Ernst requests investigation into defense spending in China

U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst (R-A) wants the U.S. Department of Defense Inspector General to investigate whether U.S. defense dollars may have been purposely or inadvertently diverted to China or if they are paying for risky research on pandemic-potential pathogens.

“This investigation is the first step to bringing long overdue transparency and accountability to the indefensible ways Washington is spending our defense dollars,” Sen. Ernst said last week in a statement. 

The requested investigation is mandated under a provision in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2024, according to a Jan. 25 letter Sen. Ernst and U.S. Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) sent to Department of Defense (DOD) Inspector General (IG) Robert Storch.

“A comprehensive review of these matters is crucial for identifying potential national security threats that could result either from Pentagon procurement of technology from Chinese companies or dangerous experiments being conducted in foreign laboratories with substandard safety conditions,” wrote the lawmakers. “Due to the lack of accuracy and completeness of federal spending data, only the DOD OIG has the capabilities to conduct these investigations.”

In her statement, Sen. Ernst said that taxpayers deserve to know how much of their money is being shipped to China and why Washington continues collecting and creating deadly super viruses — both of which could pose threats to national security.

“COVID-19, which likely began by being leaked from China’s Wuhan Institute, should have given pause to tampering with pathogens of pandemic potential, yet the Biden administration continues financing risky research around the world,” she said. “It’s just common sense that the Pentagon should never purchase any item with known espionage risks from a Chinese company.”

According to the lawmakers’ seven-page letter, an April 2023 GAO audit concluded that it’s almost impossible to determine the amount of U.S. tax dollars being paid to institutions in China — or anywhere else — because government agencies don’t track the money after it is passed down from the initial recipients. The information that is being collected is often incomplete and inaccurate, as well, they wrote.

For example, Sen. Ernst and her colleague cited a news story saying that defense contractor EcoHealth Alliance, through intentional withholding of information or legal loopholes, successfully concealed spending more than $1 million of U.S. taxpayer money on research on bat coronaviruses in China’s Wuhan Institute for Virology, according to their letter.

“This review isn’t about just one bad actor flouting federal laws and biosafety standards,” they wrote. “EcoHealth demonstrates how easy it is to bend and ignore government grant requirements, while continuing to receive millions of dollars from other agencies without any additional accountability requirements.”

The lawmakers requested that Storch answer several questions, including how many U.S. defense dollars are going to China, purposely or inadvertently, and for what purposes; if any money is being sent under the radar because it is not being tracked or reported; and how much the Pentagon is providing to support projects involving pathogens of pandemic potential, among others.

“The investigations outlined in the NDAA your office will be conducting will provide invaluable insights for answering these questions,” they wrote.

The nonprofits White Coat Waste Project and Open the Books endorsed the letter.