The "U.S. Research Protection & Foreign Influence Tracker" is an advanced tool specifically designed to scrutinize the nature and extent of collaborations between U.S. institutions and counterparts in China and Russia, with a keen focus on projects funded by U.S. defense entities. This tool plays a crucial role in identifying and monitoring institutions that participate in activities flagged as concerning under Section 1286(c)(8)(A) of the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019 (Public Law 115-232).

To provide a nuanced understanding of these collaborations, the tracker incorporates filters for specific U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) funding offices. For instance, it allows users to filter data based on funding received from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), the Army Research Office (ARO), and the Office of Naval Research (ONR). These filters help in isolating and examining the interactions and financial transactions that U.S. institutions have with Chinese and Russian entities, under the aegis of these prominent DoD funding bodies, thereby enabling a more targeted and effective oversight of foreign influence in critical research areas.
Source to the Section 1286 list