A top Republican is demanding the Pentagon explain why it tried to hide taxpayer dollars sent to China for risky virus research. 

A new Defense Department report shockingly revealed the agency lost track of millions of taxpayer dollars sent to the adversary of the US. 

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., is now demanding Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin explain what exactly happened, according to correspondence exclusively obtained by DailyMail.com.

Paul says he's  'deeply concerned' over the Pentagon report finding the department couldn't determine whether it sent money to China for pathogen research.

'It is unacceptable that DoD cannot account for the full extent of taxpayer funding it has spent on pandemic pathogen research at Chinese research laboratories,' Paul wrote to Austin. 

The Republican requested Sec. Austin turn over files relating to the Pentagon's Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP) that funded Chinese pathogen research, similar to the research done on coronaviruses at the Wuhan Institute of Virology before the COVID pandemic. 

The senator has been vigorously investigating the origins of COVID and former White House Chief Medical Advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci for his role in the pandemic and its policies. 

Now he is examining the Pentagon's role in using 'American taxpayer dollars for risky virus research in China and other foreign countries.' 

'This lack of oversight represents a significant gap in our national security and undermines public trust in the DoD,' Paul said. 

Previously, the senator disclosed to DailyMail.com how Fauci still receives a taxpayer-funded 24/7 US Marshal security detail despite not being a government employee. 

'The only other person probably getting his level of security would be the president, vice president, maybe cabinet members, and a few members in leadership in the House and Senate,' Paul told DailyMail.com.

Paul has also been outspoken in accusing Fauci of obfuscating the origins of the virus.

The Republican has twice sent referrals to the Justice Department for Fauci's prosecution, telling DailyMail.com 'he committed a felony by lying to Congress saying he didn't fund gain and function research. He's still saying that.'

'It is annoying that he's still out there crowing how great he is, when really his philosophic opinion that gain-of-function research is worth the risk is something that I think history should remember, and I'm going to do every bit of making sure that history remembers that he was philosophically in favor of the research that I believe allowed millions of people to die from this lab leak,' Paul told DailyMail.com.  

Last month, the Kentuckian grilled several eminent doctors during a Senate hearing on the origins of COVID and definition of gain-of-function research.

The hearing became heated as lawmakers and witnesses sparred over the good that could come from the research that enhances viruses to make them more effective. 

And Paul said if Republicans gain control of the Senate in November and he gets committee power, his first action will be to subpoena those files.

'The most important information is the NIH deliberation over what is, what is not gain-of-function,' he told DailyMail.com. 'They won't give us the information.'

Those documents will truly reveal whether Fauci lied to Congress about whether he was overseeing the dangerous research method, which he previously denied doing before the Senate, Paul said. 

Still, the reputation damage to US public health officials is done, he added.

'We have public health officials that appear to be more salesmen for Big Pharma, than they do objective scientists, and that still is a problem,' Paul told DailyMail.com.

'It's led to a great deal of distrust, much more distrust over what the government tells us, than ever before,' he said.