DOJ Considers Amnesty for Foreign Funding Disclosures

Officials at the Department of Justice are considering a proposed amnesty program through which academics could disclose past foreign funding without fear of punishment, The Wall Street Journal reported. Discussion of such an amnesty program comes in the context of a crackdown on researchers accused of hiding funding or affiliations involving Chinese sources. The Justice Department has brought more than a dozen criminal cases since mid-2019 against academics accused of lying about Chinese government funding or affiliations with the Chinese military, with some of those cases resulting in guilty pleas.