Such losses often fuel the Chinese propaganda machine and harm US interests. “Every case that gets out of hand, especially one that involves a minority, discredits the Justice Department in the minds of the American people,” said David H. Laufman, an official at the Department of Homeland Security during the Obama administration.
In announcing the changes to the China Initiative, Mr Olsen is expected to say that the Justice Department will treat some grant fraud cases as civil cases in the future, leaving the most egregious cases of fraud to be prosecuted, according to people briefed on the matter. question. .
He is expected to note that China is not the only foreign country that has tried to establish financial and other ties with American researchers in the hope of obtaining valuable information, so the problem is wider than the name “China Initiative” might suggest. In addition, the DOJ will update the process for assessing whether a researcher has correctly disclosed foreign affiliation, which will take into account newly released guide from the White House, which describes what the researchers are to uncover.
It remains to be seen whether the Justice Department will rename the program or investigate crimes of espionage and corporate fraud committed by foreign governments, as always, but without a name. A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment.
Various Asian American business and civil rights groups, as well as the Asia-Pacific Caucus of Americans, told the White House and the Justice Department last spring that the China Initiative gave the impression that prosecutors were more intent on cracking down on the Chinese than the Chinese. government. Cases involving researchers exacerbated this perception.
“Most of them failed to uncover the espionage, and the government instead resorted to document errors to bring charges,” said Ben Suarato, spokesman for the Asia-Pacific Caucus of the US Congress. “There are real national security issues. We’re just saying that the Chinese initiative was the wrong way to deal with them.”
Following his confirmation in October, Mr. Olsen held a series of hearings with congressional staff, universities, civil rights groups, and national security officials to address a variety of concerns, including how the initiative could have contributed to racial profiling, according to people informed about. meetings.