary to determine whether the DoD provided funding to Chinese research laboratories or other foreign countries for research related to enhancement of pathogens of pandemic potential,” the Pentagon inspector general concluded in a report released this month.

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‘Incompetence’: Pentagon Doesn’t Know How Much Money It Sent to Chinese Entities for Risky Virus Research

South Carolina Sun Staff
Science Lab

The Department of Defense (DOD) does not know how much money it directly or indirectly sent to Chinese entities to conduct research on viruses with pandemic potential, according to a new report by the DOD’s Office of Inspector General (OIG).

The OIG’s report found that DOD has supplied Chinese entities — whether directly or indirectly via subgrants — with taxpayer cash to research pathogens and the enhancement thereof, but the exact figure is unknown because of “limitations” in the DOD’s internal tracking system. Government funding for such research in China has come under scrutiny since the coronavirus pandemic, which multiple government entities believe started when an engineered virus leaked from a Chinese laboratory that was hosting U.S. government-backed gain-of-function research.

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