By: Marc King
For those of us who follow the news regarding the awarding of contracts by the Department of Defense, we were treated to this announcement in this morning’s email:
“Johns Hopkins University, Laurel, Maryland, has been awarded a $530,000,000 ceiling, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, cost-type contract for research and development services in support of the nuclear enterprise. Johns Hopkins University has also been awarded the first task order for research and development services for $23,717,889 to support the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent weapon system. These contracts provide research and development services in support of the two intercontinental ballistic missile systems. Work will be performed in Laurel, Maryland, with support being available until July 15, 2031. This award is the result of a sole-source acquisition. Fiscal 2021 research, development, test and evaluation funds are currently being used with an initial obligation of $4,500,000 to fund the first task order. Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center, Hill Air Force Base, Utah, is the contracting activity.”
A contract worth a total of one half a billion — billion with a “B” — dollars for research and development services in support of the two intercontinental ballistic missile systems. So far… not bad! We need this because our ICBMs are almost older than me and I am by all accounts a really old guy.
So what is the dilemma with this contract award to one of the most prestigious universities in the United States? The problem is this … because of the prestige of the university and its reputation for superior socialistic achievements it tends to draw a real interest from Chinese students who want to come to the US to study.
And so they do come. Most recent statistics from the Applied Physics Lab (The university Department where the DoD contract is placed) tell us the following when asked:
“How many Chinese students are in the JHU program? 3,260 students. Over the last several years the total international population of students on campus has grown at an average rate of 19.0%. China is the largest contributor to this growth, with an estimated total of 3,260 students”.
Now let me be clear … no one is accusing anyone of being a spy for China although there is probably some wiggle room in that statement. The concern here is with how the Department of Defense and JHU have agreed to monitor what students will work on this vital defense program.
We know from past experience that the university will view this work as pure Research & Development and will assign projects to the student body both graduate and undergraduate in the Applied Physics Department.
So it is not hard to imagine that we will have some number of Chinese students working on segments of the R&D that will go into our next generation of ICBMs — are you beginning to see the problem here?
In October of 2020 in a paper titled “Johns Hopkins APL Assesses Impact of Fraying US–China Tech Ties” the authors tell us:
… “the real risks presented by the Chinese government’s aggressive, and frequently illegal, attempts to close the gap, if not achieve superiority, in critical technologies — actions that require a firm yet nuanced American response. However, the project also represents a reality check regarding the feasibility and potential downsides of broadly severing technology ties with China in a manner similar to the U.S.–Soviet relationship during the Cold War.
Like conjoined twins whose circulatory systems cannot be separated, the United States and China are tied together,”
write Danzig and his co-author, Lorand Laskai, a visiting researcher at Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology.
“Sino–American connections built over forty years cannot be erased or revised like chalk on a blackboard … Stability is a more realistic goal than invulnerability.”
Looks to me like there is no incentive for the university to be concerned about visiting Chinese students.
Now I have already said that I am not accusing any one here of intentionally working against the interests of the US DoD or the country. But we know that students returning to China will be asked to share what they have learned in the United States.
There is no reason to expect anything less from the Chinese Communist Party. And a half a billion US tax dollars will buy a lot of R&D on the subject of our most advanced ICBMs.
The question that we face is just how the DoD plans to control who at the university gets to do this vital R&D work? Is anyone vetting the professors? Is anyone interviewing the students who will be assigned to work on these projects?
Is anyone checking on how this information is passed around the internet? The “rose is clearly pinned on the DOD’s nose on this one… Is there anyone who can answer the questions or are we just willing to allow the stealing and suborning of our critical defense information to go on!
DO WE KNOW WHERE OUR VITAL DEFENSE INFORMATION IS GOING?
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CHECK OUT THE LATEST EPISODE OF THE TROY SMITH SHOW FROM 7-12-21 FEATURING AN INTERVIEW WITH ELECTION INTEGRITY PROJECT CALIFORNIA PRESIDENT LINDA PAINE
SHARE AND SPREAD THE WORD, BIG TECH IS CENSORING US LIKE NEVER BEFORE!
THE TRUTH IS AT LAUNCH LIBERTY!
