National Security

In response to yesterday’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing with FBI Director Chris Wray, Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) today sent letters to the heads of University of Missouri and Webster University, both of which house Confucius Institutes, expressing his concerns about the universities’ Confucius Institutes. This follows comments during the hearing when Director Wray told Senator Hawley that Chinese Confucius Institutes at American universities are a “source of concern” because they allow the Chinese Government to disseminate communist propaganda, encourage censorship, and restrict academic freedom.

“What happens at the border has a tremendous impact on communities in Missouri,” Senator Hawley said. “The nonstop flow of drugs and human trafficking coming into this country is a crisis, plain and simple. I want to learn more about the challenges our agents face, the problems these local communities are dealing with, and how we can figure out a path forward. We are facing a surge at the southern border like we have never seen before, and Congress needs to get off its backside and act.”

Today Senator Josh Hawley introduced the Protect Our Universities Act of 2019 to safeguard sensitive, national security-related academic research from Chinese, Russian, and Iranian intelligence services. The text will also be submitted as a Senate amendment to the FY 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which is currently going through markups in the House and Senate.

Today U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) participated in a panel with U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) as part of the Center for a New American Security’s (CNAS) 2019 National Security Conference. The Senators had a wide-ranging discussion on American foreign policy, endless wars in the Middle East, and the countries that pose the greatest long-term threat to American national security. 

“Thirty years after the massacre at Tiananmen Square, the Communist Party of China remains committed to imposing its will not only on the Chinese people, but also on those of its neighbors,” said Senator Hawley. “It has not learned from one of the worst atrocities in its modern history, and today, the United States has an obligation to speak out.”

“It’s time to acknowledge that China acts more like an adversary than a friend,” said Senator Hawley. “For too long, China has exploited American innovation to undermine our values and threaten our security. This legislation is an important step toward keeping American technology out of the hands of the Chinese government and its military.”

“The Iran nuclear deal was one of the single worst foreign policy disasters in recent memory. It severely threatened our closest allies and rewarded our worst adversaries by giving them a fast track toward acquiring nuclear weapons. I support the Administration’s maximum pressure campaign to hold Iran accountable for its sponsorship of terrorism, human rights abuses and leading role in the proliferation of chemical weapons.”

Today, Senator Josh Hawley sent a letter to Google CEO Sundar Pichai asking him to address the company’s refusal to work with the United States Department of Defense while partnering with China on artificial intelligence initiatives.

Following recent confirmation by former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Deputy Director Andrew McCabe that the agency opened a counterintelligence investigation against the President of the United States, U.S. Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri sent a second letter to FBI Director Chris Wray demanding more answers regarding the agency’s tactics. 

“The spending bill we just voted on is the latest exhibit of why Congress is dysfunctional. The bill is 1,100 pages and it was filed in the dead of night. Only in Washington is this considered normal. The process is broken and it’s a dumb way to do the people’s business, especially when it comes to upholding our most important responsibility – keeping our people safe. The spending bill doesn’t secure our border and weakens the authority of ICE to keep our citizens safe.”