This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
A new secret investigation has been launched within the Trump administration of hundreds of scientists who are working inside the United States, but actually come from "countries of concern," such as China, according to a new report from Just the News.
The publication reported its sources have confirmed the investigation into scientists that sometimes have accessed the United States by "using visas procured with the help of the National Institutes of Health and other federal research agencies."
The concerns were heightened recently when "three Chinese scientists were arrested … trying to smuggle into America dangerous pathogens like fungi and roundworms capable of destroy crops."
The absence of a review by prior administrations of whether scientists were linked to "actors" like the Chinese military or its Community Party triggered the review.
The report explained there could be as many as 1,000 scientists from those nations, mostly from China, who have been identified as working inside NIH alone.
"The Trump administration is committed to safeguarding America's national and economic security. Taxpayer dollars should not and cannot fund foreign espionage against America's industrial base and research apparatus," White House spokesman Kush Desai told Just the News.
Officials told Just the News the urgency of the new effort underscores the lax screening procedures under the NIH leadership of Francis Collins and Anthony Fauci, the prominent promoter of dangerous mRNA shots during the COVID pandemic.
The report pointed out that GAO, the investigative arm of Congress, has released a half a dozen reports or more in recent years warning that NIH and other agencies, "and their surrogates inside universities," simply don't have the safeguards to guard American research from foreign influences.
One of those concluded, "China is America's top adversary, and foreign influence remains a key risk for the country's national security. DOD and DHS officials lack specific guidance on how acquisition personnel should collect information, assess, or mitigate potential national security risks when awarding contracts for consulting services."
The report noted, "Li-Meng Yan, a Chinese virologist who defected to the United States in 2020 and alleged the COVID-19 virus was man-made, told Just the News that most scientists in her home country who win a visa to the United States sign contracts with the communist government of China to use their time in America for their home country's benefit."
Yan said, on the Just the News, No Noise television show that, "The scientists getting visas from China to the US, they are visiting scholars, and they have signed the contract with Chinese government to go back to China, serve for China with whatever they can get from the U.S."
And Rep. Nathaniel Moran, R-Texas, said on the John Solomon Reports podcast, "The Chinese have been infiltrating our intellectual property, both covertly and on the surface for us to see. Yet we have sat back and allowed it to happen."
