African Development Foundation locked the doors when DOGE tried to gain access

This Foreign Aid Agency Locked Its Doors To Keep DOGE Out. Now We Know Why.

Africa

Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)

Foreign Funding

USAID

Arkansas Governor Sarah Sanders took a big step toward protecting her state from the Chinese Communist Party and other nefarious foreign agents.
She signed a bill demanding representatives acting on behalf of hostile foreign adversaries such as the People&#8217;s Republic of China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea register publicly, disclose who bankrolls them, and spell out exactly what they are doing in Arkansas politics.
Although this foreign-agent registration is the first statute of its kind in the country, other legislatures should explore similar laws as a defense against hostile foreign actors and their agents covertly swaying policy or political activities at the state level.
Our country is facing a new kind of warfare waged through manipulation, money, and misinformation. Our adversaries are well-funded and coordinated, working relentlessly to sow division and destabilize our society. They’re attacking at the state and local level more and more, hiding behind layers of nonprofits and advocacy groups.
Take Students for Justice in Palestine, for example – a shadowy group that played a prominent role in riling up violent mobs on college campuses last year. This group and others like it (Within Our Lifetime, Jewish Voice for Peace, Palestinian Youth Movement, etc.) routinely accept secret money, raising concerns about potential support from hostile foreign actors.
Some of these organizations are not even registered as nonprofits, and alarmingly, many pro-Hamas groups have established local chapters on college campuses and receive funding from student activity fees.
The CCP perfected this playbook long ago. There are Confucius Institutes embedded on college campuses masquerading as language centers while disseminating the Party’s propaganda. Other groups such as Code Pink echo CCP talking points, attacking American energy policy and championing topics that align with China’s geopolitical objectives.
Research has shown that the CCP’s influence stretches far beyond college campuses. It targets state pension funds, critical infrastructure, farmland near military bases, and even municipal procurement of drones and surveillance tech. Every contract, endowment, or protest it bankrolls is another opportunity to steal American intellectual property, map supply chains, and erode public trust.
It’s no surprise the Federal Bureau of Investigation has labeled the Chinese Communist government a “grave threat to the economic well-being and democratic values of the United States,” and national security agencies from some of our top allies have warned the CCP is engaging in the most “sophisticated theft of intellectual property and expertise in human history.&#8221;
Arkansas has taken the first step in combating this foreign interference. The law will shine a spotlight on every foreign‑funded front group operating in the state. Agents who fail to register face stiff penalties; those tied to hostile nations risk even higher fines.
<div id="attachment_916433" style="width: 875px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-916433" class="size-large wp-image-916433" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/GettyImages-468385788-865x576.jpg" alt="DustyPixel. Getty Images." width="865" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/GettyImages-468385788-865x576.jpg 865w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/GettyImages-468385788-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/GettyImages-468385788-768x511.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/GettyImages-468385788-1536x1022.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/GettyImages-468385788-2048x1363.jpg 2048w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/GettyImages-468385788-1800x1200.jpg 1800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/GettyImages-468385788-1200x800.jpg 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 865px) 100vw, 865px" />DustyPixel. Getty Images.</div>
The new law also strengthens campaign finance disclosure laws, exposing individuals and organizations seeking to undermine democratic values through covert influence operations. The law is singularly focused on hostile foreign actors; international businesses and lobbyists representing allied nations are unaffected.
It is encouraging that this effort is also a part of a larger “Communist China Defense” suite of bills from Governor Sanders, with proposals to divest state resources from China and ban land purchases near critical infrastructure.
These measures are a timely reminder that safeguarding our communities begins in the statehouse, not just in Washington. Other legislatures should move quickly to adopt similar protections and fortify America’s democracy and sovereignty against those determined to erode them.
 * * *
Joe Gebbia is the CEO and Founder of State Shield, an organization dedicated to educating state leaders and uniting state and federal efforts to combat the growing threat the Chinese Communist Party poses to America’s security, supply chains, and core values.
The views in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Conservatives Gather For Annual CPAC Conference In Washington DC

Arkansas Strikes First Blow Against Foreign Influence In U.S. Politics

Arkansas

China

College

Iran

North Korea

Opinion

Real estate

Russia

Sarah Huckabee Sanders

U.S. Military

Foreign donations to American universities surged during the Biden administration, with Qatar, the largest source of such funding in the past 40 years, and China, the second-largest, significantly ramping up their donations.
According to a new report from the Network Contagion Research Institute shared exclusively with <a href="https://www.thefp.com/p/explosion-in-foreign-funding-for-american-universities" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Free Press</a>, the amount of foreign funding for American universities during the Biden administration — $29 million —  equaled the total over the last forty years.
“The floodgates opened during the Biden era,” NCRI’s co-founder Joel Finkelstein told The Free Press. &#8220;This isn’t just a financial issue—it’s a national security crisis. Hostile powers are buying influence on American campuses at an industrial scale.”
Last week, President Donald Trump signed an <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/04/transparency-regarding-foreign-influence-at-american-universities/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">executive order</a> that required institutions of higher education to “report significant sources of foreign funding,” while noting, “But, because section 117 has not been robustly enforced, the true amounts, sources, and purposes of foreign money flowing to American campuses are unknown. From 2010 to 2016, according to one study, universities failed to disclose more than half of reportable foreign gifts. Even when foreign funding is reported, its true sources are often hidden.”
Trump pointed out that during his first term, “the Department of Education opened investigations on 19 campuses from 2019-2021, which led universities to report $6.5 billion in previously undisclosed foreign funds. Yet the prior administration undid this work, moving the Department of Education’s specialized investigatory work on foreign funds to a unit ill-equipped to perform it, undermining investigations, and hindering public access to information on foreign gifts and contracts.”
The order authorized the Secretary of Education to “take appropriate steps to require universities to more specifically disclose details about foreign funding, including the true source and purpose of the funds,” while adding that the “Secretary and the Attorney General shall hold accountable higher education institutions that fail to comply with the law concerning disclosure of foreign funding.”
“<a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/2024/10/american-universities-continue-to-underreport-foreign-money/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A 2024 study</a> published by the National Association of Scholars found that universities failed to disclose at least $1 billion in foreign funding since Biden took office, the majority of which came from authoritarian countries such as Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey,” The Free Press reported, adding, “While Qatar holds the designation of a <a href="https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/2917336/major-non-nato-ally-designation-will-enhance-us-qatar-relationship/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">major non-NATO ally</a> of the United States, the country is also known for <a href="https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2023/12/19/10-things-to-know-about-hamas-and-qatar/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">harboring the leaders</a> of Hamas and <a href="https://www.thetimes.com/world/middle-east/article/qataris-are-exporting-political-islam-to-west-vgcs9fnsv?region=global" target="_blank" rel="noopener">exporting political Islamism</a>, including by supporting the Muslim Brotherhood, across the Middle East.”
The NCRI analysis examined donations disclosed to the federal government, as required by law for donations of more than $250,000. This means that a significant amount of undisclosed funds may also be being donated. The Free Press <a href="https://www.thefp.com/p/campus-rage-middle-eastern-roots-qatar" target="_blank" rel="noopener">previously reported</a> that 200 or more American colleges and universities illegally withheld information regarding an estimated $13 billion in undisclosed contributions from foreign countries.
“An official on Trump’s antisemitism task force told The Free Press that they are actively investigating ‘alleged connections between foreign malign actors and student groups on campus.’” The Free Press revealed. “The official said the task force was scrutinizing connections between both student groups and faculty who have ties to universities such as Birzeit in the West Bank, which Israeli officials have <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-arrests-8-palestinian-students-suspected-of-planning-terror-attack/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">previously accused</a> of having <a href="https://www.ynetnews.com/article/sjhksv5o0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ties to Hamas</a>.”
Last year, an NCRI <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/social-psychology/articles/10.3389/frsps.2024.1408913/full">study</a> in Frontiers of Social Psychology found “providing massive financial support to campuses with ascendant illiberalism serves the interests of foreign actors hostile to the U.S. in particular or liberal democracy in general.”
“It is notable that the universities exploding with anti-Israel protests have the strongest relationships with governments whose national interests are at direct odds with the United States,” The Free Press concluded.

five hundred riyal qatari banknotes stacks isolated on white background, 3d render, qatar money 500 riyal

Foreign Funding Of U.S. Universities Surged During Biden Admin, New Report Says

American Universities

Education

Qatar

World

Seventeen states have either introduced or passed bills banning foreign money from influencing state ballot measures.
All of them are red states.
Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky , Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Wyoming have all introduced or passed such bills. Five of the states have passed the laws: Kansas, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, and Wyoming. Six states have had their bills passed by a house of the legislature already: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Missouri, Montana, and Tennessee, as Americans For Public Trust (APT) has <a href="https://americansforpublictrust.org/stop-foreign-funding/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">documented</a>.
“Federal law prohibits foreign nationals from contributing to candidates and Super PACS, but there is no federal prohibition against foreign nationals funding ballot issue campaigns,” APT <a href="https://americansforpublictrust.org/reports/sixteen-thirty-fund-cumulative-spending-on-ballot-issue-campaigns/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">notes</a>. “Without closing this foreign influence loophole, states are leaving their public policy open to being influenced by foreign interests.”
One organization APT examined was the Sixteen Thirty Fund. It was described by <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2021/11/17/dark-money-sixteen-thirty-fund-522781" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Politico</a> in 2021, as a “left-leaning, secret-money group” that “ doled out a whopping $410 million in 2020, aiding Democratic efforts to unseat then-President Donald Trump and win back control of the Senate. The group, the Sixteen Thirty Fund, financed attack ads against Trump and vulnerable Republican senators and funded massive get-out-the-vote and issue advocacy campaigns amid the coronavirus pandemic”
One of the Sixteen Thirty Fund’s donors is a Swiss billionaire, Hansjorg Wyss, whom APT says has contributed $280 million to the fund. “Sixteen Thirty Fund takes advantage of this loophole and has spent $130 million on ballot issue campaigns in 26 states. It is also important to note that as Mr. Wyss’ foreign money runs through the Sixteen Thirty Fund, there is nothing stopping foreign adversaries from taking advantage of this same loophole.”
The Sixteen Thirty Fund spent over $33 million in Michigan, over $20 million in Ohio, almost $17 million in Florida, almost $13 million in Missouri, almost $11 million in Colorado, and almost $7 million in Nebraska and Nevada.
Issues the Sixteen Thirty Fund has focused on include abortion, electoral reform, minimum wage, paid sick leave, and taxes.

SWITZERLAND-ECONOMY-BANKING

17 States Have Bills Banning Foreign Funding For Influencing Ballot Measures. All Of Them Are Red.

Ballot Measures

Red States

Menu

Foreign Funding

This Foreign Aid Agency Locked Its Doors To Keep DOGE Out. Now We Know Why.

Arkansas Strikes First Blow Against Foreign Influence In U.S. Politics

Foreign Funding Of U.S. Universities Surged During Biden Admin, New Report Says

17 States Have Bills Banning Foreign Funding For Influencing Ballot Measures. All Of Them Are Red.