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 ...
