Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced Friday that the Department of War has officially designated Confucius Institutes, and the renamed groups that replaced them, as national security threats.
In August, the department had already sent notices to 30 universities urging them to review their ties to the Chinese government-backed programs. Friday’s video statement closed that loop, Hegseth said, and also flagged newly identified “sleeper organizations” carrying the same infiltration and propaganda functions as the original Confucius Institutes.
Congress banned Confucius Institutes outright several years ago after they spread through universities in nearly every state. But according to Hegseth, the programs resurfaced under new names and new charters while keeping their original purpose.
“We added these sleeper organizations to our list of institutions that threaten our national security. It turns out that 80 new propaganda cells across 30 universities had popped up using different names and different charters, but with the same mission: to steal intellectual property and to infiltrate the minds of American students,” Hegseth said.
Hegseth said the department dismantled every one of those 80 cells within the last two months, using leverage available to the War Department.
Government Accountability Office figures cited in the announcement show the scale of the original crackdown: since 2018, when Congress began restricting university collaboration with Confucius Institutes, the number of such organizations fell from roughly 100 to fewer than five. But the rebranded versions kept multiplying regardless.
“Not on our watch,” Hegseth said.
Hegseth directed a warning beyond China as well, telling other countries that have used comparable infiltration tactics that a new standard is now in place. He also called on American universities to stay alert going forward.
“Let this be a lesson: to any country trying to steal our hard-earned inventions or turn our young people against their own country, we’re done with that. No more, and never again,” Hegseth said.
He closed with a direct message to higher education: “Stay vigilant. Don’t allow these influences to come back in.”
