The China Initiative was a program by the United States Department of Justice to prosecute potential Chinese spies in American research and industry, in order to combat economic espionage . Launched in November 2018, the program targeted hundreds of prominent Chinese-American academics and scientists, of which an estimated 250 lost their jobs. Many more had their careers negatively impacted and the prosecutions also contributed to at least one suicide.
201-508: The prosecutions contributed to a rise in incidents of violence against Asian Americans from 2019 to 2020 and has been criticized as racially biased and ineffective. Some of the cases under the China Initiative were based on false evidence provided by the FBI . The Department of Justice claimed to have ended the program on February 23, 2022, mostly as a result of accusations that the China Initiative
402-622: A Chinese American advocacy group, characterized the term "non-traditional actors" used to describe researchers with links to China as a way to label Asian Americans as perpetual foreigners. The Committee published a report in September 2021 analyzing 190 economic espionage cases since 1996, which showed that defendants with Asian names faced double the likelihood of false accusations and harsher punishments if convicted. The report showed that over 50% of Chinese scientists and over 50% of Chinese American scientists have become increasingly fearful of working in
603-577: A biochemist professor then at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (UM), worked with Xiong. He recalled that when he joined UCSD in 2007, his superiors "were fully aware and very supportive of the collaboration" and had even offered to set up a video conference link to facilitate communication with Fudan. In 2019, he was banned from applying for NIH funding for 2 years after UCSD decided he had violated its code of conduct by not disclosing researching support from foreign sources. Guan's lab shrunk substantially as
804-501: A black student group at a Pennsylvania military college and the daughter of Congressman Henry S. Reuss of Wisconsin . The country was "jolted" by the revelations, which included assassinations of political activists, and the actions were denounced by members of the Congress, including House Majority Leader Hale Boggs . The phones of some members of the Congress, including Boggs, had allegedly been tapped. When President John F. Kennedy
1005-735: A blind eye towards right-wing extremists while disseminating "conspiracy theories" on the origin of COVID-19 . The FBI is organized into functional branches and the Office of the Director, which contains most administrative offices. An executive assistant director manages each branch. Each branch is then divided into offices and divisions, each headed by an assistant director. The various divisions are further divided into sub-branches, led by deputy assistant directors. Within these sub-branches, there are various sections headed by section chiefs. Section chiefs are ranked analogous to special agents in charge. Four of
1206-602: A broader nationalist message. His election accelerated the Republican Party's shift towards right-wing populism and resulted in decreasing influence among its conservative factions. After the 2016 elections , Republicans maintained their majority in the Senate , the House , and governorships , and wielded newly acquired executive power with Trump's election. The Republican Party controlled 69 of 99 state legislative chambers in 2017,
1407-618: A career ending restriction for many of them. Only in 14 of the 246 cases did the investigations fail to find any evidence for the allegations, which has been cited as proof of NIH effectiveness. As of August 2024, more than 250 scientists (mostly Asian) have lost their jobs as a result of being identified for failing to disclose funding or research in China, or for breaking other rules. The investigations resulted in two indictments and three convictions in terms of legal outcomes while 112 scientists lost their jobs. However some criticism has been levelled at
1608-514: A case badly enough that he went forward with questionable evidence. UTK aided the FBI in their investigation by providing Hu's university documents without a warrant, concealing the investigation from him, misleading NASA, and suspending him without pay as soon as he was arrested. Meetings were conducted between Hu's bosses and the FBI, but it is unclear who authorized them; the FBI did not have any proof of wrongdoing by Hu when they entered UTK and did not have
1809-583: A civil rights leader, surgeon, and wealthy entrepreneur in Mississippi who had criticized FBI inaction in solving recent murders of George W. Lee , Emmett Till , and other blacks in the South. The FBI carried out controversial domestic surveillance in an operation it called the COINTELPRO , from "COunter-INTELligence PROgram". It was to investigate and disrupt the activities of dissident political organizations within
2010-434: A contract with Fudan containing language regarding intellectual property rights. Xiong denied the allegations, which were never specifically listed, and said he did not remember signing a contract. Cyr stated that NIH would not accept an inconclusive investigation report and kept pushing to dig deeper to support their narrative. According to Brian Strahl, chair of the medical school's department of biochemistry and biophysics, he
2211-564: A dedicated FBI SWAT team dealing primarily with counter-terrorism scenarios. Unlike the special agents serving on local FBI SWAT teams, HRT does not conduct investigations. Instead, HRT focuses solely on additional tactical proficiency and capabilities. Also formed in 1984 was the Computer Analysis and Response Team , or CART. From the end of the 1980s to the early 1990s, the FBI reassigned more than 300 agents from foreign counter-intelligence duties to violent crime, and made violent crime
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#17330856895042412-557: A dispute with Richard Jewell , who was a private security guard at the venue, along with some media organizations, in regard to the leaking of his name during the investigation; this had briefly led to his being wrongly suspected of the bombing. After Congress passed the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA, 1994), the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA, 1996), and
2613-569: A few hours after the attack, and over the next several weeks more than 5,500 Issei men were taken into FBI custody. On February 19, 1942, President Franklin Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066 , authorizing the removal of Japanese Americans from the West Coast. FBI Director Hoover opposed the subsequent mass removal and confinement of Japanese Americans authorized under Executive Order 9066, but Roosevelt prevailed. The vast majority went along with
2814-596: A grievance, which was rejected, and then took up her case with the American Arbitration Association (AAA). AAA ruled in favor of Wang in November 2021 and ordered UConn to compensate Wang with $ 1.4 million for suspension and termination "without just cause." The ruling criticized UConn for its unfair investigation, relying on false evidence, and closed mindedness. AAA's Peter Adomeit found that Wang "did not falsify any record or provide false information" and that
3015-544: A large majority of the Democratic Party's upper and middle-class support. McKinley defeated Bryan and returned the presidency to Republican control until the 1912 presidential election . The 1896 realignment cemented the Republicans as the party of big businesses while president Theodore Roosevelt added more small business support by his embrace of trust busting . He handpicked his successor William Howard Taft in
3216-470: A lighter penalty and described the prosecution as "rigged to assure the University lawyers would win their case rather than have justice be served." UCSD did not respond and on 5 December 2022, Fu resigned. In a panel discussion on the China Initiative and its aftermath hosted by the University of Michigan , several panelists accused universities of abandoning the accused scientists. According to Gang Chen, he
3417-458: A link was found between fear of racial profiling and a desire among scientists to return to China. Chinese American scientists who have been caught up in cases such as Dr. Xiaoxing Xi and Gang Chen say that they are still afraid of doing research or applying for federal funding while Anming Hu has had trouble securing funding. Chen says that he fears the government would use the application forms against him as they did before. Xi sought damages for
3618-418: A meeting with FBI agents." With that information, the FBI obtained a search warrant. Although the spying accusations did not stick, according to the prosecution, Tao's emails contained a contract to teach in China. Tao's defense said he was only in job discussions and did not sign the contract or take the job which did not constitute a violation of disclosure rules. On September 20, 2022, a federal judge threw out
3819-418: A number of Republicans and conservative thought leaders questioning whether Trump should continue as the party's main figurehead and leader. Despite this, Trump easily won the nomination to be the party's candidate again in the 2024 presidential election . Trump achieved a decisive victory against Democratic nominee Kamala Harris , winning every swing state and the popular vote, while the Republicans held
4020-530: A reduction of the national debt and federal budget deficit through decreased government spending . The Tea Party movement was also described as a popular constitutional movement composed of a mixture of libertarian , right-wing populist , and conservative activism. The Tea Party movement's electoral success began with Scott Brown 's upset win in the January Senate special election in Massachusetts ;
4221-487: A report whose conclusions called into question 30 years of FBI testimony. It found the analytic model used by the FBI for interpreting results was deeply flawed, and the conclusion, that bullet fragments could be matched to a box of ammunition, was so overstated that it was misleading under the rules of evidence. One year later, the FBI decided to stop conducting bullet lead analyses. After a 60 Minutes / The Washington Post investigation in November 2007, two years later,
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#17330856895044422-585: A researcher in the US, 42% felt fearful of conducting research in the US, and 72% did not feel safe as a researcher in the US. In January 2021, APA Justice, the Brennan Center for Justice and Asian Americans Advancing Justice, called for the end of the China Initiative. Their letter to Joe Biden notes that John Charles Demers , assistant attorney general of the National Security Division, directed each of
4623-408: A result. Li Wang, a tenured professor at University of Connecticut, Storrs (UConn), was removed and restricted from access to her research materials within a week of UConn receiving an email from NIH on 6 November 2018. Senior administrators then decided that the allegations of affiliations with Wenzhou Medical University and receiving a grant from another Chinese institution did not corroborate with
4824-450: A social scientist at University of Arizona , states that end of the China Initiative provided the illusion that scientists of Chinese descent would receive a reprieve from scrutiny, but the "chilling effect" is still present and the US government has continued to adopt policies and positions perpetuating the narrative that scientists from China are spies. In a survey published in February 2023,
5025-527: A speech to Harvard freshmen in September 2021. According to OECD data, China surpassed the US in net inflow of scientific authors in 2021, which OECD attributed to returning Chinese scientists. According to an online survey conducted between December 2021 and March 2022 by the Asian American Scholar Forum (AASF), based on a sample size of 1,229 Chinese American faculty members, 61% had intentions to relocate to another country, 35% felt unwelcome as
5226-520: A treaty annexing Hawaii before Cleveland could be inaugurated. Most Republicans supported the proposed annexation, but Cleveland opposed it. In the 1896 presidential election , Republican William McKinley 's platform supported the gold standard and high tariffs, having been the creator and namesake for the McKinley Tariff of 1890. Though having been divided on the issue prior to that year's National Convention , McKinley decided to heavily favor
5427-499: A winner at the end of election day. Voter suppression in the South gave Republican-controlled returning officers enough of a reason to declare that fraud, intimidation and violence had soiled the states' results. They proceeded to throw out enough Democratic votes for Republican Rutherford B. Hayes to be declared the winner. Democrats refused to accept the results and the Electoral Commission made up of members of Congress
5628-468: Is an associate professor in the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK). Hu was fired in 2020 pursuant to the case against him, and reinstated in 2022. He was charged with three counts of fraud and three counts of making false statements after 21 months of FBI surveillance failed to find any evidence of espionage. In Hu's first trial it
5829-513: Is large because espionage cases take longer to investigate. Out of 77 known China Initiative cases, 19 involved scientists suspected of having participated in the Thousand Talents Plan , and within that group, 14 were accused of violation of research integrity standards due to failure to disclose all affiliations to Chinese entities on grant documentation. None of the 14 were accused of transferring American intellectual property to China. Of
6030-588: Is only one way out for you." with audio recordings of King's sexual indiscretions. In March 1971, the residential office of an FBI agent in Media, Pennsylvania was burgled by a group calling itself the Citizens' Commission to Investigate the FBI . Numerous files were taken and distributed to a range of newspapers, including The Harvard Crimson . The files detailed the FBI's extensive COINTELPRO program, which included investigations into lives of ordinary citizens—including
6231-540: Is still used today for all organized crime and any individuals who may fall under the Act's provisions. In 2003, a congressional committee called the FBI's organized crime informant program "one of the greatest failures in the history of federal law enforcement." The FBI allowed four innocent men to be convicted of the March 1965 gangland murder of Edward "Teddy" Deegan in order to protect Vincent Flemmi , an FBI informant. Three of
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6432-476: Is uncertain if this was the trigger for the investigation. According to Xiao-Fan Wang, a professor at Duke University , the investigation killed Wu's career. The medical school where Wu had worked for about two decades removed her profile page while her publication and grant records were removed from the Northwestern Scholar website. Jane Wu committed suicide on July 10, 2024. According to advocacy groups,
6633-475: The 1980 United States presidential election . The Reagan presidency , lasting from 1981 to 1989, constituted what is known as " the Reagan Revolution ". It was seen as a fundamental shift from the stagflation of the 1970s, with the introduction of Reagan's economic policies intended to cut taxes, prioritize government deregulation and shift funding from the domestic sphere into the military to check
6834-466: The 2022 elections confident and with analysts predicting a red wave , but it ultimately underperformed expectations, with voters in swing states and competitive districts joining Democrats in rejecting candidates who had been endorsed by Trump or who had denied the results of the 2020 election. The party won control of the House with a narrow majority, but lost the Senate and several state legislative majorities and governorships. The results led to
7035-534: The Coinage Act of 1873 , as a solution to the depressed American economy in the aftermath of that year's panic . Ahead of the 1880 presidential election , both James G. Blaine and opponent John Sherman failed to win the Republican nomination; each then backed James A. Garfield for president. Garfield won the 1880 presidential election, but was assassinated early in his term . His death helped create support for
7236-629: The Communications Act of 1934 , which outlawed non-consensual phone tapping, but did allow bugging. In the 1939 case Nardone v. United States , the court ruled that due to the 1934 law, evidence the FBI obtained by phone tapping was inadmissible in court. After Katz v. United States (1967) overturned Olmstead , Congress passed the Omnibus Crime Control Act , allowing public authorities to tap telephones during investigations, as long as they obtained warrants beforehand. Beginning in
7437-619: The Court of International Trade by the time he left office, shifting the court system to the right . Other notable achievements during his presidency included the passing of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in 2017; the creation of the U.S. Space Force , the first new independent military service since 1947; and the brokering of the Abraham Accords , a series of normalization agreements between Israel and various Arab states . The second half of his term
7638-675: The Economic Espionage Act (EEA, 1996), the FBI followed suit and underwent a technological upgrade in 1998, just as it did with its CART team in 1991. Computer Investigations and Infrastructure Threat Assessment Center (CITAC) and the National Infrastructure Protection Center (NIPC) were created to deal with the increase in Internet -related problems, such as computer viruses, worms, and other malicious programs that threatened U.S. operations. With these developments,
7839-563: The GOP ( Grand Old Party ), is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States . It emerged as the main political rival of the then-dominant Democratic Party in the 1850s, and the two parties have dominated American politics since then. The Republican Party was founded in 1854 by anti-slavery activists who opposed the Kansas–Nebraska Act , which allowed for
8040-696: The Hippo signaling pathway . Fu joined Westlake University in March 2023 to continue his research on degenerative diseases such as Parkinson's disease . Jane Wu, a researcher in neurology and genetics at Northwestern University , was the subject of an investigation by NIH. She was recruited in 2009 by the Thousand Talents Programme to help run a lab and train students at the Institute of Biophysics in Beijing. However it
8241-534: The Iraq War . In the 2008 presidential election , Arizona Republican senator John McCain was defeated by Illinois Democratic senator Barack Obama . The Republicans experienced electoral success in the 2010 elections . The 2010 elections coincided with the ascendancy of the Tea Party movement , an anti-Obama protest movement of fiscal conservatives . Members of the movement called for lower taxes , and for
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8442-648: The January 6, 2021 attack on democratic institutions in Washington D.C. later testified in support of the Proud boys , who were part of the plot. Revelations about the informant raised fresh questions about intelligence failures by the FBI before the riot. According to the Brennan Center , and Senate committees , the FBI's response to white supremacist violence was "woefully inadequate". The FBI has long been suspected to have turned
8643-574: The Kansas–Nebraska Act , which repealed the Missouri Compromise and opened the Kansas and Nebraska Territories to slavery and future admission as slave states. They denounced the expansion of slavery as a great evil, but did not call for complete abolition , including in the Southern states. While opposition to the expansion of slavery was the most consequential founding principle of the party, like
8844-467: The National Institutes of Health (NIH), which are considered a personnel matter and occur behind closed doors away from reporters. The targeted scientists have been reluctant to talk about their experiences. Of the 246 targeted scientists, 103 (42%) have lost their jobs since 2018, and a fifth of the targeted scientists have been banned from applying for NIH funding for up to four years, constituting
9045-471: The Osage Indian murders . During the "War on Crime" of the 1930s, FBI agents apprehended or killed a number of notorious criminals who committed kidnappings, bank robberies, and murders throughout the nation, including John Dillinger , "Baby Face" Nelson , Kate "Ma" Barker , Alvin "Creepy" Karpis , and George "Machine Gun" Kelly . Other activities of its early decades focused on the scope and influence of
9246-523: The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act , which was passed in 1883; the bill was signed into law by Republican president Chester A. Arthur , who succeeded Garfield. In 1884, Blaine won the Republican presidential nomination, but lost the general election to Democrat Grover Cleveland . Cleveland was the first Democrat to be elected president since James Buchanan. Dissident Republicans, known as Mugwumps , had defected from Blaine due to
9447-461: The Pew Research Center found that social conservatives and free market advocates remained the other two main groups within the party's coalition of support, with all three being roughly equal in number. However, libertarians and libertarian-leaning conservatives increasingly found fault with what they saw as Republicans' restricting of vital civil liberties while corporate welfare and
9648-563: The Second New Deal , saying it represented class warfare and socialism . Roosevelt was easily re-elected president in 1936 ; however, as his second term began, the economy declined , strikes soared, and he failed to take control of the Supreme Court and purge the Southern conservatives from the Democratic Party. Republicans made a major comeback in the 1938 House elections . Southern conservatives joined with most Republicans to form
9849-799: The Soviet Union by utilizing deterrence theory . During a visit to then- West Berlin in June 1987, he addressed Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev during a speech at the Berlin Wall , demanding that he " Tear down this wall! ". The remark was later seen as influential in the fall of the wall in 1989, and was retroactively seen as a defining achievement. The Soviet Union was dissolved in 1991 . Following Reagan's presidency, Republican presidential candidates frequently claimed to share Reagan's views and aimed to portray themselves and their policies as heirs to his legacy. Reagan's vice president, George H. W. Bush , won
10050-546: The Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution —which banned slavery, except as punishment for a crime—was ratified in 1865. Following the assassination of Lincoln , Johnson ascended to the presidency. Johnson was vitriolic in his criticisms of the Radical Republicans during a national tour ahead of the 1866 elections . Anti-Johnson Republicans won a two-thirds majority in both chambers of Congress following
10251-489: The U.S. Secret Service , for personnel, investigators in particular. On May 27, 1908, Congress forbade this use of Treasury employees by the Justice Department, citing fears that the new agency would serve as a secret police department. Again at Roosevelt's urging, Bonaparte moved to organize a formal Bureau of Investigation , which would then have its own staff of special agents . The Bureau of Investigation (BOI)
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#173308568950410452-535: The US representative for California's 27th congressional district since 2013, said "They have turned the China Initiative into an instrument for racial profiling" and that "They have turned it into a means to terrorize Chinese scientists and engineers. Something has gone dramatically wrong." Thu Nguyen, the executive director of OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates, said fears of racial profiling drove some talented scientists to look for work back in China. Merrick Garland ,
10653-714: The United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency . An agency of the United States Department of Justice , the FBI is a member of the U.S. Intelligence Community and reports to both the Attorney General and the Director of National Intelligence . A leading U.S. counterterrorism , counterintelligence , and criminal investigative organization, the FBI has jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crimes . Although many of
10854-619: The World Trade Organization . Bush lost his re-election bid in 1992 . While there is debate about whether Perot's candidacy cost Bush re-election, Charlie Cook asserted that Perot's messaging carried weight with Republican and conservative voters. In the 1994 elections , the Republican Party, led by House minority whip Newt Gingrich , who campaigned on the " Contract with America ", won majorities in both chambers of Congress, gained 12 governorships, and regained control of 20 state legislatures . The Republican Party won control of
11055-453: The conservative coalition , which dominated domestic issues in Congress until 1964. By the time of World War II , both parties split on foreign policy issues, with the anti-war isolationists dominant in the Republican Party and the interventionists dominant in the Democratic Party. Roosevelt won a third term in 1940 and a fourth in 1944 . Conservatives abolished most of the New Deal during
11256-589: The large-scale corruption present in the Grant administration , with the emerging Stalwart faction defending Grant and the spoils system , and the Half-Breeds advocating reform of the civil service . Republicans who opposed Grant branched off to form the Liberal Republican Party , nominating Horace Greeley in the 1872 presidential election . The Democratic Party attempted to capitalize on this divide in
11457-523: The planter class became alarmed at the threat to the future of slavery in the United States. With the 1860 election of Abraham Lincoln , the first Republican president, the Southern states seceded from the United States. Under the leadership of Lincoln and a Republican Congress, the Republican Party led the fight to defeat the Confederate States in the American Civil War , thereby preserving
11658-567: The white supremacist group Ku Klux Klan , a group with which the FBI was evidenced to be working in the Viola Liuzzo lynching case. Earlier, through the work of Edwin Atherton , the BOI claimed to have successfully apprehended an entire army of Mexican neo-revolutionaries under the leadership of General Enrique Estrada in the mid-1920s, east of San Diego, California. Hoover began using wiretapping in
11859-515: The 1908 election , but they became enemies as the party split down the middle. Taft defeated Roosevelt for the 1912 nomination . Roosevelt ran on the ticket of his new Progressive Party . He called for social reforms , many of which were later championed by New Deal Democrats in the 1930s. He lost and when most of his supporters returned to the GOP, they found they did not agree with the new conservative economic thinking , leading to an ideological shift to
12060-544: The 1920s during Prohibition to arrest bootleggers. In the 1927 case Olmstead v. United States , in which a bootlegger was caught through telephone tapping, the United States Supreme Court ruled that FBI wiretaps did not violate the Fourth Amendment as unlawful search and seizure, as long as the FBI did not break into a person's home to complete the tapping. After Prohibition's repeal, Congress passed
12261-399: The 1940s and continuing into the 1970s, the bureau investigated cases of espionage against the United States and its allies. Eight Nazi agents who had planned sabotage operations against American targets were arrested, and six were executed ( Ex parte Quirin ) under their sentences. Also during this time, a joint US/UK code-breaking effort called "The Venona Project "—with which the FBI
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#173308568950412462-411: The 1960s era of civil rights legislation, enacted by Democrats, the South became more reliably Republican, and Richard Nixon carried 49 states in the 1972 election , with what he touted as his " silent majority ". The 1980 election of Ronald Reagan realigned national politics, bringing together advocates of free-market economics, social conservatives , and Cold War foreign policy hawks under
12663-400: The 28 prosecutions brought forth under the China Initiative, only eight have resulted in convictions or guilty pleas. Only four were professors of Chinese descent and none were convicted for espionage or theft. According to Mark Cohen, a law school fellow at the University of California, Berkeley , "The government is settling for charges that have little to do with technology." Zhengdong Cheng
12864-518: The 94 US attorney's districts to bring forth cases of Chinese espionage or theft without any apparent reason to believe that such crimes were being committed. As a consequence of the program's "pressure on grant makers, universities and research institutions to participate in racial, ethnic and national origin profiling," they claimed, discriminatory and stigmatizing investigations were conducted on people of Chinese descent. More than 1,600 scholars and administrators from over 200 universities petitioned for
13065-546: The APA Justice Task Force, without a precise definition of the boundaries and scope of the China Initiative, information could be manipulated and presented so as to fit the government's narrative. Some cases that were publicly described as China Initiative cases were absent from the program's webpage, including that of MIT professor Gang Chen. Chen was accused of failure to disclose contracts, appointments, and awards from Chinese entities while taking federal grants from
13266-422: The Bureau agreed to identify, review, and release all pertinent cases, and notify prosecutors about cases in which faulty testimony was given. In 2012, the FBI formed the National Domestic Communications Assistance Center to develop technology for assisting law enforcement with technical knowledge regarding communication services, technologies, and electronic surveillance. An FBI informant, who participated in
13467-428: The Bureau of Investigation, the BOI or BI for short. Its name was changed to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in 1935. The FBI headquarters is the J. Edgar Hoover Building in Washington, D.C. The FBI has a list of the top 10 most wanted fugitives . The mission of the FBI is to "protect the American people and uphold the Constitution of the United States ". Currently, the FBI's top priorities are: In
13668-414: The China Initiative webpage while two cases and five defendants were added. On 19 November, two days after MIT Technology Review approached the DOJ with questions about the China Initiative, significant revisions were made to the China Initiative webpage. Some items were deleted while other items were added. A former DOJ official suggested the webpage may have been organized less clearly than warranted given
13869-403: The China Initiative. Two bills introduced by the Republican Party that passed the House of Representatives on September 11, 2024, have been described as reviving the China Initiative. The bills are part of "China Week", a House Republican-led effort to advance China-related legislation. Under the China Initiative, the FBI opened thousands of investigations, yet setbacks prompted criticism of
14070-581: The China initiative. A review of existing cases was conducted and the DOJ is "comfortable with where those cases are." Although the China Initiative has officially ended, the "climate of fear and anxiety" has not dissipated and scientists are being pressured in other ways according to sources reported by the scientific journal Nature in February 2023. Universities have become more active in "assisting investigations and pursuing potential wrongdoing". Gang Chen states that "The government has not done enough" to allay concerns and "It has only intensified". Jenny Lee,
14271-526: The Chinese institutions that had funded them in sections of papers even though NIH grants were not used in any of their efforts. Lu stated that the opposite was true and that the Chinese funds and contributions, which not only did IHV approve but also promoted in its newsletters, had benefited IHV work. Lu said that he did not believe there was any conflict of interest and that even if he had, he "wouldn’t have known where, how, and what to disclose due to lack of clear guidelines." After submitting this information, Lu
14472-469: The DOJ's messaging on the China Initiative. An MIT Technology Review investigation found that the DOJ did not provide a clear definition of a China Initiative case or disclose how many cases it included. The lack of transparency, the investigation claims, makes it impossible to understand what exactly the program was, what its achievements were, and what the costs have been for those affected. According to Jeremy Wu of
14673-529: The Democrats, whom they saw as the party of bloated, secular, and liberal government. This period saw the rise of "pro-government conservatives"—a core part of the Bush's base—a considerable group of the Republicans who advocated for increased government spending and greater regulations covering both the economy and people's personal lives, as well as for an activist and interventionist foreign policy. Survey groups such as
14874-560: The Department of Energy. A letter to MIT president Leo Rafael Reif from 170 MIT faculty members claimed that this was not true and presented several refutations of the allegations against Chen. The MIT president asserted that the contract in question was between MIT and a Chinese university, the Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech), to provide MIT with $ 25 million over five years. MIT paid for Chen's legal defense. Prosecutors recommended dropping charges against Chen and
15075-599: The FBI created the Top Hoodlum Program. The national office directed field offices to gather information on mobsters in their territories and to report it regularly to Washington for a centralized collection of intelligence on racketeers . After the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act , for RICO Act, took effect, the FBI began investigating the former Prohibition-organized groups, which had become fronts for crime in major cities and small towns. All
15276-425: The FBI in 2019 by an ex-colleague who wanted to sabotage Tao's career. She believed she was not given sufficient credit as a co-author of a paper he worked on, and allegedly demanded $ 310,000 from him due to "spiritual hurts"; when Tao refused, she threatened to counterattack and report him to the FBI as a "tech spy." The co-author "used fake email accounts to levy the accusations and hacked into Tao’s email, even during
15477-628: The FBI increased its electronic surveillance in public safety and national security investigations, adapting to the telecommunications advancements that changed the nature of such problems. During the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center , FBI agent Leonard W. Hatton Jr. was killed during the rescue effort while helping the rescue personnel evacuate the occupants of the South Tower, and he stayed when it collapsed. Within months after
15678-534: The FBI work was done undercover and from within these organizations, using the provisions provided in the RICO Act. Gradually the agency dismantled many of the groups. Although Hoover initially denied the existence of a National Crime Syndicate in the United States, the Bureau later conducted operations against known organized crime syndicates and families, including those headed by Sam Giancana and John Gotti . The RICO Act
15879-558: The FBI's auto mechanics and janitors. For over 40 years, the FBI crime lab in Quantico had believed that lead alloys used in bullets had unique chemical signatures. It was analyzing the bullets with the goal of matching them chemically, not only to a single batch of ammunition coming out of a factory, but also to a single box of bullets. The National Academy of Sciences conducted an 18-month independent review of comparative bullet-lead analysis . In 2003, its National Research Council published
16080-653: The FBI's functions are unique, its activities in support of national security are comparable to those of the British MI5 and NCA , the New Zealand GCSB and the Russian FSB . Unlike the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), which has no law enforcement authority and is focused on intelligence collection abroad, the FBI is primarily a domestic agency, maintaining 56 field offices in major cities throughout
16281-635: The FBI, CIA, and the rest of the United States Intelligence Community . The book blamed the FBI's decentralized structure, which prevented effective communication and cooperation among different FBI offices. The book suggested that the FBI had not evolved into an effective counter-terrorism or counter-intelligence agency, due in large part to deeply ingrained agency cultural resistance to change. For example, FBI personnel practices continued to treat all staff other than special agents as support staff, classifying intelligence analysts alongside
16482-495: The FBI, and the Origins of 9/11 . The Post reported, from Zegart's book, that government documents showed that both the CIA and the FBI had missed 23 potential chances to disrupt the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The primary reasons for the failures included: agency cultures resistant to change and new ideas; inappropriate incentives for promotion; and a lack of cooperation between
16683-449: The FBI. While the FBI did accede to most of the recommendations, including oversight by the new director of National Intelligence , some former members of the 9/11 Commission publicly criticized the FBI in October 2005, claiming it was resisting any meaningful changes. On July 8, 2007, The Washington Post published excerpts from UCLA Professor Amy Zegart's book Spying Blind: The CIA,
16884-447: The FBI." Afterwards, Democratic Representatives Ted Lieu , Mondaire Jones , and Pramila Jayapal voiced concerns about Hu's prosecution and called on Justice Department Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz to investigate allegations of FBI misconduct. Following the mistrial, the federal government announced that it would pursue a retrial, which ended with Hu's acquittal in September 2021. US District Judge Thomas A. Varlan dismissed
17085-556: The GOP and he proved unable to shift the party to a more moderate position. Historians cite the 1964 presidential election and its respective National Convention as a significant shift, which saw the conservative wing, helmed by Arizona senator Barry Goldwater , battle liberal New York governor Nelson Rockefeller and his eponymous Rockefeller Republican faction for the nomination. With Goldwater poised to win, Rockefeller, urged to mobilize his liberal faction, retorted, "You're looking at it, buddy. I'm all that's left." Following
17286-406: The GOP by co-nominating Greeley under their party banner. Greeley's positions proved inconsistent with the Liberal Republican Party that nominated him, with Greeley supporting high tariffs despite the party's opposition. Grant was easily re-elected. The 1876 presidential election saw a contentious conclusion as both parties claimed victory despite three southern states not officially declaring
17487-579: The GOP cooperated with Truman's Cold War foreign policy, funded the Marshall Plan and supported NATO , despite the continued isolationism of the Old Right. Eisenhower had defeated conservative leader senator Robert A. Taft for the 1952 Republican presidential nomination , but conservatives dominated the domestic policies of the Eisenhower administration . Voters liked Eisenhower much more than they liked
17688-520: The House and retook control of the Senate, thus delivering a Republican trifecta . Trump significantly improved his vote share among almost all demographics nationwide, particularly among Hispanic voters, in a working class coalition described as the most racially diverse for a Republican presidential candidate in decades. As of 2024, the GOP holds a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives . It also holds 27 state governorships , 28 state legislatures , and 23 state government trifectas . Six of
17889-499: The House of Representatives for the first time in 40 years , and won a majority of U.S. House seats in the South for the first time since Reconstruction. However, most voters had not heard of the Contract and the Republican victory was attributed to traditional mid-term anti-incumbent voting and Republicans becoming the majority party in the South for the first time since Reconstruction, winning many former Southern Democrats . Gingrich
18090-555: The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the number of U.S.-trained scientists of Chinese descent who dropped their U.S. based affiliation for a Chinese one increased by 22 percent over the previous year to more than 1,400 in 2021, coinciding with the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the China Initiative. One Chinese mechanical-engineering professor from a top American university said he left for Hong Kong after more than two decades in
18291-446: The NASA grant application process. He was sentenced to the 13 months of imprisonment he had already served since August 2020, a fine of $ 20,000, and a repayment of $ 86,876 to NASA. Writing in 2024, The Economist stated that the China Initiative was a "largely unsuccessful attempt to root out Chinese spies from industry and academia." Civil rights groups have pointed to inconsistencies in
18492-522: The Republican House's legislative agenda if he were to serve as speaker. Illinois representative Dennis Hastert was promoted to speaker in Livingston's place, serving in that position until 2007. Republican George W. Bush won the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections . He campaigned as a " compassionate conservative " in 2000, wanting to better appeal to immigrants and minority voters. The goal
18693-421: The Republican Party lost seven seats in the House , but still retained control of that chamber. However, Republicans were unable to gain control of the Senate , continuing their minority status with a net loss of two seats. In the aftermath of the loss, some prominent Republicans spoke out against their own party. A 2012 election post-mortem by the Republican Party concluded that the party needed to do more on
18894-618: The Republican Party had greatly shifted towards illiberalism following the election of Trump, and research conducted by the V-Dem Institute concluded that the party was more similar to Europe's most right-wing parties such as Law and Justice in Poland or Fidesz in Hungary. In 2022 and 2023, Supreme Court justices appointed by Trump proved decisive in landmark decisions on gun rights , abortion , and affirmative action . The party went into
19095-401: The Republican Party's first National Convention in 1856 , the party adopted a national platform emphasizing opposition to the expansion of slavery into the free territories. Although Republican nominee John C. Frémont lost that year's presidential election to Democrat James Buchanan , Buchanan managed to win only four of the fourteen northern states. Despite the loss of the presidency and
19296-855: The Republican banner. Since 2009, the party has faced significant factionalism within its own ranks and has shifted towards right-wing populism . In the 21st century, the Republican Party receives its strongest support from rural voters , evangelical Christians , men , senior citizens , and voters without college degrees . On economic issues, the party has maintained a pro-business attitude since its inception. It supports low taxes and deregulation while opposing socialism , labor unions and single-payer healthcare . The populist faction supports economic protectionism , including tariffs . On social issues, it advocates for restricting abortion , discouraging and often prohibiting recreational drug use , promoting gun ownership and easing gun restrictions , and opposing transgender rights . In foreign policy,
19497-497: The Republicans lost five seats, though whether it was due to poor messaging or Clinton's popularity providing a coattail effect is debated. Gingrich was ousted from party power due to the performance, ultimately deciding to resign from Congress altogether. For a short time afterward, it appeared Louisiana representative Bob Livingston would become his successor; Livingston, however, stepped down from consideration and resigned from Congress after damaging reports of affairs threatened
19698-494: The Republicans struck a deal with Clinton on the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 , which included tax cuts, the Republican House majority had difficulty convening on a new agenda ahead of the 1998 elections . During the ongoing impeachment of Bill Clinton in 1998, Gingrich decided to make Clinton's misconduct the party message heading into the elections, believing it would add to their majority. The strategy proved mistaken and
19899-444: The Senate on June 6, 2001, when Vermont Republican senator Jim Jeffords switched his party affiliation to Democrat. The Republicans regained the Senate majority in the 2002 elections , helped by Bush's surge in popularity following the September 11 attacks , and Republican majorities in the House and Senate were held until the Democrats regained control of both chambers in the 2006 elections , largely due to increasing opposition to
20100-464: The Senate voted to acquit him. Trump lost the 2020 presidential election to Democrat Joe Biden . He refused to concede the race, claiming widespread electoral fraud and attempting to overturn the results . On January 6, 2021, the United States Capitol was attacked by Trump supporters following a rally at which Trump spoke. After the attack, the House impeached Trump for a second time on
20301-408: The Senate. Over the course of his presidency, Trump appointed three justices to the Supreme Court : Neil Gorsuch , Brett Kavanaugh , and Amy Coney Barrett . It was the most Supreme Court appointments for any president in a single term since Richard Nixon . Trump appointed 260 judges in total, creating overall Republican-appointed majorities on every branch of the federal judiciary except for
20502-438: The September 11, 2001, attacks. The 9/11 Commission 's final report on July 22, 2004, stated that the FBI and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) were both partially to blame for not pursuing intelligence reports that could have prevented the September 11 attacks. In its most damning assessment, the report concluded that the country had "not been well served" by either agency and listed numerous recommendations for changes within
20703-400: The U.S. Department of Justice to overturn the 'China Initiative' which they allege disproportionately targets researchers of Chinese descent." The prosecutor in the first announced China Initiative case, John Hemann, said the program had "gone off the rails" and "morphed into something that's completely away from what the point of what this exercise was in the first place." Hemann characterized
20904-504: The U.S. due to aging parents, the tense political environment in America, and his Chineseness putting other collaborating scientists at risk of scrutiny. Fields Medal winner Shing-Tung Yau , one of the highest profile departees, left for Tsinghua University in April 2022. Although he did not respond to a request for comment, he compared the academic environment in the U.S. to the Soviet Union in
21105-756: The US District Court dismissed the case in January 2022. Other cases, including that of Cleveland Clinic researcher Qing Wang, were removed from the webpage after charges were dismissed. MIT Technology Review found that only 13 of 23 research integrity cases were listed on the webpage. Seven of those ended in dismissals and acquittals, and were removed. Of the 12 cases involving theft of trade secrets or economic espionage, only 10 were listed, and seven were charged with only theft of trade secrets but not espionage. Only one case charged both theft and espionage. MIT analysis showed that 17 cases and 39 defendants were removed from
21306-529: The Union and abolishing slavery . After the war, the party largely dominated national politics until the Great Depression in the 1930s, when it lost its congressional majorities and the Democrats' New Deal programs proved popular. Dwight D. Eisenhower 's election in 1952 was a rare break between Democratic presidents and he presided over a period of increased economic prosperity after World War II . Following
21507-436: The United States, and more than 400 resident agencies in smaller cities and areas across the nation. At an FBI field office, a senior-level FBI officer concurrently serves as the representative of the director of national intelligence . Despite its domestic focus, the FBI also maintains a significant international footprint, operating 60 Legal Attache (LEGAT) offices and 15 sub-offices in U.S. embassies and consulates across
21708-653: The United States, including both militant and non-violent organizations. Among its targets was the Southern Christian Leadership Conference , a leading civil rights organization whose clergy leadership included the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. . The FBI frequently investigated King. In the mid-1960s, King began to criticize the Bureau for giving insufficient attention to the use of terrorism by white supremacists. Hoover responded by publicly calling King
21909-519: The United States. An investigation by MIT Technology Review found that 90% of the individuals caught up in the China Initiative by December 2021 were of Chinese descent. A poll by the Committee of 100 and the University of Arizona in summer 2021 found that four out of ten scientists of Chinese descent had recently considered leaving the U.S. out of fear of government surveillance. According to data gathered by Princeton University , Harvard University and
22110-592: The Whig Party it replaced, Republicans also called for economic and social modernization . At the first public meeting of the anti-Nebraska movement on March 20, 1854, at the Little White Schoolhouse in Ripon, Wisconsin , the name "Republican" was proposed as the name of the party. The name was partly chosen to pay homage to Thomas Jefferson 's Democratic-Republican Party . The first official party convention
22311-665: The accused, rather than state-directed spying. Despite this, many of these indictments portray the alleged crimes as for the benefit of China. Seton Hall University law professor Margaret Lewis described this as "a conflation of individual motives with a country’s policy goals" that has led to the criminalization of "China-ness." A plurality of the indictments, representing 38% of the cases, charged academic researchers and professors with fraud for failure to disclose relationships with Chinese educational institutions. None of those accused of fraud had been found to have spied for China, and nearly half of those cases had been dropped. Around 20% of
22512-400: The amount of espionage actually occurring. He said that an appropriate response to China would not be "just prosecuting people," and that "nuanced foreign policy" would not utilize only the Justice Department. Lelling called for the elimination of certain parts of the program. FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation ( FBI ) is the domestic intelligence and security service of
22713-538: The area during the 1992 Los Angeles riots . HRT operators, for instance, spent 10 days conducting vehicle-mounted patrols throughout Los Angeles , before returning to Virginia. Between 1993 and 1996, the FBI increased its counter-terrorism role following the first 1993 World Trade Center bombing in New York City , the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing , and the arrest of the Unabomber in 1996. Technological innovation and
22914-510: The attacks, FBI Director Robert Mueller , who had been sworn in a week before the attacks, called for a re-engineering of FBI structure and operations. He made countering every federal crime a top priority, including the prevention of terrorism, countering foreign intelligence operations, addressing cybersecurity threats, other high-tech crimes, protecting civil rights, combating public corruption, organized crime, white-collar crime, and major acts of violent crime. In February 2001, Robert Hanssen
23115-466: The best approach. He urged scientists to learn the dangers of theft but also said that they should understand and advocate for their rights. He recommended seeking professional help before getting caught up in an investigation and to not automatically assume an FBI agent is acting in their best interests. Andrew Lelling, a former US attorney in Boston, questioned whether the China Initiative was proportional to
23316-577: The branches report to the deputy director while two report to the associate director. The main branches of the FBI are: Each branch focuses on different tasks, and some focus on more than one. Here are some of the tasks that different branches are in charge of: National Security Branch (NSB) Intelligence Branch (IB) FBI Criminal, Cyber, Response, and Services Branch (CCRSB) Science and Technology Branch (STB) Information and Technology Branch (ITB) Republican Party (United States) The Republican Party , also known as
23517-473: The case, saying: "[E]ven viewing all the evidence in the light most favorable to the government, no rational jury could conclude that defendant acted with a scheme to defraud NASA." Casey Arrowood , who lead the failed prosecution of Anming Hu, has been nominated by President Biden for U.S. Attorney General of the Eastern District of Tennessee. Asian American civil rights groups called on supporters to oppose
23718-473: The cases involved violations of US sanctions or illegal exports. A smaller percentage concern cyber intrusions attributed to China. Only one fifth of the indictments are about economic espionage and most of them remain unresolved. Only three cases allege that secrets were transferred to Chinese agents. Andrew Lelling, a former US attorney in Boston, Massachusetts , explained that the number of cases regarding disclosure
23919-579: The charge of incitement of insurrection , making him the only federal officeholder to be impeached twice. Trump left office on January 20, 2021. His impeachment trial continued into the early weeks of the Biden presidency , and he was acquitted on February 13, 2021 . Since the 2020 election, election denial has become increasingly mainstream in the party, with the majority of 2022 Republican candidates being election deniers. The party also made efforts to restrict voting based on false claims of fraud. By 2020,
24120-564: The corruption which had plagued his political career. Republican Benjamin Harrison defeated Cleveland in the 1888 election . During his presidency, Harrison signed the Dependent and Disability Pension Act , which established pensions for all veterans of the Union who had served for more than 90 days and were unable to perform manual labor. Following his loss to Cleveland in the 1892 presidential election , Harrison unsuccessfully attempted to pass
24321-544: The decade produced an unprecedented prosperity until the Wall Street Crash of 1929 heralded the Great Depression. The New Deal coalition forged by Democratic president Franklin D. Roosevelt controlled American politics for most of the next three decades, excluding the presidency of Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower in the 1950s. After Roosevelt took office in 1933, New Deal legislation sailed through Congress and
24522-530: The decision did not mean the DOJ was abandoning its response to the threat posed by China, but rather that it wanted to pursue that goal differently. According to Olsen, the DOJ will continue to combat threats posed by the Chinese government; it will also continue to pursue the cases begun under the program. The China Initiative cases typically involved lying or omitting information on disclosure forms. Some cases resulted in convictions, like that of Charles Lieber (who
24723-518: The economy moved sharply upward from its nadir in early 1933. The 1934 elections left the GOP with only 25 senators against 71 Democrats. The House likewise had overwhelming Democratic majorities. The Republican Party factionalized into a majority Old Right , based predominantly in the Midwest , and a liberal wing based in the Northeast that supported much of the New Deal. The Old Right sharply attacked
24924-417: The elections, which helped lead the way toward his impeachment and near ouster from office in 1868, the same year Ulysses S. Grant was elected as the next Republican president . Grant was a Radical Republican, which created some division within the party. Massachusetts senator Charles Sumner and Illinois senator Lyman Trumbull opposed most of his Reconstructionist policies. Others took issue with
25125-466: The end of the program, which they claimed disproportionately targets researchers of Chinese origin. In September 2021, American Physical Society President Sylvester James Gates said the DOJ should move away from disclosure issues and rename the China Initiative in order to allay concerns over racial profiling. He called for the review of past cases for violations of due process and for the victims to be compensated for damage to their careers, and suggested
25326-427: The evidence. On 21 November, Radenka Maric, then vice president for research, contacted NIH and said that the grant had been awarded to a different Li Wang. The result of the investigation was not accepted. After further communications between NIH and UConn, a forensic image of Wang's laptop was obtained that appeared to contradict her statements. UConn decided to fire her and Wang resigned on 19 September 2019. Wang filed
25527-427: The federal government, from the lowliest clerk to the more powerful position of White house aide." On May 27, 1953, Executive Order 10450 went into effect. The program was expanded further by this executive order by making all federal employment of homosexuals illegal. On July 8, 1953, the FBI forwarded to the U.S. Civil Service Commission information from the sex deviates program. Between 1977 and 1978, 300,000 pages in
25728-536: The fiscal year 2019, the Bureau's total budget was approximately $ 9.6 billion. In the Authorization and Budget Request to Congress for fiscal year 2021, the FBI asked for $ 9,800,724,000. Of that money, $ 9,748,829,000 would be used for Salaries and Expenses (S&E) and $ 51,895,000 for Construction. The S&E program saw an increase of $ 199,673,000. In 1896, the National Bureau of Criminal Identification
25929-417: The globe. These foreign offices exist primarily for the purpose of coordination with foreign security services and do not usually conduct unilateral operations in the host countries. The FBI can and does at times carry out secret activities overseas, just as the CIA has a limited domestic function . These activities generally require coordination across government agencies. The FBI was established in 1908 as
26130-511: The gold standard over free silver in his campaign messaging, but promised to continue bimetallism to ward off continued skepticism over the gold standard, which had lingered since the Panic of 1893 . Democrat William Jennings Bryan proved to be a devoted adherent to the free silver movement, which cost Bryan the support of Democratic institutions such as Tammany Hall , the New York World and
26331-469: The government give researchers a timespan in which to correct previous oversights in disclosure. At the same time, 177 Stanford University faculty members sent a letter to the DOJ making similar complaints. They wrote that the program does "not just affect the prosecuted faculty but affect the many more university researchers who are targeted, investigated and feel threatened by inquiries initiated without prior evidence of significant wrongdoing." Judy Chu ,
26532-412: The government. Hoover was substantially involved in most major cases and projects that the FBI handled during his tenure. But as detailed below, his tenure as Bureau director proved to be highly controversial, especially in its later years. After Hoover's death, Congress passed legislation that limited the tenure of future FBI directors to ten years. Early homicide investigations of the new agency included
26733-639: The harm he suffered due to his arrest but his claims were dismissed in March 2022. He spends much of his time raising awareness of anti-Asian sentiment as well as following cases of scientists in similar situations. Both Xi and Hu had their team sizes reduced from before their cases and Hu no longer takes on researchers and students from China to avoid risk. Chen also sought to avoid risk by switching research topics to one with less obvious commercial applications while avoiding contact with researchers and students from China. Hu claims that he would have progressed much further in his research level had he not been caught up in
26934-573: The houses of prostitution in preparation for enforcing the "White Slave Traffic Act" or Mann Act , passed on June 25, 1910. In 1932, the bureau was renamed the United States Bureau of Investigation. The following year, 1933, the BOI was linked to the Bureau of Prohibition and rechristened the Division of Investigation (DOI); it became an independent service within the Department of Justice in 1935. In
27135-407: The initiative's goal of combating espionage, no one was convicted or even charged with spying in any China Initiative case. On 23 February 2022, the DOJ announced that it was ending the China Initiative, largely due to "perceptions that it unfairly painted Chinese Americans and United States residents of Chinese origin as disloyal." Assistant Attorney General for National Security Matthew Olsen said
27336-418: The instances in which Wang's name appeared in applications were for research she was not directly involved in. Adomeit noted that the misuse of results from auditing Wang's laptop, which was conducted via visual inspection without metadata analysis, was particularly egregious. In some cases, university investigations have been more zealous than even NIH required, such as was the case for UCSD's Xiang-Dong Fu. Fu
27537-476: The investigation and concluded in May 2021 that Fu had violated repeatedly the code of conduct for conflicts of commitment. Fu did not learn of the second investigation until July or receive documents for it until December, prior to which he was invited to reply but was not allowed to dispute the findings. In January 2022, Fu was told to resign or accept a 4-year unpaid suspension. More than 100 UCSD faculty members requested
27738-479: The lack of a majority in the U.S. Congress , Republicans were able to orchestrate a Republican speaker of the House of Representatives , which went to Nathaniel P. Banks . Historian James M. McPherson writes regarding Banks' speakership that "if any one moment marked the birth of the Republican party, this was it." The Republicans were eager for the 1860 elections . Former Illinois U.S. representative Abraham Lincoln spent several years building support within
27939-401: The legal authority to take records from his personnel files. Sadiku admitted that he was not familiar with many of the policies regarding grants which Hu was accused of abusing. One of the jurors described it as "the most ridiculous case" and said the charges against Hu were the result of "a series of plausible errors" on Hu's part, "a lack of support from [UTK], and ruthless ambition on behalf of
28140-706: The list belonged to Issei community leaders, as the FBI investigation built on an existing Naval Intelligence index that had focused on Japanese Americans in Hawaii and the West Coast, but many German and Italian nationals also found their way onto the FBI Index list. Robert Shivers, head of the Honolulu office, obtained permission from Hoover to start detaining those on the list on December 7, 1941, while bombs were still falling over Pearl Harbor . Mass arrests and searches of homes, in most cases conducted without warrants, began
28341-459: The men were sentenced to death (which was later reduced to life in prison), and the fourth defendant was sentenced to life in prison. Two of the four men died in prison after serving almost 30 years, and two others were released after serving 32 and 36 years. In July 2007, U.S. District Judge Nancy Gertner in Boston found that the Bureau had helped convict the four men using false witness accounts given by mobster Joseph Barboza . The U.S. Government
28542-400: The most "notorious liar" in the United States. In his 1991 memoir, Washington Post journalist Carl Rowan asserted that the FBI had sent at least one anonymous letter to King encouraging him to commit suicide. Historian Taylor Branch documents an anonymous November 1964 "suicide package" sent by the Bureau that combined a letter to the civil rights leader telling him "You are done. There
28743-419: The most it had held in history. The Party also held 33 governorships, the most it had held since 1922. The party had total control of government in 25 states; it had not held total control of this many states since 1952. The opposing Democratic Party held full control of only five states in 2017. In the 2018 elections , Republicans lost control of the House of Representatives, but strengthened their hold on
28944-467: The national debt hiked considerably under Bush's tenure. In contrast, some social conservatives expressed dissatisfaction with the party's support for economic policies that conflicted with their moral values. The Republican Party lost its Senate majority in 2001 when the Senate became split evenly; nevertheless, the Republicans maintained control of the Senate due to the tie-breaking vote of Bush's vice president, Dick Cheney . Democrats gained control of
29145-406: The national level to attract votes from minorities and young voters. In March 2013, Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus issued a report on the party's electoral failures in 2012, calling on Republicans to reinvent themselves and officially endorse immigration reform. He proposed 219 reforms, including a $ 10 million marketing campaign to reach women, minorities, and gay people;
29346-609: The new United States attorney general under the Biden administration since March 2021, pledged to review the program. In October, Garland said that there was no place for discrimination, but confirmed that new investigations were being opened on a daily basis. Government spokesman Wyn Hornbuckle wrote in an email that cases were based on conduct and not ethnicity. The FBI claims that there is nothing racially motivated about its China Initiative investigations. In February 2022, more than 150 University of Pennsylvania faculty members addressed an open letter to Attorney General Garland, "urging
29547-422: The nine current U.S. Supreme Court justices were appointed by Republican presidents. Its most recent presidential nominee is Donald Trump , who served as the 45th president of the United States and was the party's candidate again in the 2024 presidential election . There have been 19 Republican presidents, the most from any one political party. The Republican Party's founding members chose its name as homage to
29748-570: The nomination, which has been described as an "affront to the Asian American, immigrant, and scientific communities." Hu said that instead of being punished, Arrowood is being rewarded, encouraging future cases such as his to happen again. In the trial of Franklin Feng Tao , evidence used by the Department of Justice was obtained using a search warrant that was given on the basis of manufactured allegations against Tao. These allegations were provided to
29949-539: The party establishment is interventionist, while the populist faction supports isolationism and in some cases non-interventionism . In 1854, the Republican Party was founded in the Northern United States by forces opposed to the expansion of slavery , ex- Whigs , and ex- Free Soilers . The Republican Party quickly became the principal opposition to the dominant Democratic Party and the briefly popular Know Nothing Party. The party grew out of opposition to
30150-615: The party, campaigning heavily for Frémont in 1856 and making a bid for the Senate in 1858 , losing to Democrat Stephen A. Douglas but gaining national attention from the Lincoln–Douglas debates it produced. At the 1860 Republican National Convention , Lincoln consolidated support among opponents of New York U.S. senator William H. Seward , a fierce abolitionist who some Republicans feared would be too radical for crucial states such as Pennsylvania and Indiana , as well as those who disapproved of his support for Irish immigrants. Lincoln
30351-676: The passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 , the southern states became more reliably Republican in presidential politics, while northeastern states became more reliably Democratic. The GOP went on to control the White House from 1969 to 1977 under 37th president Richard Nixon , and when he resigned in 1974 due to the Watergate scandal , Gerald Ford became the 38th president, serving until 1977. Ronald Reagan defeated incumbent Democratic President Jimmy Carter in
30552-450: The potential extension of slavery to the western territories. The party supported classical liberalism and economic reform geared to industry, supporting investments in manufacturing, railroads, and banking. The party was successful in the North, and by 1858, it had enlisted most former Whigs and former Free Soilers to form majorities in almost every northern state. White Southerners of
30753-487: The presidency in a landslide in the 1988 election . However, his term was characterized by division within the Republican Party. Bush's vision of economic liberalization and international cooperation with foreign nations saw the negotiation and, during the presidency of Democrat Bill Clinton in the 1990s, the signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the conceptual beginnings of
30954-654: The problem the China Initiative addressed as political and economic in nature, not one which could be resolved with criminal prosecutions. He later defended a medical researcher, Chen Song, who was charged with visa fraud. Chen was accused of misrepresenting whether she still served the People's Liberation Army . Her case was dropped in July 2021. Peter Toren, another former federal prosecutor, suggested that charging scientists with failing to report contracts or income from other sources, when they may be unaware of their obligations, might not be
31155-549: The professors. Of the 255 professors investigated by the universities as instructed by NIH, 44% lost their jobs. Most of them were tenured professors. According to Ann Chih Lin, an associate professor and director of the Lieberthal-Rogel Center for Chinese Studies, universities encouraged the accused professors to resign due to fear that they would lose grant money and bring unwanted public scrutiny. Most professors involved in these cases quietly left to protect themselves and
31356-517: The program by issuing a memo establishing a "uniform policy for the handling of the increasing number of reports and allegations concerning present and past employees of the United States Government who assertedly [sic] are sex deviates." The program was expanded to include non-government jobs. According to Athan Theoharis , "In 1951 he [Hoover] had unilaterally instituted a Sex Deviates program to purge alleged homosexuals from any position in
31557-461: The program. In July 2021 six cases were dropped, and that September the case of Anming Hu ended with his acquittal, revealing "law enforcement errors and prosecutorial overzealousness." According to a Bloomberg News analysis of the 50 indictments displayed on the China Initiative webpage, the program had not "been very successful at catching spies." Most of the cases listed by December 17, 2021, involved individual profiteering or career advancement by
31758-412: The prosecutions contributed to worsening US-China tensions and "a 71% rise in incidents of violence against Asian Americans from 2019 to 2020." Asian American advocacy groups described the China Initiative as a new chapter in Asian American history stretching back to Chinese Exclusion Act , the internment of Japanese Americans , and the failed prosecution of Wen Ho Lee in the 1990s. The Committee of 100,
31959-482: The regulation of interstate commerce since 1887, though it lacked the staff to do so. It had made little effort to relieve its staff shortage until the Oregon land fraud scandal at the turn of the 20th century. President Roosevelt instructed Attorney General Charles Bonaparte to organize an autonomous investigative service that would report only to the Attorney General . Bonaparte reached out to other agencies, including
32160-482: The right in the Republican Party. The Republicans returned to the presidency in the 1920s, winning on platforms of normalcy , business-oriented efficiency, and high tariffs. The national party platform avoided mention of prohibition, instead issuing a vague commitment to law and order . Warren G. Harding died in 1923 and Calvin Coolidge easily defeated the splintered opposition in 1924. The pro-business policies of
32361-628: The same year, its name was officially changed from the Division of Investigation to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). J. Edgar Hoover served as FBI director from 1924 to 1972, a combined 48 years with the BOI, DOI, and FBI. He was chiefly responsible for creating the Scientific Crime Detection Laboratory, or the FBI Laboratory , which officially opened in 1932, as part of his work to professionalize investigations by
32562-512: The scale and impact of the program. Some cases, such as one involving a turtle-smuggling ring (which was later removed), may have been added to it by mistake. According to the official, such errors may have been due to a new staff member's zeal in looking for cases with a "nexus to China." The first prosecution of the China Initiative, the Trial of Anming Hu , resulted in a hung jury and mistrial in June 2021, and Hu's acquittal in September 2021. Anming Hu
32763-464: The seat had been held for decades by Democrat Ted Kennedy . In November, Republicans recaptured control of the House , increased their number of seats in the Senate , and gained a majority of governorships . The Tea Party would go on to strongly influence the Republican Party, in part due to the replacement of establishment Republicans with Tea Party-style Republicans. When Obama was re-elected president in 2012 , defeating Republican Mitt Romney ,
32964-519: The setting of a shorter, more controlled primary season; and the creation of better data collection facilities. Following the 2014 elections , the Republican Party took control of the Senate by gaining nine seats. With 247 seats in the House and 54 seats in the Senate, the Republicans ultimately achieved their largest majority in the Congress since the 71st Congress in 1929. In the 2016 presidential election , Republican nominee Donald Trump defeated Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton . The result
33165-415: The sex deviates program, collected between 1930 and the mid-1970s, were destroyed by FBI officials. During the 1950s and 1960s, FBI officials became increasingly concerned about the influence of civil rights leaders, whom they believed either had communist ties or were unduly influenced by communists or " fellow travelers ". In 1956, for example, Hoover sent an open letter denouncing Dr. T. R. M. Howard ,
33366-680: The sixth national priority. With cuts to other well-established departments, and because terrorism was no longer considered a threat after the end of the Cold War , the FBI assisted local and state police forces in tracking fugitives who had crossed state lines, which is a federal offense. The FBI Laboratory helped develop DNA testing, continuing its pioneering role in identification that began with its fingerprinting system in 1924. On May 1, 1992, FBI SWAT and HRT personnel in Los Angeles County, California aided local officials in securing peace within
33567-597: The skills of FBI Laboratory analysts helped ensure that the three cases were successfully prosecuted. However, Justice Department investigations into the FBI's roles in the Ruby Ridge and Waco incidents were found to have been obstructed by agents within the Bureau. During the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia , the FBI was criticized for its investigation of the Centennial Olympic Park bombing . It has settled
33768-483: The subsequent exclusion orders, but in a handful of cases where Japanese Americans refused to obey the new military regulations, FBI agents handled their arrests. The Bureau continued surveillance on Japanese Americans throughout the war, conducting background checks on applicants for resettlement outside camp, and entering the camps, usually without the permission of War Relocation Authority officials, and grooming informants to monitor dissidents and "troublemakers". After
33969-677: The targeted scientists commented that they had little idea that their job would be at risk or what the investigations were specifically about. After the initial contact and reply, most of them were told that they had two options: resign or be fired. In 2018, Wuyuan Lu, a professor at the University of Maryland 's Institute of Human Virology (IHV), was contacted by a senior university research administrator regarding his failure to "disclose outside research support, relevant affiliations and foreign components," as well as alleged use of his NIH grant to support work in China. Lu assumed this had to do with his acknowledgement of Chinese co-author contributions and
34170-468: The three convictions of wire fraud against Tao but upheld one count of making a false statement. On July 11, 2024, Tao's conviction was overturned upon appeal. The FBI also implemented threat awareness sessions at universities, circulating information singling out China as a threat and labeling students, faculty, and researchers as 'non-traditional collectors'. Aside from public criminal prosecutions, there have also been university investigations prompted by
34371-509: The universities. Both Xiang-Dong Fu and Kun-Liang Guan eventually left for China. By the time Guan's suspension ended in 2021, his lab had shrunk considerably and he had stopped taking on new students because he could not support them. Guan expressed skepticism that any of NIH's targets were able to start their work again. After working in the US for over 30 years, Guan took on a full-time position at Westlake University in Hangzhou for research on
34572-477: The values of republicanism promoted by Democratic-Republican Party, which its founder, Thomas Jefferson, called the "Republican Party". The idea for the name came from an editorial by the party's leading publicist, Horace Greeley, who called for "some simple name like 'Republican' [that] would more fitly designate those who had united to restore the Union to its true mission of champion and promulgator of Liberty rather than propagandist of slavery". The name reflects
34773-467: The war, but they did not attempt to do away with Social Security or the agencies that regulated business. Historian George H. Nash argues: Unlike the "moderate", internationalist, largely eastern bloc of Republicans who accepted (or at least acquiesced in) some of the "Roosevelt Revolution" and the essential premises of President Harry S. Truman 's foreign policy, the Republican Right at heart
34974-511: The war, the FBI was assigned to protect returning Japanese Americans from attacks by hostile white communities. According to Douglas M. Charles, the FBI's "sex deviates" program began on April 10, 1950, when J. Edgar Hoover forwarded to the White House, to the U.S. Civil Service Commission, and to branches of the armed services a list of 393 alleged federal employees who had allegedly been arrested in Washington, D.C., since 1947, on charges of "sexual irregularities". On June 20, 1951, Hoover expanded
35175-567: The way NIH has conducted these investigation prompts. According to David Brenner of the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), when NIH told them there was a problem, it was assumed that they were always right and the problem needed to be fixed. According to Robin Cyr at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (UNC), when a letter arrived from Michael Lauer, head of NIH's extramural research, it meant that "NIH thinks your faculty has wrongfully and willfully divulged intellectual property." Some of
35376-415: Was racially profiling Chinese American citizens and other residents of Chinese origin or ancestry, however, there have been calls by the US government to revive the program. The initiative resulted in a large exodus of influential Chinese-American scientists, many of whom decided to move to China. The China Initiative was launched to prosecute scientific researchers and academics affiliated with China. It
35577-539: Was a zealous radical. Gingrich's strategy of " constitutional hardball " resulted in increasing political polarization . The Republicans maintained their majority for the first time since 1928 despite Bob Dole losing handily to Clinton in the presidential election . However, Gingrich's national profile proved a detriment to the Republican Congress, which enjoyed majority approval among voters in spite of Gingrich's relative unpopularity. After Gingrich and
35778-482: Was caught selling information to the Russian government. It was later learned that Hanssen, who had reached a high position within the FBI, had been selling intelligence since as early as 1979. He pleaded guilty to espionage and received a life sentence in 2002, but the incident led many to question the security practices employed by the FBI. There was also a claim that Hanssen might have contributed information that led to
35979-415: Was counterrevolutionary. Anti-collectivist, anti-Communist , anti-New Deal, passionately committed to limited government , free market economics , and congressional (as opposed to executive) prerogatives, the G.O.P. conservatives were obliged from the start to wage a constant two-front war: against liberal Democrats from without and "me-too" Republicans from within. After 1945, the internationalist wing of
36180-424: Was created on July 26, 1908. Attorney General Bonaparte, using Department of Justice expense funds, hired thirty-four people, including some veterans of the Secret Service, to work for a new investigative agency. Its first "chief" (the title is now "director") was Stanley Finch . Bonaparte notified the Congress of these actions in December 1908. The bureau's first official task was visiting and making surveys of
36381-443: Was elected president in the general election . This election result helped kickstart the American Civil War , which lasted from 1861 until 1865. The 1864 presidential election united War Democrats with the GOP in support of Lincoln and Tennessee Democratic senator Andrew Johnson , who ran for president and vice president on the National Union Party ticket; Lincoln was re-elected. Under Republican congressional leadership,
36582-423: Was established to decide who would be awarded the states' electors. After the Commission voted along party lines in Hayes' favor, Democrats threatened to delay the counting of electoral votes indefinitely so no president would be inaugurated on March 4. This resulted in the Compromise of 1877 and Hayes finally became president. Hayes doubled down on the gold standard , which had been signed into law by Grant with
36783-409: Was found guilty of making false statements to federal officials and filing false tax returns) and Meyya Meyyappan (a NASA scientist who pled guilty to making false statements to federal officials). Others have been reined in or abandoned, like that of Gang Chen , or defeated in trial like Anming Hu 's. The suicide of Jane Ying Wu from Northwestern University is reported to be caused by the impact of
36984-441: Was founded, providing agencies across the country with information to identify known criminals. The 1901 assassination of President William McKinley created a perception that the United States was under threat from anarchists . The Departments of Justice and Labor had been keeping records on anarchists for years, but President Theodore Roosevelt wanted more power to monitor them. The Justice Department had been tasked with
37185-400: Was heavily involved—broke Soviet diplomatic and intelligence communications codes, allowing the US and British governments to read Soviet communications. This effort confirmed the existence of Americans working in the United States for Soviet intelligence. Hoover was administering this project, but he failed to notify the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of it until 1952. Another notable case
37386-415: Was held on July 6, 1854, in Jackson, Michigan . The party emerged from the great political realignment of the mid-1850s, united in pro-capitalist stances with members often valuing Radicalism . The realignment was powerful because it forced voters to switch parties, as typified by the rise and fall of the Know Nothing Party , the rise of the Republican Party and the splits in the Democratic Party. At
37587-424: Was hired in 1992 and received tenure in 1998. In 2005 he became a visiting professor at Wuhan and was paid $ 1000 per month for the next three years. From 2012 to 2016, Fu also received monthly income from the Thousand Talents program. According to Fu, his superior knew about these activities, but NIH banned him from applying for NIH grants for 4 years. Although NIH considered the penalty to be sufficient, UCSD continued
37788-573: Was imprisoned for 13 months after being arrested in August 2020. In September 2022, he was convicted for two charges of making false statements. Despite his conviction, Science characterized Cheng as "the latest case to crumble under the Department of Justice’s (DOJ’s) China Initiative" because the majority of the nine counts of defrauding the government and making false statements charged against him were overturned. Cheng admitted to failure to disclose his work for Guangdong University of Technology and Southern University of Science and Technology during
37989-421: Was increasingly controversial, as he implemented a family separation policy for migrants , deployed federal law enforcement forces in response to racial protests and reacted slowly to the COVID-19 pandemic before clashing with health officials over testing and treatment. Trump was impeached by the House of Representatives in 2019 on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. On February 5, 2020,
38190-399: Was made speaker, and within the first 100 days of the Republican majority, every proposition featured in the Contract was passed, with the exception of term limits for members of Congress. One key to Gingrich's success in 1994 was nationalizing the election, which in turn led to his becoming a national figure during the 1996 House elections , with many Democratic leaders proclaiming Gingrich
38391-505: Was not contacted for another 15 months, after which he was told NIH required more information. NIH requested English and Mandarin copies of contracts Lu had signed with Chinese institutions, such as Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University . However Lu responded that he could not provide what did not exist. Lu resigned in August 2020 and now works at Fudan. NIH alleged that Yue Xiong, who worked on protein degradation at UNC, had comingled his NIH grant with Chinese institutions and that he had
38592-422: Was ordered to pay $ 100 million in damages to the four defendants. In 1982, the FBI formed an elite unit to help with problems that might arise at the 1984 Summer Olympics to be held in Los Angeles, particularly terrorism and major-crime. This was a result of the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany , when terrorists murdered the Israeli athletes . Named the Hostage Rescue Team , or HRT, it acts as
38793-402: Was repeatedly told that UNC's NIH grants worth almost $ 1 billion were jeopardized if Xiong was not immediately removed. On 27 May 2020, Xiong was told that he had two days to resign or be fired. He was told that if he fought the allegations, "things won’t end well for you." Several of Xiong's colleagues sent letters to the chancellor to reverse the decision but received no answer. Kun-Liang Guan,
38994-491: Was revealed that the FBI knowingly built a case based on false evidence, obtained Hu's university documents without warrant, spied on Hu and his family, and attempted to coerce Hu to spy on China for the United States. The FBI agent in charge of the case, Kujtim Sadiku, did not believe that Hu was guilty of being involved with the Chinese military but gave a PowerPoint presentation to UTK administration designed to make them think he was. According to Hu's defense lawyer, Sadiku wanted
39195-422: Was set in motion by the Department of Justice (DOJ) under then-US President Donald Trump 's first Attorney General Jeff Sessions in November 2018, with the goal of preventing industrial espionage. The China Initiative was one of Session's last actions as the official Attorney General of the US, in which the DOJ promised aggressive pursuit of Chinese commercial theft. Trump and his administration believed that China
39396-458: Was shot and killed, the jurisdiction fell to the local police departments until President Lyndon B. Johnson directed the FBI to take over the investigation. To ensure clarity about the responsibility for investigation of homicides of federal officials, Congress passed a law in 1965 that included investigations of such deaths of federal officials, especially by homicide, within FBI jurisdiction. In response to organized crime, on August 25, 1953,
39597-400: Was the arrest of Soviet spy Rudolf Abel in 1957. The discovery of Soviet spies operating in the US motivated Hoover to pursue his longstanding concern with the threat he perceived from the American Left . In 1939, the Bureau began compiling a custodial detention list with the names of those who would be taken into custody in the event of war with Axis nations. The majority of the names on
39798-409: Was the exception because he actually received support from MIT. Peter Zeidenberg, the lawyer representing accused scientists and academics, said that in the majority of cases, universities distanced themselves from the accused professors. Rather than acknowledging their failure to provide proper guidance on disclosure or that they were aware of connections with China, the universities deflected blame onto
39999-454: Was to prioritize drug rehabilitation programs and aid for prisoner reentry into society, a move intended to capitalize on President Clinton's tougher crime initiatives such as his administration's 1994 crime bill . The platform failed to gain much traction among members of the party during his presidency. The Republican Party remained fairly cohesive for much of the 2000s, as both strong economic libertarians and social conservatives opposed
40200-486: Was unexpected; polls leading up to the election showed Clinton leading the race. Trump's victory was fueled by narrow victories in three states— Michigan , Pennsylvania , and Wisconsin —that had been part of the Democratic blue wall for decades. It was attributed to strong support amongst working-class white voters, who felt dismissed and disrespected by the political establishment. Trump became popular with them by abandoning Republican establishment orthodoxy in favor of
40401-447: Was using researchers and students to steal American technological innovations. The program gained momentum amidst rising tensions between the US and China due to trade wars and exchanging tariffs. The DOJ maintains that there is no strict definition of what a China Initiative case is, but most of the cases involve researchers who failed to disclose Chinese funding on grant applications and many involve professors at US institutions. Despite
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