The first trial of a researcher under the U.S. Justice Department’s China Initiative, a sweeping program that began nearly three years ago aimed at countering Chinese economic espionage in the United States, ended in June with a deadlocked jury. The department prosecuted the academic Anming Hu for fraud and false statements after the FBI’s investigation into potential spying crumbled. Like several other cases involving ethnically Chinese researchers under the China Initiative, the authorities appear to have gone far beyond any reasonable remit.
As we await the Justice Department’s decision by July 30 whether to pursue a retrial, three members of the House Judiciary Committee have urged an investigation into reports of alleged FBI misconduct.
