China

Written Testimony for House Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Homeland Security

April 21, 2023 | Lars Schönander

Click here to download a PDF of the testimony. Chairman Dave Joyce, Ranking Member Henry Cuellar, and Members of the Subcommittee: My name is Lars Erik Schönander. I am a Policy Technologist at Lincoln Network, a think tank working to bridge the gap between Silicon Valley and D.C. by applying technology and technical talent to

April 14, 2023 | Samuel Hammond

Click here to download a full PDF of the testimony. Chairman Hal Rogers, Ranking Member Cartwright, and Members of the Subcommittee: Thank you for the opportunity to testify. My name is Samuel Hammond, and I am Senior Economist at Lincoln Network, a nonprofit organization focused on promoting innovation, improving governance, and strengthening national security.

April 13, 2023 | Jonathon Hauenschild

This piece was originally published in The Hill. Imagine posting content to Facebook or Twitter critical of the federal government, only to have agents knocking on your door a few days later, demanding your computer, and claim that you helped promote a foreign narrative. The officials come armed only with subpoenas, not warrants, and you

April 13, 2023 | Geoff Cain

This piece was originally published in Persuasion. In 2017, I was in China’s westernmost region of Xinjiang, investigating how China had erected the most sophisticated surveillance state ever with the help of tech companies from both China and America. An estimated 1.8 million people, mostly Muslim Uyghurs, would be hauled away for such thought crimes as

April 11, 2023 | Lars Schönander

Click here to download a full PDF of the testimony. Chairman Andy Harris, Ranking Member Sanford Bishop, and Members of the Subcommittee: My name is Lars Erik Schönander. I am a Policy Technologist at Lincoln Network, a think tank working to bridge the gap between Silicon Valley and D.C. by applying technology and technical talent

Winning the Next Space Race

April 6, 2023 | Luke Hogg

Ensuring a Competitive Satellite Internet Market to Compete with China Technical innovation in the delivery of the Internet by satellite has the potential to close the digital divide and improve Internet services for customers in the United States and around the world. With China planning to launch its own “megaconstellation” of internet-providing satellites into low

April 4, 2023 | Dan Lips

Click here to download the full report in PDF format. Executive Summary Improving elementary and secondary science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education has been a long-standing priority for national security and American competitiveness. Today, the United States faces new challenges focusing national attention on the need to improve STEM education including computer science. Widespread school closures

March 28, 2023 | Lars Schönander

This piece was originally published in The Hill. Last week, Sens. Mike Braun (R-Ind.) and Jon Tester (D-Mont.) introduced the Protecting America’s Agricultural Land from Foreign Harm Act of 2023, marking an important step in keeping U.S. farmland safe from malign foreign influence by reforming how the United states tracks foreign investment in agriculture. The law would reform

Who Owns the Farm in the U.K.?

March 6, 2023 | Lars Schönander

As U.S.-China competition heats up, lawmakers are realizing the extent to which Chinese companies and investments threaten U.S. national security. But this isn’t just an American issue; British policymakers should be aware of similar risks to their own country. In particular, the U.K. has a chance to learn from the latest U.S. area of focus:

March 4, 2023 | Lars Schönander

Today, I submitted written testimony to the House Committee on Appropriations’s Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies. I encouraged the subcommittee to protect U.S. postsecondary institutions from malign foreign influence by directing the Department of Education to enforce compliance with Section 117 of the Higher Education Act. Click here to download a

February 15, 2023 | Alex Dubin

This piece was originally published in the National Interest. The liftoff of Artemis 1 last November launched a new era in space, as the United States prepares to send humans beyond low-Earth orbit and back to the Moon for the first time in half a century. The Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion capsule finally made their debut

February 14, 2023 | Alex Dubin

The breathtaking launch of Artemis 1 ushered in a new era of American-led human space exploration. The nearly month-long mission to the Moon tested a new heavy-lift rocket (Space Launch System, or SLS) and capsule (Orion), and its success is a triumph for NASA and its partners. The mission comes 11 years after the retirement

January 30, 2023 | Lars Schönander

This piece was originally published in Tablet. Federal funds are being used to buy drones and drone detection equipment from DJI, a Chinese drone company that maintains control over data created and compiled by their products. Some of the details of these drone acquisitions were buried on government websites, while other aspects of these programs

These Are Not Your Drones

January 25, 2023 | Lars Schönander

This piece was originally published in the American Mind. A growing concern in debates over U.S.-China competition and decoupling has been the U.S. usage of Chinese drones. Drones made in China by Chinese companies have been used by federal agencies for tasks ranging from fighting fires to agricultural research and by the FBI and Secret Service for security purposes. As

December 8, 2022 | Dan Lips

This piece was originally published in the SCIF, the blog of the National Security Institute. Last month, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) announced that he would create a new select committee on China should he be elected Speaker in the 118th Congress, and this morning, announced that Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) will chair the new panel. His

December 1, 2022 | Lars Schönander

This piece was originally published in the Wall Street Journal. In one of the latest moves in the U.S.-China great-power competition, the Defense Department revealed in October that DJI, a Chinese drone company, is on its “Chinese military companies” list, which tracks companies working with the People’s Liberation Army. This reflects a growing, and justified, concern with

November 21, 2022 | Geoff Cain

This piece was originally published in American Affairs. Once a technology star, Zhao Weiguo rose fast and fell hard. For the last eight years, Zhao’s semiconductor manufacturer, the Tsinghua Unigroup, had fanfare, ambition, large-scale state backing, and an affiliation with China’s most prestigious institution of higher learning, Tsinghua University. All this made Zhao the face and

November 18, 2022 | Geoff Cain

Click here to download a PDF of the letter. We write as U.S. foreign policy and national security professionals concerned about countering the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s malign influence to support the inclusion of the Establishing New Authorities for Businesses Laundering and Enabling Risks to Security (ENABLERS) Act in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal

November 16, 2022 | Geoff Cain

This piece was originally published in The Free Press. The midterm elections of 2022 were many things—a shocker for Republicans, the possible end of Donald Trump, a win for centrist Democrats. Overlooked is the fact that they were also a big turning point for TikTok, the Chinese social-media platform. TikTok is not only the most trafficked

October 28, 2022 | Lars Schönander

This piece was originally published in The Hill. In August 2022, thanks to an investigation by the Daily Beast, a University of Maryland, College Park professor was revealed to have received a six-figure grant from Alibaba, the Chinese e-commerce company, to build surveillance software. This would be concerning enough, but to make matters worse, the professor was

October 11, 2022 | Mike Wacker

This piece was originally published in the Burner Files. In a line from the cartoon Futurama that later became a viral meme, Hermes won a promotion to a grade 37 bureaucrat for uncovering a form that had been incorrectly stamped only four times. The head bureaucrat said, “You are technically correct, the best kind of correct.” When it comes

This Land is Beijing’s Land

October 11, 2022 | Lars Schönander

This piece was originally published in the American Mind. Foreign ownership of American farmland has raised bipartisan concern from all levels of government, from governors like Ron DeSantis of Florida to senators such as Iowa’s Chuck Grassley and Michigan’s Debbie Stabenow. Foreign ownership of American farmland went from 1 percent in 2000 to 2.9 percent in 2020, a 290 percent

October 11, 2022 | Lars Schönander

By Lars Schönander and Dan Lips Click here to download a PDF version of the paper. Executive Summary There is growing bipartisan recognition that American higher education is vulnerable to foreign influence and exploitation. During the 117th Congress, the House of Representatives and Senate passed legislation that would have strengthened Section 117 of the Higher Education Act

October 11, 2022 | Lars Schönander

This piece was originally published in The Hill. The 117th Congress will be remembered as a polarized time, but a recent bipartisan effort to protect U.S. agriculture from foreign investments offers a reminder of the potential for cooperation across the aisle. Recent months have seen prominent Republicans and Democrats alike recognize the importance of knowing what

September 14, 2022 | Geoff Cain

Click here to download a PDF of the full testimony. Social Media’s Impact on Homeland Security Chairman Peters, Ranking Member Portman, and Members of the Committee: It is an honor to be invited to testify here on social media’s impact on national security. Today, I will talk about one of the greatest technological threats facing

China Is Buying the Farm

September 9, 2022 | Lars Schönander

This piece was originally published in The Wall Street Journal. Alarms went off in Washington when the Fufeng Group, a Chinese agricultural company, bought 300 acres of land and set up a milling plant last spring in Grand Forks, N.D. The plant is a 20-minute drive from an Air Force base that, according to North Dakota Sen.

September 8, 2022 | Lars Schönander

Click here to download a PDF version of the paper. Executive Summary The Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act (AFIDA) requires the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to collect data on foreign investor ownership of American agricultural land. However, data collection has long been crippled by poor management and compliance. Decades of neglect of the AFIDA program have

August 29, 2022 | Robert Bellafiore

Last week, Senior Fellow Geoff Cain joined Prolegis on its podcast, the Congressional Record, to discuss the policy concerns regarding TikTok’s data collection and storage, and what Congress might do in response. Listen to the full episode on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Pocket Casts, or Spotify.

On Hostage Diplomacy

July 20, 2022 | Geoff Cain

This piece was originally published on Substack. Hostage-taking has become a feature of diplomacy involving authoritarian governments. Today, President Biden signed an executive order that will allow the United States to sanction people or governments that take Americans hostage, and will set up a warning system for Americans planning a trip. This comes as WNBA

July 5, 2022 | Dan Lips

By Zach Graves and Dan Lips TikTok is one of the fastest growing social media apps, with more than 80 million U.S.-based active users, including an astounding 70 percent of all American teenagers. Through its rise in popularity, the app has been plagued by a series of security and privacy concerns related to its parent company, ByteDance, and its

June 30, 2022 | Dan Lips

Click here to download a PDF of the full testimony. Chairman Coons, Ranking Member Graham, and Members of the Subcommittee: My name is Dan Lips. I am Head of Policy at Lincoln Network. I am writing to encourage the Subcommittee to provide additional funding to the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), especially for its

April 11, 2022 | Luke Hogg

One of the most important components of the U.S.-China rivalry for tech dominance is the global competition for talented scientists and engineers. Federal legislation currently being negotiated could help give the United States a competitive edge if an important provision makes it into the final package. For months, Congress has been hard at work on legislation aimed at “[turbocharging] America’s scientific

June 22, 2021 | Zach Graves

The House Judiciary Committee’s package of anti-tech monopoly legislation heads to markup tomorrow. Included in it are several proposals to strengthen the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division (DOJ-ATR), the two primary US competition enforcement agencies. Out of this package, the two bills that are least controversial, and thus most

June 14, 2021 | Dan Lips

President Biden’s ongoing trip to Europe, including meetings with the G-7 and NATO, has highlighted the many challenges facing the world’s leading democracies including the ongoing global democratic recession. The past year marked “the 15th consecutive year of decline in global freedom,” according to the non-profit Freedom House. Writing in the Washington Post before the

June 9, 2021 | Dan Lips

On Thursday, the subcommittees of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will be holding a hearing to examine the People’s Republic of China’s atrocities in Xinjiang. Senators will hear testimony from leading human rights experts about the ongoing genocide occuring in the region. In March, the State Department issued its annual report on global human rights

June 1, 2021 | Dan Lips

On Tuesday, Lincoln Network and representatives of eight organizations sent a letter to Chairman Bob Menedez and Ranking Member Jim Risch of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee requesting a hearing on American tech firms supporting digital authoritarianism. The letter cited recent media reports about Apple’s business practices in the People’s Republic of China and the

March 4, 2021 | Dan Lips

The global technology competition between the United States and the People’s Republic of China becomes more evident by the day. President Xi Jinping is expected to call for a new 5-year plan this week for the PRC to achieve technology independence from the West at an annual meeting of the legislature. On Monday, the Biden

February 24, 2021 | Dan Lips

On Tuesday, Dr. Eric Schmidt testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee. The former Google CEO and current chair of the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence offered a sobering message to Congress about China’s technology strategy: [R]ight now, the United States is not playing to win. It is the Chinese who are competing to

February 22, 2021 | Jordan McGillis

With a population of just 1.3 million, Estoxnia may seem an unlikely adversary to the People’s Republic of China, but a report published Wednesday by its intelligence service has established the Baltic country as a vocal opponent of Chinese sharp power. The report’s final section is devoted to reproaching China for its “increasingly confrontational foreign

February 17, 2021 | Jordan McGillis

Twelve months from now, two thousand athletes representing almost 100 countries are slated to march under their national flags into Beijing National Stadium to mark the opening of the 2022 Winter Olympics. Beijing National Stadium—the Bird’s Nest—was the focal point of the 2008 Summer Games and hosted that year’s opening ceremony, an awe-inducing tribute to