Pete Hegseth designates China-backed Confucius Institutes as national security threats

The comments from Hegseth come after Congress banned Confucius Institutes from colleges. However, he said that many of them, like DEI programs, just came back with different branding and the same mission.

"When I took office, one thing we knew was that the cancer of DEI, it was going to be difficult to kill here in the Department of War. You see, instead of complying, promoters of this ideology just tried to rebrand it and thought they would be safe. Now we were onto it, not going to let that happen on our watch. We ripped it out of the Department of War roof and branch. We are gender neutral, colorblind, and merit-based. Now, today, in a similar example, I want to tell you about Confucius Institutes," Hegseth said in a video announcement.

"These Chinese government-backed propaganda cultural programs had infiltrated our nation's universities in almost every state. Now, thankfully, Congress banned them a few years ago, these Confucius Institutes. But they came back disguised in new forms, just like DEI does. Just call it a different name. Well, the Department of War has taken action to stop this as well. We added these sleeper organizations to our list of institutions that threaten our national security. It turns out that 80 new propaganda cells across 30 universities had popped up using different names and different charters, but with the same mission: to steal intellectual property and to infiltrate the minds of American students," He added.

Hegseth went on to say that the Department of War has "systematically dismantled" each of the programs that rebranded themselves by a different name. "Let this be a lesson to any country trying to steal our hard-earned inventions or turn our young people against their own country. We're done with that. No more and never again. To these universities, I say, just like the Department of War, stay vigilant," he added.