House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., and Subcommittee Chairman William Timmons, R-S.C., are seeking independent reviews of how the federal government tracks science and technology agreements (STAs) with China and other foreign governments.
In letters sent June 17 to the State Department’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) and the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the lawmakers requested assessments of the State Department’s current capabilities and future requirements for monitoring STA sub-agreements entered into by federal agencies.
The requests continue an investigation launched by the lawmakers in April into what they describe as significant gaps in oversight and reporting of those agreements.
“While STAs serve as established instruments of diplomatic cooperation and scientific exchange, entering into such agreements with adversarial nations poses acute risks to U.S. economic competitiveness and national security due to intellectual property theft and information access manipulation,” the lawmakers wrote.
The lawmakers said the State Department previously acknowledged that a mechanism exists for tracking STA sub-agreements, but that agencies determine which agreements are significant enough to report. According to Comer and Timmons, that approach creates the potential for underreporting and limits government-wide visibility into research-sharing arrangements.
The latest requests build on an April 24 letter to Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Michael DeSombre seeking information on how the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs tracks STAs and related sub-agreements involving China.
The April inquiry cited concerns about China’s use of cooperative research agreements to gain access to intellectual property and technology. The lawmakers pointed to past examples in which Chinese entities allegedly benefited from research conducted under science and technology cooperation frameworks.
“The lack of proper oversight and tracking of STA sub-agreements between federal agencies and foreign governments poses a grave risk to U.S. economic and national security, underscoring the need for a centralized tracking and management system for said sub-agreements,” the lawmakers wrote in their letters to GAO and the State Department’s OIG.
The Republican lawmakers said independent reviews by the OIG and GAO would provide Congress and the public with a clear understanding of how the Department of State “can manage this process going forward as well as identify the risks associated with a continuation of the status quo.”