Department of Justice Ends Controversial China Initiative

The Trump-era program targeted scientists in an effort to prevent China from accessing sensitive information from American research institutions.

Written byDan Robitzski

| 3 min read

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A towering view of a grey stone building displaying the American Flag with the blue sky in the background

The Justice Department building in Washington, DC

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Update (September 23): On September 19, a federal judge reversed three of the four convictions against University of Kansas chemical engineer Franklin (Feng) Tao, among the first US researchers arrested under the China Initiative. Nature reports that the reversals could mark a new era for scientists with Chinese heritage who have had to grapple with the risk of government surveillance.

The Department of Justice announced yesterday (February 23) that it is ending the China Initiative, a Trump-era program that investigated researchers with financial ties to China.

Matthew Olsen, the DOJ’s Assistant Attorney General for National Security, told reporters that the department decided the China Initiative was a misguided effort to curb national security threats, Politico reports. Going forward, he added, the department will not abandon its efforts to prevent China from stealing sensitive information from American institutions, but will instead take a broader approach to national security, and many workplace ...

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Meet the Author

Dan Robitzski
Dan is an award-winning journalist based in Los Angeles who joined The Scientist as a reporter and editor in 2021. Ironically, Dan’s undergraduate degree and brief career in neuroscience inspired him to write about research rather than conduct it, culminating in him earning a master’s degree in science journalism from New York University in 2017. In 2018, an Undark feature Dan and colleagues began at NYU on a questionable drug approval decision at the FDA won first place in the student category of the Association of Health Care Journalists' Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism. Now, Dan writes and edits stories on all aspects of the life sciences for the online news desk, and he oversees the “The Literature” and “Modus Operandi” sections of the monthly TS Digest and quarterly print magazine. Read more of his work at danrobitzski.com.
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