Congress worries about Chinese spies on college campuses

Politico

09-05-2025

With help from Nahal Toosi
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Lawmakers concerned about Chinese threats to national security are zeroing in on college campuses.
The House passed legislation Wednesday that will deny Department of Homeland Security funding to U.S. colleges and universities that partner with Chinese academic institutions linked to Beijing's security apparatus. They include state-backed Confucius Institutes (of which there are only a handful nationwide, according to U.S. Government Accounting Office data) as well as a much more ambiguous category of 'entities of concern' that would likely apply to the majority of universities and colleges across China.
'This legislation is in no way an overreach,' said the bill's sponsor, Rep. AUGUST PFLUGER (R-Texas). 'These relationships present a clear danger to U.S. national security interests.'
The same day that Pfluger's bill passed the House, a conservative campus newspaper, The Stanford Review, ran a story that appeared to validate his concerns. 'The CCP is orchestrating a widespread intelligence-gathering campaign at Stanford' through the school's Chinese students, the paper reported.
Stanford's official response via three of its most eminent China scholars warned against fearmongering. 'We must be careful not to doubly victimize the many scholars from China who are trying to navigate around intensifying geopolitical pressures,' they said in a letter published Friday.
Higher education has long been a focus of the Department of Justice's probes of foreign espionage operations — though not without controversy. The DOJ's now-defunct China Initiative, a program launched in the first Trump administration targeting Chinese academics at U.S. universities, was accused of racial profiling and conducting flawed investigative work.
Pfluger's bill and The Stanford Review's reporting reflect how worsening geopolitical tensions between the U.S. and China have caused espionage suspicions to filter down to Chinese students.
American academics and organizations that foster U.S.-China educational ties recognize the damage posed by Chinese espionage operations. But they say it doesn't justify reporting that equates Chinese students with CCP spy rings.
'I'm worried that articles like this might inflate that threat and cast doubt upon ordinary Chinese students who are truly just trying to come to this country to get a good education,' said ROSIE LEVINE, executive director of the nonprofit US-China Education Trust.
Research by the Cato Institute think tank belies suspicions that universities are hotbeds of foreign spying. Cato's analysis of espionage cases from 1990 to 2019 revealed that only 0.3 percent involved academic institutions.
That data hasn't deterred Rep. RILEY MOORE (R-W.Va.) from introducing legislation in March that would bar student visas from being issued to Chinese citizens due to perceived threats. Moore didn't respond to a request for comment.
If Moore's bill becomes law, the potential economic impacts are severe. Chinese students spending in the U.S. contributed $14 billion to the U.S. economy and supported 143,000 jobs, according to data from nonprofit business advocacy group the US-China Business Council. Still, there are no signs yet that the bill has bipartisan support or is a legislative priority in this Congress.
'We can and must protect national security without scapegoating Chinese students or targeting academic institutions simply for having international ties,' said Rep. JUDY CHU (D-Calif.), a member of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus.
The Inbox
IRAN TALKS BACK ON: The U.S. and Iran will resume nuclear talks this weekend, Reuters reports, after pausing for alleged logistical reasons.
Iranian Foreign Minister ABBAS ARAGHCHI said today that Iran agreed to a fourth round of talks with the United States about its nuclear program to be held in Oman. Araqchi added that negotiations 'are moving forward' even as both sides review increasingly technical proposals.
The original fourth round of talks was meant to take place in Rome last week, but Oman, which has mediated talks, said it needed to be rescheduled for 'logistical reasons.' It's unclear what will be on the agenda for talks this weekend, but loyal NatSec Daily readers will note the U.S. has reserved some ambiguity about its stance on Iran's nuclear enrichment capabilities.
Ahead of those talks, special envoy STEVE WITKOFF told Breitbart that Iran has agreed it doesn't want a nuclear weapon and emphasized that the administration does not want Iran to enrich uranium as it maintains a civilian nuclear program.
DEFIANT DUO DEEPENS TIES: Chinese leader XI JINPING wraps up a three-day trip to Moscow today to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe, complete with goose-stepping Chinese troops marching through Red Square. But it wasn't all pomp and circumstance.
Xi and Russia's President VLADIMIR PUTIN also signed a slew of deals to honor their 'no limits' partnership, including agreements aimed at improving economic ties and ensuring mutual supply of agricultural products and mineral resources, the Kremlin said in a statement Thursday.
Beijing's readout of the meeting essentially crushed the Trump administration's hopes of peeling off Russia from its alignment with China. 'President Xi noted that the two sides, as good neighbors that cannot be moved away, true friends who share weal and woe, and good partners for mutual success,' Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson LIN JIAN said Friday.
Beijing twisted the knife by touting a new Russian-Chinese movie titled 'Red Silk' about those tight ties. 'The story of Chinese and Russian Revolutionaries fighting shoulder to shoulder touched many hearts,' Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson MAO NING said in an X post Thursday.
LANDAU'S WELCOME: Deputy Secretary of State CHRISTOPHER LANDAU is scheduled to greet a group of white Afrikaners designated as refugees when they arrive in the U.S. on a chartered flight next week, according to a document obtained by our own Nahal Toosi.
The Trump administration has shut down refugee admissions for virtually all other people around the world. But, as The New York Times and others have reported, it has made an exception for white Afrikaners who say they face racial persecution in South Africa.
Spokespeople for the State Department did not respond to a request for comment on Landau's role.
DRINKS WITH NATSEC DAILY: At the end of every long, hard week, we like to highlight how a prominent member of the national security scene prefers to unwind with a drink.
Today, we're featuring DOUG KLAIN, a nonresident fellow at the Atlantic Council and a policy analyst at Razom for Ukraine, a U.S.-based organization that advocates for Ukraine and provides humanitarian aid to Ukraine. Eric and Robbie (and NatSec Daily hosts of long ago) have pinged Doug several times in recent years for his insight and analysis on the country's war with Russia.
Doug told us he's been loving a local cocktail at Elle in D.C.'s Mount Pleasant neighborhood called the Uman Ember, made with reposado infused with smoked pears from Ukraine. But his favorite bar is on the other side of the Atlantic — the King Charles I pub near King's Cross in London. He describes it as an 'old hole-in-the-wall wood-paneled pub' with 'phenomenal cask ales' and a great jukebox to boot.
Doug also recounted a time last summer in Kyiv, when he met some locals playing badminton and drinking beers before curfew outside of a metro station. There was a blackout after Russia hit some energy stations, but that didn't stop the resourceful Ukrainians from making a makeshift court with bikes to mark the nets.
'My victorious badminton opponents told me there was no better way to enjoy a summer night in Kyiv,' Doug said.
We'll take your word for it! Cheers, Doug!
IT'S FRIDAY! WELCOME TO THE WEEKEND: Thanks for tuning in to NatSec Daily! This space is reserved for the top U.S. and foreign officials, the lawmakers, the lobbyists, the experts and the people like you who care about how the natsec sausage gets made. Aim your tips and comments at [e-mail] and [e-mail], and follow Robbie and Eric on X @RobbieGramer and @ebazaileimil.
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Keystrokes
INDIA-PAK DEEPFAKES: Deepfake videos are proliferating on social media as India and Pakistan trade blows, getting picked up by local news outlets faster than they can be fact-checked.
Researchers at investigative journalism group Bellingcat found that a doctored video of Pakistani Gen. AHMED SHARIF CHAUDHRY saying that Pakistan had lost two of its aircraft got picked up by major Indian news outlets, who thought it was legitimate. That included broadcaster NDTV and digital outlets The Free Press Journal, The Statesman and Firstpost.
Another deepfake that briefly made the rounds involved President DONALD TRUMP appearing to declare that he would 'destroy Pakistan.' That one, however, was quickly debunked by Indian fact-checkers and didn't cause nearly as much damage.
The broad reach of these videos comes as the frenzied nature of strikes and attacks from both sides has made it increasingly difficult for fact-checkers to verify reports, creating an information vacuum. And experts told Bellingcat that the increased quality of the videos could make verification much harder in the future.
'In crisis periods, the information environment is already muddied as we try to distinguish rumors from facts at speed,' said RACHEL MORAN, an analyst at the University of Washington's Center for an Informed Public. 'The fact that we now have high-quality fake videos in the mix only makes this process more taxing, less certain and can distract us from important true information.'
The Complex
SPACE COUNCIL RETURNS: The Trump administration is resurrecting the National Space Council, our own Sam Skove reports.
The council is currently being staffed, an administration official told Sam, and it's expected the body will support Trump's interstellar ambitions, which include the construction of the space-based missile system called Golden Dome, beating China to a moon landing before 2030, landing astronauts on Mars and supporting commercial space companies.
The policy body, revitalized during the first Trump administration, was celebrated for helping establish the Space Force, supporting NASA's planned return to the moon under the Artemis program and ushering in regulatory reform in support of commercial space companies. But it had become a target of Trump adviser ELON MUSK, who owns SpaceX, and it was unclear if it would be revived due to his influence in the White House.
Broadsides
PAPAL PONTIFICATION: Based on old social media posts from an unverified account in his name, newly minted POPE LEO XIV appears less than enthusiastic about some of Trump's policies — and that's led some conservative commentators and allies of Trump to bash the pontiff.
As our colleagues Megan Messerly, Rachael Bade and Eli Stokols report, Trump allies, including LAURA LOOMER and STEVE BANNON, have criticized the new pontiff, a Chicago-born Augustinian friar who spent several decades in Peru as a missionary and bishop.
'The fact that he's American raises the possibility that the front-and-center issues are going to continue to be sort of first-world issues — and that could be, again, a recipe for division and tension with the administration,' said RAMESH PONNURU, a conservative commentator and practicing Catholic.
The relationship between the new Trump administration and the Vatican has so far been strained. The Trump administration named BRIAN BURCH, a critic of the late POPE FRANCIS, to be its ambassador to the Holy See. Francis also criticized Trump's immigration policies, prompting rebukes from Catholic members of the administration, including Vice President JD VANCE and border czar TOM HOMAN.
Not everyone is pessimistic about the potential relationship between the White House and the Holy See. Cardinal TIMOTHY DOLAN, the archbishop of New York, said today his fellow American prelate is likely to 'build bridges' with Trump. And Trump and Vance, for their parts, have been conciliatory, celebrating his election and noting the significance of an American now sitting in the chair of St. Peter.
Transitions
— Sweden's national security adviser, TOBIAS THYBERG, resigned within 24 hours of being appointed to his role after a Swedish newspaper obtained 'sensitive' photos of Thyberg tied to an old Grindr account he had used. Thyberg had been Swedish ambassador to Afghanistan from 2017 to 2019, ambassador to Ukraine until 2023 and most recently headed the Swedish Foreign Ministry's unit for Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
— REBECCA FATIMA STA MARIA is now a senior adviser in Kuala Lumpur at The Asia Group. She was previously executive director of Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation.
— ROBERT BLAIR is joining WestExec Advisors as a principal. He most recently led U.S. government affairs at Microsoft focused on national security and emerging technology issues and is a Trump Commerce and White House alum.
— ALAN ESTEVEZ is now a senior adviser at Covington & Burling. He previously was undersecretary of Commerce for industry and security.
What to Read
— Una Hajdari, POLITICO: Trump's election maestro works to topple Albanian prime minister
— Sana Hashmi, The Diplomat: The Strategic Misreading of Taiwan Is a Dangerous Oversight
— Shalom Lipner, Foreign Policy: Why Netanyahu Might Be on a Collision Course With Trump
Monday Today
— Council on Foreign Relations, 1 p.m.: Reflecting on Post-Soviet Russia and America Today
— Center for a New American Security, 2 p.m.: Countering China's Digital Silk Road: Brazil
— Center for Strategic and International Studies, 2:30 p.m.: Strategic Trends 2025: A Trans-Atlantic Look Ahead
Thanks to our editors, Rosie Perper and Emily Lussier, who would make terrible Chinese spies.