Protect America’s Innovation and Economic Security from CCP Act of 2025

S. 672 would create a new program within the Department of Justice's National Security Division called the CCP Initiative, designed to identify and prosecute individuals engaged in trade secret theft, hacking, and economic espionage linked to China. The bill would require the Justice Department to coordinate with the FBI and other federal agencies, and would mandate annual reporting to Congress on the program's effectiveness and progress.

This bill would essentially reestablish a controversial program that operated from 2018 to 2022. The original China Initiative was ended by the Biden administration in February 2022 after concerns that it disproportionately targeted researchers and academics of Chinese descent, with critics arguing it amounted to racial profiling. An analysis found that 88 percent of people charged under the original program had Chinese ancestry, and many cases involved minor administrative violations rather than actual espionage. However, supporters argue that protecting American intellectual property and research from foreign theft remains a critical national security concern.