NASA's 'queen of diamonds' EXPOSED: Genius is accused of treachery over top secret mission... as chilling details emerge
SOURCE:Daily Mail
Wendy Mao's tax-funded work on diamonds across the solar system for NASA has quietly flowed through her father's research group into China's nuclear arms program, investigators found.
She is a star of American science. A Stanford chair. A NASA collaborator. A role model for a generation of young researchers.
But a chilling congressional investigation has found that celebrated geologist Wendy Mao quietly helped advance China's nuclear and hypersonic weapons programs – while working inside the heart of America's taxpayer funded research system.
Mao, 49, is one of the most influential figures in materials science. She serves as Chair of the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Stanford University, one of the most prestigious science posts in the country.
Her pioneering work on how diamonds behave under extreme pressure has been used by NASA to design spacecraft materials for the harshest environments in space.
In elite scientific circles, Mao is royalty. Born in Washington, DC, and educated at MIT, she is the daughter of renowned geophysicist Ho-Kwang Mao, a towering figure in high-pressure physics.
Colleagues describe her as brilliant. A master of diamond-anvil experiments. A gifted mentor. A trailblazer for Asian American women in planetary science.
Public records show Mao lives in a stunning $3.5million timber-frame home tucked among the redwoods of Los Altos, California, with her husband, Google engineer Benson Leung. She also owns a second property worth around $2million in Carlsbad, further down the coast.
For years, she embodied Silicon Valley success. Now, a 120-page House report has cast a long shadow over that image.
Silicon Valley diamond expert Wendy Mao has for years been entangled with China's nuclear weapons program
Mao is a pioneer in high-pressure physics, but her research can be used in a range of Chinese military applications, say congressional researchers
The investigation – conducted by the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party alongside the House Committee on Education and the Workforce – shows how Mao's federally funded research became entangled with China's military and nuclear weapons establishment over more than a decade.
The 120-page report accuses Mao, one of only a handful of scholars singled out for criticism, of holding 'dual affiliations' and operating under a 'clear conflict of interest.'
'This case exposes a profound failure in research security, disclosure safeguards, and potentially export controls,' the report states, in stark language.
The document, titled Containment Breach, warns that such entanglements are 'not academic coincidences' but signs of how the People's Republic of China exploits open US research systems to weaponize American taxpayer-funded innovation.
Mao and NASA did not answer our requests for comment. Stanford said it is reviewing the allegations, but downplayed the scholar's links to Beijing.
At the heart of the report's allegations is Mao's relationship with Chinese research institutions tied to Beijing's defense apparatus.
According to investigators, while holding senior roles at Stanford, the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, and Department of Energy-funded national laboratories, Mao maintained overlapping research ties with organizations embedded in China's military-industrial base – including the China Academy of Engineering Physics (CAEP).
CAEP is no ordinary institution. It is China's primary nuclear weapons research and development complex.
The report alleges that Mao simultaneously conducted DOE- and NASA-funded research while holding formal ties to HPSTAR, a high-pressure research institute overseen by CAEP and headed by her father.
HPSTAR, the report says, conducts work directly supporting China's nuclear weapons materials and high-energy physics programs. That dual affiliation, investigators said, was 'deeply problematic.'
According to the report, Mao co-authored dozens of federally funded scientific papers with Chinese researchers affiliated with defense-linked institutions.
The subject areas were not abstract theory. They included hypersonics, aerospace propulsion, microelectronics and electronic warfare – fields with obvious military applications.
Mao's work on how diamonds behave under extreme pressure has been used by NASA to design spacecraft materials for the harshest environments in space
Mao lives in a stunning $3.5 million timber-frame home tucked among the redwoods of Los Altos, California, with her husband, Google engineer Benson Leung
Beijing has developed hypersonic ballistic missiles and other weapons through research projects with the US
One NASA-supported paper drew particular scrutiny.
The report says it potentially violated the Wolf Amendment, a federal law that bars NASA and NASA-funded researchers from engaging in bilateral collaboration with Chinese entities without an FBI-certified waiver.
Investigators also noted the research relied on Chinese state super-computing infrastructure, raising further alarms.
'Taken together,' the report states, 'these affiliations and collaborations demonstrate systemic failures within DOE and NASA's research security and compliance frameworks.'
The conclusion is blunt.
Open research systems, weak oversight and fragmented enforcement allowed taxpayer-funded American science to flow into China's nuclear weapons modernization and hypersonics programs, undermining US national security and nonproliferation goals.
Additional details have also emerged. Last month, the Stanford Review, a conservative student newspaper, reported that Mao had trained at least five HPSTAR employees as PhD students in her Stanford and SLAC laboratories.
The paper quoted a senior Trump administration official, speaking anonymously, who sharply criticized both Mao and Stanford.
'Stanford should not permit its federally funded research labs to become training grounds for entities affiliated with China's nuclear program,' the official said.
'Mao's continued and extensive academic collaboration with HPSTAR is adequate grounds for termination.'
University spokeswoman Luisa Rapport said Mao was an expert in high-pressure science who did not work on nuclear tech.
'Based on results of our review to date, the professor has never worked on or collaborated with China's nuclear program,' said Rapport.
'She has indicated that she has never had a formal appointment or affiliation with HPSTAR.'
Rapport added: 'She has also indicated that since 2012 she has not had any appointments or affiliations with other Chinese institutions.'
Supporters of international research collaboration argue that such exchanges are the lifeblood of American science.
Mao is royalty in the world of high-pressure physics: the daughter of celebrated geologist Ho-Kwang Mao
Stanford University said it is reviewing the allegations against Mao, but downplayed her ties to Beijing
The DOE oversees 17 national laboratories and bankrolls research tied directly to nuclear weapons development
They say openness attracts global talent, accelerates discovery, and keeps the US at the cutting edge.
But the House report paints a different picture. It argues that openness without guardrails became a strategic gift to Beijing.
Federal money, the investigation says, flowed to projects involving Chinese state-owned laboratories and universities working hand-in-glove with China's military.
Some of those entities were even listed in Pentagon databases of Chinese military companies operating in the United States.
The stakes are enormous. China's armed forces, now nearly two million strong, have surged ahead in hypersonic weapons, stealth aircraft, directed-energy systems, and electromagnetic launch technology.
American research helped fuel that rise, the report says. The findings landed like a thunderclap on Capitol Hill.
Investigators identified more than 4,300 academic papers published between June 2023 and June 2025 involving collaborations between DOE-funded scientists and Chinese researchers.
Roughly half involved researchers affiliated with China's military or defense industrial base.
Congressman John Moolenaar, the Michigan Republican who chairs the China select committee, called the findings chilling.
'The investigation reveals a deeply alarming problem,' Moolenaar said. 'The DOE failed to ensure the security of its research, and it put American taxpayers on the hook for funding the military rise of our nation's foremost adversary.'
Moolenaar has pushed legislation to block federal research funding from flowing to partnerships with 'foreign adversary-controlled' entities. The bill passed the House but has stalled in the Senate.
Scientists and university leaders have pushed back hard. In an October letter, more than 750 faculty members and senior administrators warned Congress that overly broad restrictions could stifle innovation and drive talent overseas.
They urged lawmakers to adopt 'very careful and targeted measures for risk management.'
China has rejected the report outright.
Federally-funded research at US labs has helped China leap ahead with nuclear and hypersonic missile technology, a House report warns
John Moolenaar says US taxpayers have been 'funding the military rise of our nation's foremost adversary'
Investigators identified more than 4,300 papers published since June 2023 involving collaborations between DOE-funded scientists and Chinese researchers
The Chinese Embassy in Washington accused the select committee of smearing China for political purposes and said the allegations lacked credibility.
'A handful of US politicians are overstretching the concept of national security to obstruct normal scientific research exchanges,' spokesperson Liu Pengyu said.
But the House report remains relentless. It says the warnings were clear. The risks were known.
And the failures persisted for years.
The Department of Energy oversees 17 national laboratories and distributes hundreds of millions of dollars annually for research into nuclear energy, weapons stewardship, quantum computing, advanced materials, and physics.
For Mao – once celebrated solely as a scientific pioneer – the allegations mark a dramatic and deeply unsettling turn.
A reminder, investigators say, that in an era of great-power rivalry, even the quiet world of academic research has become a frontline.