National Interest

by Pat Fallon

    China’s proclivity for intellectual property theft could extend to the biological data of American citizens.

    When Americans think of the defining geopolitical competition of the 21st century, they often picture naval fleets in the South China Sea or hypersonic missiles streaking across Earth’s atmosphere. But one of the most consequential battlefields of our time can be completely invisible to the human eye. It is waged in strings of code, genomic sequences and the massive foundational datasets that fuel the future of medicine, manufacturing and artificial intelligence (AI) tools.

    Adversaries have long targeted American domination of the biotechnology industry. Our speed and innovation are what set us apart from communist, state-directed economies. From mass-producing penicillin to founding the first biotechnology company, which gave rise to the entire industry, American biotech experts have consistently driven the most critical biological breakthroughs in human history.

    Today, that legacy continues with pioneering advancements in CRISPR gene editing and CAR-T cell therapy, representing the pinnacle of advanced genomic medicine. With the introduction of AI, these therapies can be transformed from slow, manual laboratory trial-and-error procedures to predictable, automated engineering sciences.

    US advancements in biotechnology go far beyond the practice of medicine. Biotech is actively reshaping the future of American power by revolutionizing military logistics, developing specialized enzymes to extract rare earth elements, equipping farmers with resilient crops and paving the way to replace traditional silicon chips with DNA-based computing.

    Each day, the innovation ecosystem becomes more competitive as adversaries deploy a brute-force economic playbook against biotech and other emerging technologies. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has positioned itself as an AI-driven bio-competitor, using state-backed firms to develop large-scale life-science AI foundation models and leveraging national champions to manufacture critical components for widely used American medications.

    These state-backed entities have historically relied on acquiring foreign intellectual property and data through both legal and illegal channels and the CCP executes this strategy by stealing, scaling and strangling global supply chains.

    The CCP aims to harvest global biological and genetic datasets, including those of American citizens, while completely locking its own domestic data behind a digital iron curtain. While the CCP limits data-sharing reciprocity, an estimated 80 percent of China’s life-science research depends on US biological datasets, representing a major strategic vulnerability.

    Despite these massive national security stakes, the Beijing Genomics Institute (BGI), which operates less as a private enterprise and more as a state-run firm in Beijing’s pocket, has successfully acquired American genomics firms in the past. Clearly, the CCP seeks to dominate biotech by leveraging BGI and others to collect massive troves of data that power biotech developments. These state-backed entities, fueled by undisclosed state subsidies, must not be allowed to exploit our open markets to harvest biological data, putting American economic interests, personal privacy and advanced biotech development at risk.

    American companies do not rely on IP theft, socialist subsidies, or government handouts. However, they justifiably expect their leaders to defend them from foreign adversaries that weaponize unfair trade practices and steal intellectual property. Their primary defense against foreign data acquisition relies on a patchwork of four separate federal programs spread across the Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission, the Department of the Treasury and the Department of Defense.

    These four agencies have long been plagued by mismatched definitions of “sensitive data,” critical jurisdictional gaps and severe resource and staffing constraints. For years, this fractured regulatory approach allowed high-stakes compromises to clear federal review unchallenged. Put simply, while each of these oversight programs possesses robust, unique capabilities and responsibilities, the CCP actively exploits America’s siloed bureaucracy and information.

    America cannot afford to fall behind. This is why I have joined my colleague, Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), in formally requesting that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) conduct a comprehensive evaluation to identify the regulatory vulnerabilities of our biotech industry and urge the oversight agencies to operate as a cohesive, unified front.

    Through this formal evaluation, we seek information on the implementation challenges facing the agencies that are responsible for protecting the US national interest and biological data. Our goal is to eliminate gaps in our bulk biological data defenses and resolve jurisdictional friction stemming from mismatched definitions of sensitive personal data.

    The promise of biotechnology, from curing chronic diseases to revolutionizing military preparedness, will only be realized if we safeguard the foundational data that makes it possible. It is time to treat biological data like the vital national resource it is and ensure America wins the bio-century.