The Pentagon has issued formal notifications to 30 US universities, directing them to carry out reviews of their academic, financial and research collaborations with "foreign entities of concern".
The entities refer to certain universities in or connected to China, Russia and Iran, described as "foreign institutions linked to problematic activities".
The aim of the security audit is to protect US taxpayer-funded research from "unauthorised technology transfer, intellectual property theft and adversarial exploitation", the Pentagon said.
If the universities are found to be non-compliant, their federal funding could be cut.
"The notified universities must complete a comprehensive audit of all identified foreign collaborations, assess the exposure of sensitive or export-controlled research, and implement strict mitigation plans, including the termination of problematic partnerships," the Pentagon said in a news release.
US colleges and universities receive about $70 billion a year in federal funding through research grants, contracts and student financial aid, with about $60 billion going towards research and development, according to the Urban Institute.
Harvard, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, New York University and Georgetown are included on the Pentagon's list. It is unclear if the audit will apply to overseas branches of the universities, and The National has contacted the Pentagon for further comment.
Some of the entities included on the list of banned foreign institutions include Iran's Imam Baqir University and Sharif University of Technology, and Russia's PI Baranov Central Institute of Aviation Motor Development and Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology.
The vast majority of the list, however, is made up of Chinese universities and research institutions.
The US has frequently accused China of intellectual property theft and research espionage through universities. The FBI has warned about Chinese "talent plans", with Beijing accused of sponsoring recruitment programmes to take outside knowledge and innovation to China.
The Republican-led House of Representatives select committee on China has had Beijing-related academic partnerships under scrutiny over the past year.
"Universities that repeatedly fail to follow basic research security guidelines and ignore problematic foreign relationships should face real consequences for their abuse of American taxpayer," committee chairman John Moolenaar said in a statement.
"Research partnerships and collaboration with Chinese entities linked to the Chinese Communist Party and the People's Liberation Army present undeniable national security risks."
Mr Moolenaar said Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth was "taking an important step to protect taxpayer-funded research from exploitation".
The administration of President Donald Trump is also actively reviewing tens of thousands of US visas, many of them for student stays. Republican politicians have urged the administration to revoke and stop granting so many to Chinese students due to national security concerns.
The Centre for Immigration Studies said in a recent report that student visas granted to Chinese citizens were down 46 per cent in 2025 compared to 2017.
The AI race
The audit comes as the US and China are jockeying for dominance in the field of artificial intelligence.
Although the US is home to many of the technology companies fuelling the international AI boom, many economists and tech analysts say China is quickly catching up and that it has several advantages in terms of energy production and scale.
Where it lags behind, however, is making semiconductors and AI language model development.
Some US officials and technology executives have accused Chinese companies of creating their AI tools by illegally poaching from US language models through a process known as distilling.
The US Justice Department has also increased focus on people who illegally try to export some of the most powerful US chips to China.
In March, it charged two US citizens and a Chinese national with conspiring to commit smuggling and export control offences. There was a similar arrest and charges a few months earlier.
US officials have also expressed concern about international students who study AI and computer science at American universities.
The most recent worries were voiced after Beijing-based Moonshot AI introduced a new and powerful language model in July.
Moonshot AI’s chief executive, Zhilin Yang, had completed his doctorate studies in the US at Carnegie Mellon University.
