Sign up for the Today newsletter
Get everything you need to know to start your day, delivered right to your inbox every morning.
Defense official said cutting Harvard grant could cause ‘grave and immediate harm to national security,’ court docs show
The DoD official said Harvard “is currently the top performing team” researching emerging biological threats. “Inadequate knowledge of the biological threat landscape poses grave and immediate harm to national security.”
A Department of Defense official pleaded with her superiors to stop the cancellation of a Harvard grant that studies biological threats, according to newly filed court documents in the university’s case against the Trump administration.
After DoD leadership told Harvard that grants will be terminated, the director of contracting at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, appeared “taken unaware by the decision,” according to court documents filed June 2.
The director asked her superiors to reconsider cutting the grant to a program called AMPHORA, which was “working to increase awareness of emerging biological threats,” according to the memorandum filed by Harvard.
Advertisement:
The official is unnamed in the filing.
More local news
“Harvard is currently the top performing team on the AMPHORA program. Inadequate knowledge of the biological threat landscape poses grave and immediate harm to national security,” she wrote.
The official went on to say that “Harvard’s effort is at a pivotal juncture in Phase 1 as they are just starting the microfluidic experiments that will give first indications of whether the program goal is achievable. They are also a critical integrator of multiple technologies that enable this effort and could not be readily reproduced.”
The news, first reported by The Boston Globe, comes after Harvard filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration in April to halt a funding freeze affecting $2.2 billion in grants. The freeze came as retribution for Harvard refusing to comply with the administration’s demands for broad reforms at the university, the university is arguing now in court.
Advertisement:
Harvard used the DoD official’s request as an example that the federal government is rushing to terminate Harvard’s funding, and federal agencies are canceling grants “that were entirely consistent with, and in fact critical to, agency priorities,” according to the court docs.
“The freezing of federal funds amounts to final agency action and has put vital medical, scientific, technological, and other research at risk. And that risk is growing,” the complaint said.
The nation’s oldest and wealthiest university filed the memorandum to support Harvard’s request for a summary judgement to reverse the funding cancellations by Sept. 3, which is a federal government deadline.
“Once that close-out occurs,” the court documents read, “Harvard anticipates the Government will take the position that no restoration of funds is possible, meaning relief from this Court is necessary as soon as possible.”
The DoD did not immediately return a request for comment.
To comment, please create a screen name in your profile
To comment, please verify your email address
Conversation
This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com