Law360 recently interviewed partner Stephanie Siegmann regarding the potential reinvigoration of the “China Initiative” during the second Trump administration. As chair of the firm’s International Trade and National Security practice, as well as a former National Security Chief, she notes that universities are likely to be at the center of the scrutiny.
“It’s the soft target. The soft targets are the universities, because academia believes in sharing information,” Siegmann said. “Unfortunately, the Chinese government has learned to exploit that loophole, essentially, in our control system in the U.S., and that’s a means of getting very valuable research and bringing it back to advance Chinese interests.”
She also shared her perspective that voluntary disclosures for universities will serve them well in this environment.
“Better to voluntarily disclose than to risk ramifications down the road when you get a subpoena or a whistleblower comes forward,” she said. “Higher education institutions are really under attack right now, and many may consider affirmatively doing an internal audit of all their federal research contracts.”
