Overview

On December 7, 2018, a group of community leaders met with a senior FBI official and representatives at the FBI headquarters to convey concerns raised within the Chinese American community about the concerns of bias in its investigations, among other issues.

An attempt to establish a continuing dialogue with the FBI failed.

Prior to the meeting, Asian American, civil rights, and scientific communities have already been expressing deep concerns about wrongful prosecutions of Chinese American scientists such as Sherry Chen and Xiaoxing Xi, as well as the broad brush rhetoric of “non-traditional collectors” against an entire group of students, professors, and scientists as a security threat to our country.

FBI Headquarters Meeting

The 90-minute meeting with a senior FBI official and representatives was held at the FBI headquarters. Attempts to establish a dialogue resulted in two monologues.

On December 14, 2018, a public summary of the meeting was released:

“The FBI stated that its mission is to protect all Americans, including Chinese Americans, while also highlighting national security threats and the political influence from foreign nations such as China.

“The community leaders acknowledged the serious threat posed by trade secret theft within the U.S. where intellectual property has found its way to foreign nations, including China. They also expressed support for vigorous law enforcement action where wrongdoing occurs. At the same time, the community leaders spoke about the fear and suspicion created by certain actions by the FBI, particularly related to cases where apparent innocent parties were involved.

“The 90-minute meeting at FBI headquarters was closed door, permitting for a frank and confidential conversation. Both sides expressed interest in a continuing dialogue. Community groups who want to dialogue with the agency can contact FBI field offices. Several already have held meetings or forums involving the FBI in Austin, Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. According to the FBI, it has community outreach specialists in each of its field offices who regularly engage with the various communities they serve.

“The community leaders attending the meeting were Robert Gee, Vice Chair, Washington DC Region, Committee of 100; Andrew Kim, Visiting Scholar, South Texas College of Law and Litigator, Greenberg Traurig; Aryani Ong, community advocate; Steven Pei, scientist and Honorary Chair of United Chinese Americans; and Jeremy Wu, retired government official."

The community leaders brought these talking materials to the meeting:

Robert Gee: Committee of 100 Letter to FBI Official
Andrew Kim: Prosecuting Chinese “Spies:” An Empirical Analysis of The Economic Espionage Act
Steven Pei: FBI Meeting Talking Points
Jeremy Wu: FBI Meeting Talking Points

After the China Initiative ended, the FBI San Francisco field office hosted a town hall meeting with community organizations in May 2022, beginning a process to restart a dialogue with the communities.

FBI: “Non-Traditional Collectors” and “Whole-of-Society Response”

According to Inside Higher Ed on February 14, 2018, FBI director Christopher Wray told the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence that American academia is naïve about the intelligence risks posed by Chinese professors, scientists, and students. His broad-brush testimony targets a whole group of students, professors, and scientists as a security threat due to their national origin and race.

In addition, Wray said he and the FBI “view the China threat as not just a whole-of-government threat but a whole-of-society threat on their end, and I think it’s going to take a whole-of-society response by us. So it’s not just the intelligence community, but it’s raising awareness within our academic sector, within our private sector, as part of the defense.”

“It is wrong to cast an entire group of students, professors, and scientists as a threat to our country based simply on where they come from,” said Patrick Toomey, a staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, which has joined a lawsuit by a Chinese American professor, Xi Xiaoxing, who was wrongfully arrested for sharing secret technology with entities in China.

“The United States has a proud tradition of international academic collaboration, which attracts the best and the brightest to our universities, fosters innovation and ultimately benefits all Americans,” Toomey said. “The FBI’s mind-set has already led to overzealous investigations of Chinese Americans, with disastrous consequences for those wrongly tarred with suspicion.”

The term “non-traditional collector” is an updated version of “thousand grains of sand” which was used by FBI analyst Paul Moore during the wrongful prosecution of Dr. Wen Ho Lee more than two decades ago.

In response to Wray’s remarks in the Senate Committee hearing, the Committee of 100 and a coalition of organizations wrote a joint letter to FBI Director Wray, requesting a meeting to “engage in positive dialogue to advance our nation’s ideals as well as its national security.”

Wray never responded to the coalition letter.

60 Minutes: “Collateral Damage”

On August 26, 2018, CBS 60 Minutes updated its nationwide broadcast of “Collateral Damage.” It describes how innocent Chinese Americans are wrongly accused of espionage related crimes as the government steps up the fight against theft of U.S. trade secrets and intellectual property by China.

The 60 Minutes program also has an online segment titled “The Spy Who Wasn’t.” It describes the lasting impact on innocent Chinese Americans far beyond the heavy legal fees and dropped charges. Their finances, careers, reputations, emotions, and families are severely damaged if not totally ruined.

“Racial Profiling Harms Science”

On March 21, 2019, three major scientific organizations voiced their concerns about racial profiling by publishing an open letter titled "Racial Profiling Harms Science" in Science.

The Society of Chinese Bioscientists in America (SCBA, 美洲华人生物科学学会), The Chinese American Hematologist and Oncologist Network (CAHON, 美国华裔血液及肿瘤专家学会), and The Chinese Biological Investigators Society (CBIS, 华人生物学者教授学会) represent the largest and a rapidly growing professional group for scientists, mostly of Chinese descent, in many biomedical disciplines.

The letter expresses concerns about the recent political rhetoric and policies that single out students and scholars of Chinese descent working in the United States as threats to U.S. national interests.

Jump to:

Overview

FBI Headquarters Meeting

FBI: “Non-Traditional Collectors” and “Whole-of-Society Response”

60 Minutes: “Collateral Damage”

“Racial Profiling Harms Science”