The U.S. Department of Defense has named UT as one of seven universities that went “above and beyond” in mitigating identified relationships with foreign entities in an October news release.
The DOD, also called the Department of War, ordered 30 U.S. universities to review their collaboration with “foreign entities of concern” in August. In October, they announced all mitigation efforts were successful. The DOD listed seven universities that complied quickly and with “significant mitigation measures,” including UT, Oklahoma State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
“Rather than settling for minimum compliance, these institutions took bold, self-initiated steps to protect their labs, faculty, and intellectual property from foreign exploitation,” Joseph Jewell, assistant secretary of war for science and technology, wrote in the news release.
The University has not made clear how it completed the audit process and cut ties with foreign entities. UT has not published any statements on the matter, and the Provost’s office did not respond to request for comment.
Section 1286 of the National Defense Authorization Act of Fiscal Year 2025 identifies 130 foreign institutions, including those in Iran, Russia and China, that universities had to cut ties with. Universities were also required to end partnerships related to Confucius Institutes, educational institutions in the U.S. funded by the Chinese government. The Section 1286 list was last updated in July.
The Department of Defense wrote that all universities completed audits of foreign relations, assessed the exposure of their research and implemented strict mitigation plans. If one of the 30 universities had not completed these orders by Aug. 31, it risked losing federal funding.
“Universities are critical partners in executing a wide range of Department of War research programs, and the Department must therefore ensure that our research investments are well protected from foreign exploitation,” Jewell wrote.
