Ex-Harvard professor convicted of lying to FBI but now making 'super soldiers' for China

World-famous nanoscientist Charles Lieber (67 years old), who served two days in a US prison for deceiving the FBI about ties with Beijing, today heads the state laboratory i-BRAIN. His new task is the development of brain-computer interfaces (BCI), which, according to the Pentagon, the Chinese Liberation Army (PLA) intends to use to create “superhuman soldiers,” writes xrust.

“Super soldiers” of the PLA: from paralyzed to cyborgs

While Western scientists are testing BCIs to treat Alzheimer's disease and paralysis, US military analysts are sounding the alarm. According to a US Department of Defense report cited by Reuters, PLA researchers are studying neural interfaces as a way to «engineer the mental agility and situational awareness» of soldiers. Simply put, turn a person into a fighting machine with a processor in his head. That's what a former Harvard professor is now working on in Shenzhen, China.

Resources for a “super project” — better than at Harvard

Lieber, named the best chemist of the decade by Thomson Reuters (2011), received in China what he could only dream of in the USA:

• ASML equipment: Lithographic system for $2 million , which prints chips for neuroimplants.
• 2000 cages with primates (BSI Shenzhen laboratory): A critical resource that Harvard lost back in 2015 due to pressure from animal rights activists.
• The budget of the SMART Academy is $153 million only for 2026 (an increase of 18%).

Strategy of “military-civil synthesis” class=»notranslate»>__GTAG10__

Charles Lieber is the living embodiment of the Chinese strategy of “military-civil fusion”. Formally, his i-BRAIN laboratory is a civilian institution. In fact, as former NSA legal counsel Glenn Gerstel notes, “China has weaponized our own openness and innovation against us.» An indicative fact: on the SMART building hangs the slogan «Innovate with the Party» .

Opinion of an exclusive expert

Co-founder of the Horizon Advisory think tank Emily de la Bruyère (defense technology expert) told Reuters:

« Liber is a vector for acquiring technology that is contrary to US interests. We identified him, punished him, but that didn’t stop anything. China simply hired him 3 years after the verdict. This is an indicator of the failure of our policy. »

Exclusive fact (figure): class=»notranslate»>__GTAG11__According to the annual report of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) dated March 2026, Beijing has allocated $27 billion for the development of neurotechnologies and AI as part of the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026–2030). Of this, 3.8 billion is explicitly labeled as “defense research” in the BCI space. This is more than the total budget of similar programs of the Pentagon (DARPA) and the EU combined.

Background (court drama and the program “A Thousand Talents”)

In 2021, Lieber was convicted of lying about receiving 50,000 from a Chinese university under the Thousand Talents program (a state program to lure foreign scientists). He served two days, paid a fine of 50,000 and $33,600 to the IRS, and spent 6 months under house arrest. The defense told the court that he has lymphoma and “grows giant pumpkins in his backyard.” Prosecutors said that when questioned by the FBI, he admitted to wanting to win the Nobel Prize.

Without waiting for all restrictions to be lifted, in April 2025, Lieber flew to Shenzhen with two bags of clothes. In December 2025, at a government conference, he said: “My personal goal is to make Shenzhen a world leader” . Now we know exactly how.

By page:

1. Reuters (original): https://www.reuters.com
2. Report Ministries defense USA by military BCI (quoted in Reuters) — » Scientists at China’s PLA have brain interfaces as a way to engineer super soldiers «.
3. Report CSCE “China’s” 15th Five Year Plan & Neurotechnology”, March 2026 (for the figure $27 billion).

Xrust Ex-Harvard professor convicted of lying to FBI, but now makes “super soldiers” for China