Lawmaker worries NSF program loophole enables Chinese institutions to access US-backed computing resources

"Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Mich., sent a letter Thursday to NSF interim director Brian Stone asking the agency to revoke China-linked entities' access to the Advanced Cyberinfrastructure Coordination Ecosystem: Services & Support - or ACCESS - program, according to a copy of the missive first seen by Nextgov/FCW. ACCESS is a free, nationwide collection of supercomputing systems made available to academics and other researchers. It's frequently used across U.S. institutions and national labs to assist with national security and economic research."

"To use ACCESS, a researcher or educator must be based in the U.S., though researchers outside the country can still get access if a U.S.-based researcher acts as the principal investigator for the ACCESS request and allocation, according to the letter. An eligible principal can share their allocated resources by adding collaborators to the project, and those collaborators can be students or colleagues located outside the United States, the letter adds."

"Screenshots provided in the missive appear to show several major Chinese institutions listed as approved entities eligible for access to the platform. Nextgov/FCW independently queried the ACCESS login page with the term "China" and viewed dozens of Chinese academic institutions in the dropdown list. One institution is the National University of Defense and Technology, which has been placed on export control restriction lists. This past summer, Cadence Design Systems pleaded guilty to violating U.S. export control laws by selling chip design software and hardware to Chinese front companies tied to that military-linked university."

The House China Select Committee chairman is scrutinizing a potential loophole in the National Science Foundation's ACCESS program that could expose U.S.-funded high-performance computing infrastructure to China-linked entities. Rep. John Moolenaar requested that NSF interim director Brian Stone revoke access for China-linked entities. ACCESS provides free, nationwide supercomputing resources for academics and researchers and is used by U.S. institutions and national labs for national security and economic research. U.S.-based principal investigators can allocate ACCESS resources and add foreign collaborators, and screenshots and queries show dozens of Chinese institutions listed as eligible, including an export-restricted military-linked university tied to illicit procurement.

Read at Nextgov.com