FBI admits mistakes of the China initiative; seek better communication with community

Usually when a federal agency makes a mistake, it tries to brush it off with bureaucratic rhetoric so it was unusual when an FBI official admits the agency made in implementing the much malighned China Initiative.

The China Initiative, a Trump administrative policy supposedly to uncover spies of the Peoples Republic of China, had a “negative impact” on the Asian American community admitted Jill Murphy, deputy assistant director of counter-intelligence at the Fedreal Bureau of Investigation.

Murphy made her statement at an event sponsored by Rice’s Baker Institute and Office of Innovation and advocacy groups like the Asian Pacific American Justice Task Force, brought together FBI officials, field agents, AANHPI community leaders, activists and scientists for the first time on a livestream. More than 400 participants from across the country took part in the session.

The China Initiative targeted researchers and scientists of Chinese descent but wound up racial profiling innocent academics, health care workers, and businesspeople for failing to disclose alleged ties to the Chinese government.

Although the FBI targeted hundreds of people of Chinese descent from 2018 to 2022, in the end, there were no espionage convictions.

However, the PRC's attempts to influence US policy, harassment of US residents and theft of technology and research is very real. Most recently:

• On June 8, a US Navy service member was sentenced to 27 months in prison and ordered to pay a $5,500 fine for transmitting sensitive US military information to an intelligence officer from the People's Republic of China (PRC) in exchange for bribery payments.

• Several men were arrested and charged for allegedly harassing and threatening New York residents of Chinese descent for their views vs. the PRC last year. The investigation is continuing.

The Department of Justice has issued warnings of China's interference with US elections this year by spreading misinformation and disinformation targeting Chinese American voters through Chinese lnaguage publications and social media.

In the 2020 elections, the DOJ said the hackers also began targeting email accounts belonging to senior staffers of a presidential campaign in May 2020 and Washington-based journalists, several months before the general election.

“The Justice Department will not tolerate efforts by the Chinese government to intimidate Americans who serve the public, silence the dissidents who are protected by American laws, or steal from American businesses,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement, adding that the “case serves as a reminder of the ends to which the Chinese government is willing to go to target and intimidate its critics.”

The FBI is struggling to protect uS residents and tech. The agency is riching out  out with a clear message: "we acknowledge past missteps and seek the community’s assistance in countering the Chinese Communist Party and its government."

“We really need to spend time listening to you and your concerns, and we’re not always right, and we can always be better. We need open lines of communication,” said Murphy.

Murphy said agents were learning about the “correct way” to talk about the Asian American community, clarifying the distinction between the Chinese government (PRC) and the Chinese Communist Party, not the Chinese people.

Quan said making that distinction was important in “humanising” the Asian-American community, said Gordon Quan, a former city council member in Houston and one of the speakers at the event

“We believe in national security as well. But by the same token, don’t paint all Chinese with the same brush that you know China is a threat. And if you’re Chinese, you’re a possible threat,” Quan said.

During the Houston livestream, Kelly Choi, a supervisory special agent at the FBI’s Houston field office, urged Asian-Americans to collaborate with law enforcement agencies, whether reporting crimes to the FBI or local and state authorities. She recalled how after the US closed the Houston consulate, some Asian-Americans were not comfortable talking to the agents conducting routine interviews.

She said that in the past several years, the bureau had been working with community leaders to improve communication, and that the public forum was one of the suggestions that had come from that effort.

Citing potential “misplaced trust”, Choi emphasised the agency’s commitment to improving local engagement, saying the FBI sought to foster confidence through outreach.

Douglas Williams, a special agent in charge of the FBI’s Houston field office, said the FBI wanted Asian-Americans to trust the FBI “when something does happen in this community … that you feel comfortable calling us and that we can investigate it”.

Murphy conveyed the bureau’s commitment to understanding the Asian American community better and to exercising greater discernment in case selection, aiming for a more respectful and nuanced approach.

“I’m very cognisant of ensuring that we are opening our investigations on predicated facts or allegations of either things that threaten national security or federal criminal violations,” she said.

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