S 418 119th Congress
Defending Defense Research from Chinese Communist Party Espionage Act of 2025
A bill to prohibit contracts between certain foreign entities and institutions of higher education conducting Department of Defense-funded research and to impose post-employment restrictions for participants in certain research funded by the Department, and for other purposes.
Official Title as Introduced Congress.gov
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Bill journey
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Introduction Congress.gov
Introduced
Introduced in the Senate.
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Read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed Services.
Open bill recordOfficial action Congress.gov
Introduced in Senate
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Introduced in Senate
A dated text-version record is available.
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| Date and time | Record | Official detail | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| IntroductionIntroduced | Introduced in the Senate. | Congress.gov | |
| Official actionRead twice and referred to the Committee on Armed Services. | No additional detail supplied.IntroReferral · Senate | Congress.gov | |
| Official actionIntroduced in Senate | No additional detail supplied.IntroReferral · Library of Congress · Code 10000 | Congress.gov | |
| Text versionIntroduced in Senate | A dated text-version record is available. | Congress.gov |
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Congressional Research Service
CRS summary
Defending Defense Research from Chinese Communist Party Espionage Act of 2025This bill generally prohibits contracts between certain foreign entities and institutions of higher education that are conducting research funded by the Department of Defense (DOD), and it imposes a post-employment restriction on principal investigators of certain DOD-funded research projects.Beginning on January 1, 2027, the bill generally prohibits institutions of higher education that conduct DOD-funded research from entering into contracts with North Korea, China, Russia, or Iran or a foreign entity of concern (e.g., an academic institution of China that meets certain criteria). DOD is prohibited from providing funds to such institutions unless the institution receives a waiver.Institutions seeking to contract with the listed countries or entities, and those with existing contracts, must submit waiver requests to DOD. Waivers are valid for one year. Institutions with contracts that are longer than one year may apply to renew the waiver for an additional one-year period. The bill also generally imposes a post-employment restriction on individuals who serve as principal investigators of certain defense research projects, unless DOD waives the restriction. Specifically, for the 10 years following their employment as a principal investigator, an individual may not seek or accept employment or conduct any activity for which a foreign entity of concern provides compensation. This applies to principal investigators of projects that are (1) operated by an institution of higher education; (2) funded by DOD; and (3) involve a critical or emerging technology, as determined by DOD.
Official documents
Text versions
- Introduced in SenateFeb 5, 2025