top of page
Prev
Next

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the principal federal law enforcement agency of the United States, operating under the jurisdiction of the Department of Justice (DOJ). Established in 1908, the mission of the FBI is to protect the American people and uphold the Constitution of the United States, including safeguarding the rights and liberties of all citizens.


The FBI operates several branches including Intelligence, National Security, Criminal and Cyber, Science and Technology, and Information and Technology.  With its headquarters in Washington, D.C., and 56 field offices across the nation, the FBI’s Fiscal Year 2023 budget was $11.3 billion with 37,000 authorized positions, 260 attorneys, and 13,600 agents.


The FBI’s role and activities related to the China Initiative may arguably be traced to Director Christopher Wray’s testimony in a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on February 13, 2018, in which he targeted all students, scholars and scientists of Chinese origin as “non-traditional collectors” and a national security threat to the United States.


Alarmed by the racial and ethnic profiling overtone, a coalition of organizations led by the Committee of 100 (C100) wrote to Director Wray on March 1, 2018, and requested a meeting to “engage in positive dialogue to advance our nation’s ideals as well as its national security.” 


On August 8, 2018, the FBI warned over 100 top leaders of Texas academic and medical institutions from the Texas Medical Center and across Texas about security threats from foreign adversaries as the first step in a new initiative the bureau planned to replicate around the country. 


In response to the reported FBI initiative, the Asian American community organized two educational events in Houston and at the United Chinese Americans National Convention in Washington, DC.   Special agents from the FBI Houston and New York Field Offices participated in these events in September 2018, less than two months prior to DOJ’s launch of the China Initiative. 


A month after the launch of the China Initiative, a group of community leaders met with a senior-level FBI official and representatives at the FBI Headquarters to convey concerns raised within the Chinese American community about the role of bias in its investigations, among other issues.  An attempt to establish a dialogue was largely unsuccessful as the discussions devolved into two separate monologues.


Tensions between the U.S. and China intensified in July 2020 when the U.S. abruptly ordered China to close its consulate in Houston within 72 hours, accusing diplomats of aiding economic espionage and the attempted theft of scientific research, but gave few details to support the allegation.  


At the same time, DOJ filed charges against five scientists from China in five separate cases under the “China Initiative," alleging them to be part of China’s military.  The FBI interviewed visa holders in more than 25 U.S. cities suspected of hiding their Chinese military memberships.  A year later, all five visa fraud cases were dismissed.


In Houston, FBI agents began to knock on doors to demand interviews with persons of Chinese descent, creating fear and anguish.  The Chinese American community in Houston were deeply concerned about a witch hunt for spies by the FBI to use Chinese Americans as scapegoats to justify the political claim.


A “Know Your Rights” webinar was organized to address the urgent question, "What to do if you are questioned by the FBI or police?"  It was attended by over 830 participants.  All the attorneys advised the community not to speak to the FBI as "nothing good will come out of it."


Three months after the announced end of the China Initiative in February 2022, the FBI San Francisco Field Office hosted an Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) town hall meeting in downtown Oakland.  

Acknowledging the community’s concerns surrounding FBI national security investigations related to the People’s Republic of China, the purpose of the town hall meeting was to engage in an open and honest discussion about the FBI program, better understand the AANHPI community’s concerns, and exchange ideas on ways we can collectively work to address those concerns.


The successful conclusion of the town hall meeting led to additional plans and activities at the local and national levels.


The FBI San Francisco Field Office spoke at a roundtable in the 2023 C100 Annual Conference in San Jose, California.


A C100 delegation visited Washington, DC, on September 28-29, 2023, including a 90-minute meeting with Jill Murphy, Deputy Assistant Director (DAD) of the Counterintelligence Division, and other FBI personnel at the FBI Headquarters. 


Jill Murphy was a featured speaker in a panel at the 2024 C100 Annual Conference in New York City.  She spoke about some of the unintended negative consequences of U.S. national defense policies particularly those that have adversely affected the U.S. scientific and Chinese American communities.


On June 6, 2024, Rice University’s Baker Center and Office of Innovation, Texas Multicultural Advocacy Coalition, and APA Justice co-hosted an unprecedented forum on “A Dialogue Between the Academic and Asian American Communities and the FBI.”  The event was held in person at Rice University and also live streamed nationwide.


While there is still significant progress that needs to be made to ensure that the U.S. is a welcoming environment that can attract and retain the best and brightest talents, the FBI acknowledged the negative impact that the China Initiative had made and is seeking to rebuild trust and continue a dialogue with the communities.


“We’ve talked today about the implementation steps, the progress we can make. (This) could prove to be one of the most important events that ever occurred on campus, so I’m very appreciative for being a part of it,” said Neal Lane, senior fellow in science and technology policy at the Baker Institute and former director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.


References and Links

2024 Department of Justice: FY2024 Federal Bureau of Investigation Budget Performance Summary Section II

2020/12/22 Department of Justice: Organization Chart of Federal Bureau of Investigation

2018/03/01 Committee of 100: Community Organizations Call for Meeting with FBI Director Christopher Wray Regarding Profiling of Students, Scholars, and Scientists with Chinese Origins

2018/02/13 U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence: Hearing on Global Threats and National Security

Overview

Add paragraph text. Click “Edit Text” to customize this theme across your site. You can update and reuse text themes.

Overview

 FBI & Law Enforcement

WELCOME  WELCOME  WELCOME  WELCOME  WELCOME  WELCOME  WELCOME  WELCOME  WELCOME  WELCOME  WELCOME  WELCOME  WELCOME  WELCOME  WELCOME  WELCOME  WELCOME  WELCOME  WELCOME  WELCOME  WELCOME  WELCOME  WELCOME  WELCOME 

bottom of page