In his recent Washington Times op-ed, “U.S. Must Cut Off China’s Military from American Genetic Data,” State Armor’s Founder & CEO Michael Lucci issues a strong warning: Beijing is actively harvesting U.S. genetic data not for public health, but for military and strategic advantage. The genetic information of Americans, often volunteered through ancestry and health services, could become tools for China’s weapons development, biothreats, and surveillance systems.
In his recent op-ed, Lucci writes:
“Warning signs around biotechnology have been flashing for nearly a decade. In President Trump’s first term, the Department of Homeland Security warned that Chinese laws compel Chinese “academic institutions, research service providers, and investors” to violate U.S. health care data protection laws.
A year later, the National Counterintelligence and Security Center issued a rare public message telling Americans, “Your DNA is the most valuable thing you own,” and explaining that China’s collection of American genetic data poses “economic and national security” risks.
In 2022, the Defense Department sanctioned the Beijing Genomics Institute, China’s national champion of genetic sequencing, for aiding the Chinese military’s weaponization of biotechnology. The Commerce Department followed by adding several of the institute’s units to its export-control blacklist for their role in CCP surveillance. Since then, the bipartisan leadership of the House Select Committee on the CCP has urged the Pentagon to sanction more Beijing Genomics Institute affiliates and subsidiaries, including U.S.-based companies.”
Read the full article “U.S. Must Cut Off China’s Military from American Genetic Data” at The Washington Times.
