Today, Congressman August Pfluger (TX-11), Chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security's Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence, questioned witnesses during a full committee hearing titled "Countering Threats Posed by the Chinese Communist Party to U.S. National Security."

Ahead of the hearing, Chairman Pfluger introduced the "DHS Restrictions on Confucius Institutes and Chinese Entities of Concern Act," which would prohibit DHS funds from flowing to American universities that host a Confucius Institute or maintain a relationship with a Chinese entity of concern.

During his line of questioning, Chairman Pfluger asked witnesses for their expert opinions on the threats posed by Confucius Institutes. The experts confirmed to Chairman Pfluger that Confucius Institutes pose a serious threat to U.S. national security and that federal funding should 'absolutely' be withheld from institutions who have signed agreements with them.

The witnesses included:

• Dr. Michael Pillsbury, Senior Fellow, China Strategy, Heritage Foundation
• The Hon. Bill Evanina, Founder and CEO, The Evanina Group
• Craig Singleton, China Program Senior Director and Senior Fellow, Foundation for Defense of Democracies
• Dr. Rush Doshi, Assistant Professor of Security Studies, Georgetown University Walsh School of Foreign Service, C.V. Starr Senior Fellow for Asia Studies and Director of the China Strategy Initiative, Council on Foreign Relations

Watch Chairman Pfluger's full line of questioning HERE, or read the highlights below.

Rep. Pfluger: Given the strategy of the military-civil fusion, what steps do you think the US should be taking to prevent them from exploiting academic universities and using these kinds of CI strategies?

Mr. Singleton: Thank you, sir, and thank you for your leadership on this issue, as well as on RSC, which I know is taking a close look at this. You know, Confucius Institutes used to number over about 120 across the United States. There are less than 14 today. But they didn't actually go anywhere. They just rebranded and renamed themselves, and now they go by other names that are even harder to track. What's worse is that we see the proliferation of these Chinese-controlled outreach programs at the K-12 level across the United States. Again, absolutely no coordination, control, or mandating requirement for any of these things beyond the concerns about free speech encroachment, beyond some of the ideological reservations we should have about what's being taught in these classrooms and to our students, there are real research risks. Primarily, it's because when you open some of these or establish some of these research partnerships and the academic exchanges, they all come together. So as we looked at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, at all of the Confucius Institute contracts, they mandate research partnerships in cutting edge emerging fields, typically between Chinese universities supporting China's military and our university system. Beyond that, we have to be pretty concerned, I think, about free speech on campus, and there's ample evidence from the FBI and others showing that Confucius Institutes are used to suppress free speech and to organize protests against speakers, including the Dalai Lama who come to U.S. universities to speak about human rights in China.

Rep. Pfluger: Dr. Pillsbury, last 30 seconds to you. What keeps you up at night about the Chinese Communist Party taking advantage of our country?

Mr. Pillsbury: Just to stick on this topic, the information collection from our universities is really quite dramatic. I first learned about this from FBI reports almost 15 years ago. They go into MIT, or you name the high tech university, to the individual professors or department chairmen, and they sign a right of first refusal. I give you $3 million you tell me when you find me the Chinese Communist Party. You tell me when you find something useful in your laboratory, and you show me first. These agreements were being signed by many universities. They did not know what it meant, and they didn't even consult with each other.

Rep. Pfluger: So, should federal funding be restricted from universities that are signing agreements?

Mr. Pillsbury: Absolutely.