Rep. Pat Fallon introducing bill to block DoD IT contracts with Chinese entities (Exclusive)

Keyboard with China flag key (Getty images)

WASHINGTON — Texas Republican Rep. Pat Fallon plans to introduce a bill today that will prohibit the Department of Defense from doing information technology-related business with Chinese entities, Fallon tells Breaking Defense.

The bill, titled the “Safeguard American Innovation Act,” would ban the Secretary of Defense from “entering, renewing, or extending an IT contract” with companies that have specific ties with the People’s Republic of China, according to a preview of the bill sent to Breaking Defense before its release.

“The ‘Protecting American Innovation Act’ is vital to securing our nation’s technology and deterring foreign threats, particularly from China. Recent cyberattacks like SolarWinds and Salt Typhoon have shown how vulnerable our defense and IT systems are to foreign interference,” Fallon, a House Armed Services Committee member, told Breaking Defense in an email.

“This bill will take action to prevent this by blocking any Department of Defense (DOD) contracts with companies tied to China that could jeopardize our national security.”

With the 118th Congress ending in just a few weeks, this iteration of the bill is effectively dead on arrival. But Fallon said he is introducing the bill now so it will be a priority in the next Congress, and a spokesperson said the plan is to reintroduce the language once the 119th Congress is up and running.

“Along with the return of President Trump’s leadership, Rep. Fallon’s intention going into the 119th Congress is to ensure US equities are protected from the PRC influence to prevent what we saw with Salt Typhoon and Solar Winds. Innovation is our main asymmetric advantage and Congress needs to protect that at all costs,” the spokesperson said in an email.

According to the proposed language, the Secretary of Defense will be barred from doing business with IT companies that are characterized as the following:

“Owns or operates research and development in mainland China
Substantially funded by the PRC
Has enabled the PRC access to source code in software
Provided software for DOD or law enforcement application (dual use) to PRC
Operates or is affiliated to data centers in mainland China”

Fallon, who serves on the HASC’s subcommittee for Cyber, Innovative Technologies and Information Systems, said that one major concern he has with the DoD doing IT business with Chinese entities is due to the fact that “China’s laws force companies to share sensitive technology, including software source code,” adding that this “poses a serious risk.”

“By banning contracts with companies that operate in China, are funded by the People’s Republic of China (PRC), or allow China access to critical code, this bill helps ensure our IT infrastructure remains secure and our technological advancements stay out of adversaries’ hands. This legislation is essential to protecting American innovation, keeping our military safe, and maintaining US technological leadership,” he added.

Fallon’s bill to address IT concerns comes after several years of rising anxiety from the Pentagon and lawmakers that the US supply chain is still interwoven with Chinese entities.

There have been efforts to get at this problem. For example, in 2020 the Defense Innovation Unit launched its Blue UAS program, a “holistic and continuous approach that rapidly vets and scales commercial unmanned aerial system (UAS) technology for the Department of Defense (DoD)” in part to ensure parts don’t come from adversaries. And on the Congressional side, the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act states that beginning on Oct. 1, 2027, no funds appropriated or made available for the DoD can be spent to procure a battery produced by the listed Chinese-owned and -operated companies.