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TheWolf Amendment is a law passed by theUnited States Congress in 2011, named after then–United States RepresentativeFrank Wolf, that prohibits theUnited States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) from using government funds to engage in direct, bilateral cooperation with theChinese government andChina-affiliated organizations from its activities without explicit authorization from theFederal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Congress.[1][2][3][4][5] It has been inserted annually into appropriations bills since then.
In May 1999, theReport of the Select Committee on U.S. National Security and Military/Commercial Concerns with the People's Republic of China was made public. It is alleged that, following decades of intelligence operations against U.S. weapons laboratories conducted by theMinistry of State Security, China stole design information regarding advancedthermonuclear weapons. Furthermore, technical information provided by American commercial satellite manufacturers to China in connection with satellite launches could have been used to improve Chineseintercontinental ballistic missile technology.
In 2010, Rep.John Culberson urged PresidentBarack Obama not to allow further contact between NASA and theChina National Space Administration (CNSA). In a letter addressed to the President, he wrote:
I have grave concerns about the nature and goals ofChina's space program and strongly oppose any cooperation betweenNASA andCNSA's human space flight programs withoutCongressional authorization.[6][7]
In April 2011, the112th United States Congress barred NASA from engaging in bilateral agreements and coordination with China.[1] As stated under Public Law 112–10, Sec. 1340:
(a) None of the funds made available by this division may be used for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration or the Office of Science and Technology Policy to develop, design, plan, promulgate, implement, or execute a bilateral policy, program, order, or contract of any kind to participate, collaborate, or coordinate bilaterally in any way with China or any Chinese-owned company unless such activities are specifically authorized by a law enacted after the date of enactment of this division. (b) The limitation in subsection (a) shall also apply to any funds used to effectuate the hosting of official Chinese visitors at facilities belonging to or utilized by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.[1]
In 2013, officials at NASA Ames prohibited Chinese nationals from attendingKepler Science Conference II. A number of American scientists boycotted the meeting, with senior academics either withdrawing individually or pulling out their entire research groups.[8] Rep.Frank Wolf wrote a letter to NASA AdministratorCharlie Bolden, saying that the restriction only applied to bilateral meetings and activities between NASA and the Chinese government or Chinese-owned companies, whereas Kepler Science Conference II is a multilateral event.[9] NASA later reversed the ban and admitted a mistake in barring individual Chinese nationals who did not represent their government in official capacity.[10]
During China's 2019Chang'e 4 mission, NASA collaborated with China to monitor the moon lander and Yutu 2 rover on the lunar far-side using NASA'sLunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. NASA was able to do so by getting congressional approval for the specific interaction and sharing data with researchers globally.[11] NASA stated:
The statutory prohibition on NASA’s use of appropriated funds for bilateral cooperation with China…does not apply to activities that NASA has certified to Congress, [which] do not pose a risk of resulting in the transfer of technology, data or other information with national security or economic security implications to China; and that do not involve knowing interactions with officials who have been determined by the U.S. to have direct involvement with violations of human rights. In accordance with the law, NASA made the appropriate certification to Congress for this activity.[11]
With the return of theChang'e-6 lunar mission on June 25, 2024, China acquired rocks and soil from thefar side of the Moon, a historic milestone with the potential to revolutionize understanding of the Moon's evolution and its capacity to support human life. The China National Space Administration (CNSA) announced that it would share these lunar samples with scientists worldwide, following the precedent set by NASA after the Apollo missions. However according to an article from Futurism, US scientists will be largely barred from participating in the analysis of these samples because of the Wolf Amendment, unless NASA first receives certification from the FBI, proving that there are no national security threats. Currently NASA is consulting with legal experts to explore the possible avenues for collaboration with China to analyze the lunar samples, while adhering to the existing legal framework.[12][13][14]
| Fiscal Year | Act | Law | Section | Date Passed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE AND FULL-YEAR CONTINUING APPROPRIATIONS ACT | 112-10 | 1340 | 2011-04-15 |
| 2022[15] | Consolidated Appropriations Act | 117-103 | 526 | 2022-03-15 |
Dean Cheng fromThe Heritage Foundation argued in April 2014 that more interaction with the Chinese is possible in the area of sharing already collected data, and that sharing data such asGeodesy information and lunar conditions may "help create a pattern of interaction that might lower some of the barriers to information exchange."[16] SirMartin Rees, the fifteenthAstronomer Royal of Great Britain, has called the ban a "deplorable 'own goal' by the US".[8]
The Chinese response to the exclusion policy involved its own space policy of opening up its space station to the outside world, welcoming scientists coming from all countries.[17]
The quarterly-published international relations journalHarvard International Review pointed out that although supporters of the Wolf Amendment claim that the law reduces the risk of US-China war in space, it does in contrary prove the US' own intents and actually increase the risk of war in space.[18]
While proponents of the amendment claim that it reduces the risk of US-China war in space, the amendment proves contrary to its own intents and actually increase the risk of war in space. Traditionally, space has been a multilateral environment. Even during the Cold War, the United States cooperated with its primary competitors, demonstrated by projects like the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in which the United States and the then Soviet Union docked an American and Russian spaceship together in order to perform scientific experiments. And, even today, cooperation in space continues to expand on other fronts. The International Space Station and ongoing satellite development between nations, such as those within the European Union and China, have signaled the international community's intention to keep space cooperative and multilateral.
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