U.S. Probes Foreign Links to Agriculture Research to Protect Food Supply

By Ximena Bustillo

The Agriculture Department is applying more scrutiny to research done by its employees alongside noncitizens.

The directives, laid out in a memo which went out to USDA employees and research institutions earlier this month, are part of a broader effort to increase security measures around the U.S. food supply — especially when it comes to foreign adversaries like North Korea, China, Russia and Iran.

The sweeping instructions require recipients of USDA funding to disclose contracts associated with "foreign entities and certify they are not party to a malign foreign talent recruitment program."