The announcement of the sanctions provided limited specific details of the work by China's Academy of Military Medical Sciences and 11 related Chinese research institutes. Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security said only that the academy and its affiliates are using "biotechnology processes to support Chinese military end-uses and end-users, to include purported brain-control weaponry."

However, three reports by the People's Liberation Army obtained by Inside the Ring shed light on the depths of China's brain warfare research and show that it has been underway for several years.