Walden, Burgess request FBI, NIH briefings on foreign interference with U.S. biomed research

U.S. Reps. Greg Walden (R-OR) and Michael Burgess (R-TX) seek information on how the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) are protecting the nation’s biomedical research from foreign influence.

The lawmakers, along with U.S. Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-KY), sent separate Sept. 23 letters to NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins and FBI Director Christopher Wray requesting briefings. Specifically, the lawmakers, who all serve on the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee, requested details on NIH’s approach to tackling foreign influence on NIH-supported biomedical research.

“Plans for ensuring NIH biomedical research program integrity and security is of great public interest because NIH is the world’s largest biomedical research agency with the crucial mission of advancing human health through science and the increasing awareness throughout the nation that NIH programs funded annually by nearly $39.2 billion needed to be protected from intellectual property theft and undue foreign influence,” wrote Reps. Walden, Burgess, and Guthrie. 

“As the largest funder of biomedical research in the world,” they wrote, “the NIH research community faces significant exposure to risks related to undue foreign influence on research, with more than 80 percent of NIH funding awarded to more than 300,000 researchers at more than 2,500 research institutions globally.”

Reps. Walden, Burgess, and Guthrie also noted how FBI’s Wray has described how Chinese researchers intentionally concealed participation in Chinese talent recruitment programs while accepting millions of dollars in U.S. federal grant funding “as part of a larger agenda secretly to steal and bring U.S. knowledge and innovation back to China.”

Additionally, the members seek details on the FBI Bioterrorism Risk Assessment Group’s handling of foreign influence on the Federal Select Agent Program (FSAP) and related research through the Security Risk Assessment (SRA) Program.

“We are interested in the challenges faced prior to the pandemic and the adjustments since the May 2020 issuance of the updated SRA protocols during the COVID-19 pandemic,” according to their letter. “The Bioterrorism Act prohibits a laboratory from providing an individual with access to dangerous select agents or toxins unless that individual has been approved by the Secretary of either the Departments of Health and Human Services or Agriculture, based on an SRA.”

The lawmakers requested briefings by no later than Oct. 7.