Tom Cotton Raises Alarms Over Russian, Chinese Scientists Entering National Labs

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During a Senate Energy Committee hearing on Wednesday, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) criticized the amount of Russian and Chinese scientists entering national labs.  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript   Stay Connected Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com

Transcript

00:00I agree with all of what you said in your opening statement on the topics that

00:06most Americans when think about when they think about the Department of

00:08Energy things like infrastructure and permitting reform and electric

00:13electricity power generation power generation I want to focus though on a

00:17the last thing you mentioned there the national labs which overlaps with my

00:22work as chairman of the Intelligence Committee I think a lot of Americans

00:25probably don't appreciate that the Department of Energy is in charge of all

00:27these national labs that do exquisite research into nuclear energy or quantum

00:32computing artificial intelligence other things I think they'd be shocked to know

00:36that last year 40,000 foreigners visited these national labs and fully one-fifth

00:43of those 8,000 were from Russia and China doesn't seem to be like the

00:49smartest step to be letting Russian and Chinese scientists into our national

00:53labs what do you think Mr. Danley yet of course senator I completely agree with

00:58that and when you say the word visited we don't just mean passing through we

01:02mean actually conducting science in close proximity to the scientists that

01:06are already working at the labs the national labs are fundamental not just

01:11to the research and science that I mentioned a second ago but they also

01:13have national security missions and it is when I first learned about the number

01:20of adversarial nations scientists that are at the national labs I was so

01:25surprised by it that I thought at first that I didn't hear correctly it was

01:30shocking the number and it's not just a matter of losing the scientific and

01:35technical edge I talked about it's also a matter of grave national security

01:38interest that has to be looked at and and if necessary dealt with I think most

01:42Americans would be shocked to know that one out of every five foreign scientists

01:46visiting our national labs for from China and Russia and also although not

01:49in its large numbers they come from places like Iran and Cuba and North

01:53Korea as well do you know how many American scientists get to go to Russia

01:57and China's equivalent of national labs none the answer would be zero that does

02:02not seem to me to be reciprocal to use a term that the president likes that's why

02:06on the Intelligence Committee for years it's been a matter of bipartisan concern

02:10that our national labs seem to allow these scientists and they almost seem to

02:14compete to bring them in because at the decisions are made at the at the lab

02:19level not at the level of what you might call the headquarters element of the

02:23Department of Energy drawing on your own intelligence unit and the intelligence

02:27community more broadly I have legislation to address this problem I

02:30bet a lot of the problem though can be addressed by you and the secretary so

02:34can I get your commitment mr. Danley you'll take a look at the legislation

02:38you'll see what needs to be done to address this threat and do as much as

02:42you can with your existing authorities once confirmed absolutely if I should be

02:47lucky enough to be confirmed I'll work with you to deal with this problem thank

02:51you the second topic I want to address again something that a lot of Americans

02:55probably don't think about when they think about the Department of Energy is

02:58the National Nuclear Security Administration in NSA but it's about half

03:04of the department's budget they do a lot of very important work for our nuclear

03:08weapons arsenal a lot of research a lot of production one thing in particular

03:12that they do is the production of plutonium pits for new nuclear weapons

03:18we've had a challenge with this for years we were supposed to get to the

03:21point where we could produce 80 new plutonium pits by 2030 under the Biden

03:25administration that slipped to 2035 can I get your commitment that you'll

03:29advocate for NNSA to get all the budgetary resources it needs perform its

03:35vital mission so the the NNSA is the one of the fundamental elements of

03:42American national security the the weapon stockpile is the ultimate

03:47instrumentality of sovereignty for the United States and I commit to doing

03:52everything I can to ensure should I be confirmed that NNSA's mission is

03:56discharged fully and specifically trying to get back to 80 pits the what they

04:02need to do so in the New Mexico and South Carolina facility so I am I am not

04:07certain because I am NOT at the Department of Energy what what the

04:10necessity is regarding the the rate or level of pit production but it is

04:13fundamental to our weapon stockpile and I absolutely commit to doing everything

04:18I can to ensure that the duties are discharged okay thank you

04:23sir Heinrich

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