The DETERRENT Act would significantly broaden and tighten how colleges and universities report and handle foreign gifts and contracts. It amends the Higher Education Act to require extensive disclosures about gifts and contracts from foreign sources, expands the situations in which a contract with a foreign country or entity is prohibited, creates a public searchable database of disclosures (with privacy protections), and requires interagency sharing of unredacted disclosure information with national security agencies. It also imposes new governance requirements for institutions that receive substantial federal research funding, including annual internal disclosures by faculty and affiliated entities and an ongoing plan to mitigate espionage risks related to foreign gifts or contracts. In short, the bill aims to increase transparency, strengthen federal oversight, and curb potentially problematic foreign influence in U.S. higher education. By design, the act targets both disclosure and prohibitions. It sets thresholds and special rules for gifts and contracts from foreign sources, especially those connected to foreign governments or entities of concern, and it grants the Secretary of Education a framework to deny or authorize waivers for contracts with such entities. It also requires large federal-funded institutions to maintain publicly accessible policy documents and internal databases, and it expands the scope of information shared with federal intelligence, defense, and other agencies. The intent appears to be to safeguard U.S. higher education from foreign influence and to improve national security related to academic research and collaboration.
Key Points
- 1Expanded disclosures of foreign gifts and contracts (Sec. 117): Institutions must file annual disclosure reports for gifts or contracts from foreign sources, with specific thresholds (e.g., $50,000 or more for non-government sources; any amount for gifts/contracts with foreign governments of concern or entities of concern) and detailed reporting requirements, including dates, purposes, restrictions, and financial values.
- 2Public, searchable disclosures (Sec. 117, 117D): The Secretary must create a searchable, publicly accessible database of all disclosures, with limited privacy protections for individuals, and provide translation for non-English contracts. Reports must be posted within a set timeframe and include indicators of whether a source is a foreign government.
- 3Prohibition on contracts with certain foreign entities (Sec. 117A): Institutions may not enter into contracts with foreign countries of concern or foreign entities of concern. Waivers are available for 1 year, with conditions, renewal processes, and required disclosures to congressional authorizing committees.
- 4Interagency information sharing (Sec. 117(e) and Sec. 2): Unredacted disclosure reports must be shared with a broad set of federal agencies (e.g., FBI, DNI, CIA, State, Defense, Attorney General, Commerce, Homeland Security, Energy, NSF, NIH) within specified timeframes.
- 5Institutional policy for faculty and staff (Sec. 117B): Large, federal-funded institutions must maintain policies and a public database of gifts and contracts involving faculty and affiliated entities, with annual disclosures by July 31 and a plan to counter foreign espionage risks.
- 6Definitions and scope (Sec. 117, 117D, 117F): Clear definitions for terms like foreign source, affiliated entity, attributable country, gift, contract, and the scope of what counts as a contract or a gift, including nuances about restricted/conditional gifts and certain benign exemptions.
- 7Treatment of pre-enactment contracts (Sec. 117A(d)): Contracts entered into before enactment can receive temporary waivers and may be renewed, with a process for transitioning to the new regime.
- 8Translation and privacy safeguards (Sec. 117(c) and 117B): Non-English materials must be translated; natural-person data receive protections in the public database, with certain exceptions for contracts involving countries or entities of concern.