Photo: Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)
Bipartisan lawmakers push Trump to restrict support for Chinese intelligence
A bipartisan Senate letter warns that regulatory gaps let American firms legally sell surveillance tech and consulting services to foreign intelligence agencies
A bipartisan group of lawmakers has called on the Trump administration to close loopholes allowing Americans to support Chinese and Russian civilian intelligence agencies.
Existing US law bars Americans from supporting foreign military intelligence agencies, but similar civilian organizations remain outside the restrictions.
What the loophole actually allows
Under current rules, Chinese civilian security agencies can legally hire American consultants, buy advanced surveillance equipment, and acquire cutting-edge cyber and artificial intelligence tools from US companies. The letter frames this not as a theoretical risk but an active one.
Congress tried to fix it. A 2022 measure was designed to extend export controls to cover this exact scenario, but that law has never been implemented. Lawmakers described the situation as creating “glaring loopholes” in the US national security apparatus.
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The letter was led by Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Senator John Cornyn (R-TX). Also signing were Senators Peter Welch (D-VT) and Representatives John Moolenaar (R-MI), Michael McCaul (R-TX), Pat Harrigan (R-NC), and Sara Jacobs (D-CA).
Wyden and Cornyn said unfinished rules have left foreign agencies able to hire US consultants and acquire advanced surveillance, cybersecurity and AI technology.
Why this is landing now
The timing is deliberate. Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to visit Washington in the near future, and lawmakers appear keen to establish where Congress stands on technology transfers before any diplomatic niceties get in the way of hard policy questions.
The specific technologies the letter flags are telling: surveillance systems, cyber tools, and artificial intelligence. These are the instruments through which modern states monitor populations, conduct espionage, and project soft coercive power.
What the Commerce Department is being asked to do
The letter asks Commerce Secretary Lutnick to use existing regulatory authority to act where Congress has so far failed to compel action. The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security controls what US companies can export and to whom, and it has broad discretionary authority to add entities to restricted lists or tighten category-level controls.