Jessica Lewis McFate
It sounds like a headline ripped from the pages of a Marvel comic series. Super Soldiers
The data was allegedly collected through FocusCalm neuro feedback headbands, which athletes use to improve focus and performance. FocusCalm is developed by BrainCo, a Harvard-founded startup that later moved operations to China and received funding from organizations tie to China’s military-industrial complex.
It’s a potent example of how China’s military ambitions are moving beyond traditional espionage into the systematic exploitation of biometrics, commercial data, and other forms of intellectual property, and it helps explain why the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) Foreign Ownership, Control, or Influence (FOCI) office considers China, as well as Russia, North Korea, and Iran, to be of great FOCI risk.
It also is among the reasons why the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that is now making its way through the U.S. Congress introduces some of the most far-reaching vendor-vetting requirements in recent history. Chief among them is the Ernst amendment, which mandates stronger safeguards to stop secret spending and by preventing vendors with undisclosed ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and other foreign adversaries from entering the federal supply chain. Provisions of the act call for agencies and contractors to establish validated, end-to-end screening processes or face compliance and mission risks.
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