Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) is demanding that the Department of Defense release the unredacted version of a report detailing funds given to Chinese laboratories for virus research.
The Defense Department’s Office of Inspector General issued a report last week, as mandated by the fiscal 2024 National Defense Authorization Act, on the funds directly and indirectly given to Chinese laboratories for research or related to enhancement of pathogens of pandemic potential, but it concluded it was unable to determine the full extent of the funds given due to “limitations in the DoD’s systems used to track contracts and grants.” The report also featured several redactions, including the censoring of full pages.
“Not only did the DoD OIG report confirm that the Pentagon is sending millions to China for risky research, but the agency is attempting to cover it up,” Ernst said in a statement to the Washington Examiner.
“It should not take years of me demanding investigations for the American people to know how Washington is spending their tax dollars,” she continued. “I am calling on the Pentagon to stop playing procedural games and release the entire report, unredacted, and start tracking every penny sent to China so there is accountability for how those tax dollars are being spent.”
The provision in the NDAA mandating the report was the effort of Ernst and former Wisconsin Rep. Mike Gallagher, a Republican, both of whom have pushed for transparency on funds given to pathogen research in Chinese labs since the coronavirus pandemic. Ernst sent a letter on Tuesday to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin asking for answers on why the report was “inexplicably redacted” and seeking the release of an unredacted version of the report.
“With DoD secretly funding risky research on dangerous pathogens and diseases in China, this alarming Inspector General investigation demonstrates Washington hasn’t learned any lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic,” Ernst wrote in the letter obtained by the Washington Examiner.
“The Pentagon should allow the OIG to immediately release, in full, an uncensored and unredacted version of the report,” she continued. “There is no reason for playing hide-and-seek with how and where the hard-earned money provided by taxpayers is being spent.”
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She asked for explanations on why information was redacted and who recommended the redactions, along with why expenditures in the report were not included in USAspending.gov and why the Navy did not cooperate with the report. Ernst also requests an explanation for why the Defense Department was “collaborating with a Chinese company affiliated with the [People’s Liberation Army] that poses a potential threat to U.S. national security and intellectual property.”
Ernst said she is requesting a response from Austin by Aug. 1.
