EXCLUSIVE: Sen. Joni Ernst Urges DOD To Kill Contracts With Chinese Intel-Tied Defense Contractor

Iowa Republican Sen. Joni Ernst asked the Department of Defense (DOD) on Tuesday to investigate a U.S. defense contractor owned by an individual with extensive ties to Chinese Communist Party (CCP) intelligence and influence agencies, according to a letter exclusively obtained by the 🏢Daily Caller News Foundation.

Ernst’s letter urges DOD to audit “and, if necessary, suspend or cancel all contracts” with New York-based S&L Aerospace Metals LLC, which has received approximately $60 million in defense contracts and subcontracts to produce fighter jet, attack helicopter and guided missile launcher parts. The letter cites a February 2025 DCNF investigation finding that Chinese government and state media reports had identified S&L’s CEO, Jerry Wang, as an official for multiple CCP influence and intelligence organizations.

“S&L, wholly owned by Wang, reportedly produces and supplies critical components for U.S. military aircraft and weapons, including components for the F-16 and F-35 jets, Seahawk and Black Hawk helicopters, and guided missiles,” reads the letter from Ernst, who is the Senate Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) caucus chair. “This raises serious concerns that the Chinese Communist Party could exploit Wang’s position to access sensitive or even classified national security information.”

“There is absolutely no truth to the suggestion that Jerry Wang has acted in any way that is disloyal,” Wang’s spokesman, Mark Herr, told the DCNF. “Jerry Wang is proudly an American by choice, whose life story is the classic American success story: an immigrant who came to this country legally with no money and limited English, but who through hard work realized the American Dream. Anyone who suggests he is anything but loyal to this country not only besmirches him but every other hardworking immigrant, particularly those of Chinese descent.”

Since becoming S&L’s CEO in 2001, multiple organizations run by a CCP intelligence and Chinese influence arm called the United Front Work Department (UFWD) have identified Wang as a member, the DCNF reported.

The UFWD’s operations are a “blend of engagement, influence activities, and intelligence operations that the uses to shape its political environment, including to influence other countries’ policy toward the and to gain access to advanced foreign technology,” according to the House Select Committee on the CCP.

“Wang served as a ‘director’ of the Chinese Overseas Friendship Association (COFA), a key UFWD organ. Wang attended multiple COFA events, including a conference where he applauded Chinese dictator Xi Jinping,” Ernst’s letter states. “He is reportedly an ‘overseas committee member’ and ‘executive deputy chairman’ of another United Front organ, the All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese.”

An S&L spokesperson told the DCNF in February that Wang has not belonged to any organizations serving the CCP or the UFWD, and Wang’s attorney likewise insisted that his client had no ties to foreign political entities after the DCNF inquired about some 13 photos picturing Wang at Chinese government functions alongside high-ranking Party officials.

However, when asked if Wang denied being pictured in those photographs, Wang’s attorney replied: “no.”

Several of those photos show Wang at New York welcome events for Xi, including one May 2006 picture showing Wang handing Xi a statue of a bald eagle, the DCNF previously reported. Other photos show Wang with Chinese intelligence officials, such as the chief of the All-China Federation Of Returned Overseas Chinese.

Ernst’s letter describes Wang’s apparent Chinese intelligence ties as “an alarming case of a suspected Chinese proxy infiltrating our defense supply chain, posing a severe national security risk.”

“The Chinese Communist Party infiltrating our military’s supply chains is a grave national security threat,” Ernst told the DCNF. “We need a full audit at the Pentagon to ensure not a single defense dollar goes to enriching a foreign adversary. There is no greater waste in Washington than spending money to boost the military capabilities of those who wish to do harm to the United States.”

Ernst’s letter also asks the Pentagon half a dozen questions related to its vetting process.

One such question asks if the DOD was aware of Wang’s apparent UFWD ties “prior to the implementation of the contracts.”

In addition to manufacturing parts for U.S. combat aircraft, S&L has also won Pentagon contracts to produce weapon systems for “small arms, ordnance and ordnance accessories manufacturing” as well as guided missile launchers, the DCNF reported.

Ernst’s letter also asks the DOD about whether or not it takes “proactive steps to vet the foreign ownership, control, or influence of contractors and subcontractors,” or if the Pentagon relies on “self-reporting by contractors and sub-contractors.”

L.J. Eads, a former U.S. Air Force intelligence analyst, who reviewed the DCNF’s S&L findings, characterized the U.S. military’s vetting process for defense contractors as a “self-disclosure system” and warned that “there’s limited enforcement to independently verify or investigate those claims.”

Additionally, Ernst’s letter requests a briefing from DOD “within 30 days of this letter’s receipt.”

“S&L is just one example of how Beijing has compromised our supply chain,” Ernst’s letter states. “American taxpayer dollars dedicated to our national defense should not be enriching our foreign adversaries.”

DOD did not respond immediately to request for comment.

Editors’ note: This article has been updated to include comment from Wang’s spokesman, Mark Herr.

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