Hagerty, Peters Partner to Protect Americans’ Genetic Data from Communist China-Directed Companies

Senate approves BIOSECURE Act as part of National Defense Authorization

WASHINGTON- United States Senators Bill Hagerty (R-TN) and Gary Peters (D-MI) today applauded congressional passage of their Prohibiting Foreign Access to American Genetic Information (BIOSECURE) Act as part of the FY2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which now heads to the president to be signed into law. The BIOSECURE Act will ban U.S. taxpayer dollars, including government procurement, contracts, loans, and grants, from going to "biotechnology companies of concern"-such as China's BGI Group and other entities designated on the Department of War's so-called "1260H List" of Chinese military companies operating in the United States.

"Backed by the PRC's balance sheet, BGI and other highly-subsidized CCP-directed companies have undercut their way into a critical position in the U.S. biotech market, creating a strategic vulnerability as they aggressively collect the genetic and other sensitive medical data of tens of millions of Americans," said Senator Hagerty. "It's deeply alarming that Chinese biotechnology companies are vacuuming vital genomic data that could be transferred back to China for malign or unknown purposes. We have seen this exploitative play before with Huawei's nefarious tactics against the telecoms sectors of the United States and our allies. I'm pleased to see the Senate pass this bipartisan legislation to prevent U.S. taxpayer funds from advancing these predatory efforts that put Americans at long-term risk. I look forward to President Trump signing this bill into law."

"When Americans undergo medical care, such as getting their blood drawn or other tests, they should be confident that their DNA will not end up in the wrong hands," said Senator Peters. "Yet as more biotech companies owned or controlled by our adversaries gain access to Americans' genomic data, more threats targeting this sensitive information emerge. This provision is a critical step to ensuring that Americans' personal health and genetic information cannot be used by foreign adversaries to undermine our national security."

Background

• China's military identifies biotechnology as an important domain of future warfare.
  • To cite an open source example: In 2017, the People's Liberation Army (PLA)'s National Defense University (NDU) highlighted the importance in future warfare of "specific ethnic genetic attacks" that "can be a precise, targeted attack that destroys a race, or a specific group of people, or a specific person; its potentially huge war effectiveness can bring extreme panic to human beings."
• Chinese biotechnology companies-like BGI-are working closely with China's military not only to steal American technology, but also to collect, store, and analyze DNA and other genomic data from millions of people in the United States and around the world.
  • In fact, the Defense Department's "Section 1260H" list identifies BGI as one of many Chinese military companies operating in the United States.
  • BGI frequently engages in research with the Chinese military, uses Chinese military supercomputers to analyze sensitive biodata, and collaborates with Chinese military hospitals to enhance the performance of Chinese troops.
  • China's National Intelligence Law of 2017 and other laws compel Chinese companies-anywhere in the world-to disclose information that they collect to China's government.
• The BIOSECURE Act stops U.S. taxpayer money-including government procurement, contracts, loans, or grants-from going to "biotechnology companies of concern" like BGI.
• The BIOSECURE Act defines "biotechnology companies of concern" as-
  • (1) entities identified on the Defense Department's "Section 1260H" list of Chinese military companies operating in the United States-like BGI; or
  • (2) any biotech company determined by an annual interagency process led by the Office of Management and Budget to-(a) be controlled, directed or operated by a foreign adversary government and (b) pose a national security risk to the United States because it (i) engages in joint research with a foreign adversary's military, intelligence, or internal security forces; (ii) gives American genetic data to a foreign adversary government; or (iii) obtains American genetic data without express and informed consent.
• If the Executive Branch adds a new entity to the bill's "biotechnology companies of concern" list after the BIOSECURE Act's enactment, industry gets five (5) years to adjust before the bill's prohibitions are enforced on that added entity.
• The BIOSECURE Act provides waiver authority on a case-by-case basis.

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