WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Senator Rick Scott and Chairman John Moolenaar of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) sent a letter to Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security Jeffrey Kessler thanking him for the administration’s efforts to protect American national security from adversaries like Communist China that seek to destroy our way of life. In their letter, Senator Scott and Chairman Moolenaar urged the administration to build on these efforts by reversing a Biden-era decision to remove the CCP’s Ministry of Public Security’s Institute of Forensic Science (IFS) from the Entity List, which has a proven role in Communist China’s surveillance and abuses.

This follows Senator Scott and Chairman Moolenaar’s introduction of the Confronting CCP Human Rights Abusers Act which will re-designate the IFS on the Department of Commerce’s Entity List.

Read the full letter HERE or below:

Dear Under Secretary Kessler:

We appreciate your ongoing efforts to protect American values and national security. The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) has a vital role to play in ensuring America’s most innovative technology does not assist our adversaries to achieve their illiberal ends or advance their military capability, especially Communist China.

Recently, we led the introduction of the Confronting CCP Human Rights Abusers Act to re-designate the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) Ministry of Public Security’s Institute of Forensic Science (IFS) on the Department of Commerce’s Entity List. This designation was previously made by President Trump in 2020 during his first term in direct response to IFS’ central role in the surveillance, internment, and abuse of Uyghur Muslims and other minorities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR). This designation ensured that BIS would need to issue a license for most exports of controlled items to the IFS, thereby restricting the flow of sensitive American technology that could be used in the CCP’s campaign of repression. However, this decision was foolishly reversed by the Biden administration in exchange for false promises of cooperation from the CCP on the fentanyl crisis, which was not accompanied by any evidence that the IFS had ceased its involvement in the ongoing genocide and human rights abuses. The IFS continues to play a key role in Communist China’s surveillance state, enabling mass internment, forced labor, and high-tech oppression through biometric data harvesting and forensic tracking.

Given the IFS’ continual and well-documented abuses, we encourage BIS to work through the End User Review Committee (ERC) to investigate and re-add the IFS to the Entity List. As we continue working to pass the Confronting CCP Human Rights Abusers Act to put this action into law, the ERC is uniquely positioned to ensure that U.S. technology and expertise do not contribute to the CCP’s machinery of oppression and genocide.

Thank you for your continued leadership and for your attention to this urgent matter. We look forward to your response and to working together to ensure that the United States remains a beacon for human rights and the rule of law.

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