Senators warn US Justice Department not to give amnesty to academics who didn’t disclose foreign funding
- The reported plan will let researchers declare previous financial assistance without fear of punishment, part of effort to assess the scale of overseas funding
- Eight Republican lawmakers write letter to US Attorney General Merrick Garland expressing concerns
A group of US Republican senators has called on the Department of Justice not to proceed with a plan to offer amnesty to researchers who come forward about previously undisclosed foreign funding, saying it would undercut efforts to protect “long-term national interests”.
First reported in January by The Wall Street Journal, the Justice Department’s programme would enable US academics to declare prior foreign financial assistance without fear of punishment as part of an effort to assess the scale of overseas funding.
The proposal comes as the Justice Department faces growing scrutiny of its China Initiative, a prosecutorial strategy initiated by the Trump administration to protect US intellectual capital. Critics say it has fuelled racial profiling of Chinese and Chinese-American scholars and harmed international academic collaboration.
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The senators expressed concern that amnesty could hamper criminal cases relating to undisclosed foreign funding, and they criticised the Justice Department for not having consulted with lawmakers about the plan.