Pentagon didn’t adequately track funds sent to Chinese research labs
By Zamone Perez
Friday, Jun 21, 2024
In this March 17, 2020 photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, a medical worker looks at CT scans at the Huoshenshan field hospital in Wuhan in central China's Hubei Province. (Wang Yuguo/Xinhua via AP)
The Pentagon did not keep adequate track of funds awarded to Chinese research labs or other countries that could have been used to enhance pathogens of pandemic potential, according to a report published Tuesday by a Pentagon watchdog.
The Pentagon’s Office of the Inspector General report was required in the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act to look at grants, contracts and other forms of collaboration with China and affiliated parties on pathogens of pandemic potential between 2014 and 2023. Investigators did not find any funds were given to organizations for pathogen enhancement, but they ran into difficulty tracking the movement of funds through organizations.
The Pentagon did not track funds “to the level of detail necessary” to allow investigators to completely determine if funds went to Chinese or other foreign laboratories to enhance pathogens, according to the report.
The issue stemmed from the Pentagon not tracking how the institutions that received funds — which frequently contract out work to other institutions — spent the money. The report found that the Pentagon receives a list of intended secondhand recipients of funds during the application process, but organizations can change recipients while in the “performance period” without being required to document those changes.
https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2024/06/21/pentagon-didnt-adequately-track-funds-sent-to-chinese-research-labs/
