NASA has banned Chinese nationals from working on its space programs, marking the latest move in the Trump administration’s push to curb Beijing’s influence on U.S. institutions, Bloomberg News reported Wednesday.
On Sept. 5, Chinese nationals working with NASA were locked out of internal systems and barred from attending work-related meetings, people familiar with the decision told Bloomberg News. Until now, Chinese nationals holding U.S. visas had been allowed to contribute to NASA research as contractors, graduate students or university scientists, according to the outlet.
“NASA has taken internal action pertaining to Chinese nationals, including restricting physical and cybersecurity access to our facilities, materials, and network to ensure the security of our work,” NASA spokesperson Bethany Stevens told the outlet.
NASA did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
The policy shift comes as Washington and Beijing compete to return astronauts to the moon.
“We’re in a second space race right now,” Acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy said during the space agency’s livestream Wednesday, according to Bloomberg. “The Chinese want to get back to the moon before us. That’s not going to happen. America has led in space in the past, and we are going to continue to lead in space in the future.”
The agency has already trimmed its workforce by more than 20% since the start of the Trump administration, largely through its deferred resignation program.
Other federal departments are taking similar steps to sever ties with Chinese contractors. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced late August that the Pentagon will no longer permit Chinese nationals to work on Defense Department cloud servers after reports revealed that China-based engineers had access to server details through a Microsoft-led project that malicious hackers could exploit.
The Department of Agriculture likewise terminated about 70 foreign contract researchers from adversarial nations in July, citing risks to domestic agriculture and food supply.
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