The Wall Street Journal recently reported that Neil Shen, a Chinese billionaire venture capitalist, has channeled billions from U.S. pension funds and endowments into the Chinese AI sector. Many individuals like Shen, who earned his master’s degree at Yale, are educated in the United States, where they develop wealth and connections, only to later leverage those advantages to benefit China. Some even resort to stealing intellectual property and U.S. trade secrets.

Even if these Chinese nationals do not initially come to America with such intentions, a 2017 law compels them to cooperate with Chinese intelligence services. While there has been significant discussion about the potential for war with China over Taiwan, it is more likely that we will fall behind China technologically and economically if we do not address these issues.