Harvard, NYU among 30 universities hit with Pentagon foreign-tie audit deadline

The institutions must review the identified foreign collaborations and assess any exposure of "sensitive or export-controlled research."

According to a U.S. official, the schools subjected to the audit are: Georgetown University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of California, Berkeley, University of California, San Diego, University of Texas at Austin, Emory University, Harvard University, Oklahoma State University, Penn State University, University of California, Los Angeles, University of Cincinnati, University of Minnesota, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, University of South Carolina, University of Southern California, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Bryant University, Cornell University, Drake University, Duke University, Illinois Institute of Technology, Johns Hopkins University, New York University, Northeastern State University, Tahlequah (Oklahoma), Portland State University, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, Stony Brook University, University of Delaware and University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

They are required to report their findings to the War Department by Aug. 31. Fox News Digital has reached out to the DOW and all 30 schools.

The audits target foreign entities named under Section 1286 of the Fiscal Year 2019 National Defense Authorization Act. The list identifies 130 academic and research institutions located in China, Russia, and Iran, which engage in "activities that increase the likelihood of U.S. government-funded research and development efforts being misappropriated."

A recent report said Harvard University failed to safeguard research collaborations with Chinese institutions, noting that researchers affiliated with the Ivy League school co-authored more than 140 publications with other researchers affiliated with a group of Chinese universities.

Harvard also reportedly received more than $600 million from China under the federal Section 117 foreign-gift disclosure system-more than any other American university, according to the Education Department dashboard cited in the report from the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party.

China has used outputs from U.S. artificial intelligence models to train its defense capabilities, Reuters reported in July.

The self-described goal of the institutes is to offer instruction to students on Chinese language and culture. A 2023 watchdog report detailed the rapid decline of Confucius Institutes at American colleges, which dropped from approximately 100 to fewer than five in just four years.

The primary drivers for the closures were federal funding limitations established by National Defense Authorization Acts and increasing government pressure.