http://dailycallernewsfoundation.org/2019/11/19/foreign-born-researchers-at-us-agencies-were-secretly-working-for-china-and-recruiting-others-senate-report-finds/
Foreign-Born Researchers At US Agencies Were Secretly Working For China And Recruiting Others, Senate Report Finds
Department of Energy
At the Department of Energy, which the FBI said is the most frequent target for penetration and which works on nuclear weapons, multiple researchers joined TTP.
While one was working at a National Lab, he allegedly brought over dozens of other Chinese nationals, at least four of whom were TTP members. He “attempted to initiate official sharing agreements between the laboratory and a Chinese organization,” the report stated.
Energy’s Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence had trouble investigating because of the “language barrier” and “insular nature” of the group of Chinese nationals working on six sensitive projects paid for by the U.S. government.
More than 35,000 foreigners, including 10,000 Chinese, are conducting research at the National Labs, the investigation found.
11 comments:
10,000 Chinese nationals working at DOE national labs? That's an entire LANL or Sandia just of Chinese nationals. That seems incredible if true. Why not just build a new national lab in China then? That would really save on costs too.
The thing is that if you want PHD's in stem you are kind of stuck with foreign-born researchers. Not only do they make up more than 50% of the graduate students but if you spent any time at any university they are also the top students in these programs. There are are also lots of other jobs in academics and industry that are attractive to top US candidates so why would they go to one of the NNSA labs? Even if some of these wanted to go to lab the quality of science much higher at say ORNL or ANL. Sure some top talent would still like to work at NIF, but as can be seen by the comments on this blog alone lots of people at the NNSA labs hate NIF, which makes for weird situation.
Oh jeez, yeah there have been some bad actors, but most foreign lab employees get nowhere near classified research (nice that you stuck in the "nuclear weapons" scare phrase), and contribute to expertise overall, and if they apply to stay, and do, a win-win.
Surprise. Foreign spies will gladly go along with the crap treatment doled out by Washington bureaucrats. US geniuses, not so much.
"but most foreign lab employees get nowhere near classified research "
How on earth can there be non-classified research an NNSA lab? Also how can there be "research" at an NNSA lab. They do stockpile stewardship not research. Research implies that you don't actually know the outcome, but the NNSA labs run on timed milestones and outcomes, stuff needs to be done and stuff is done, research is not part of it nor should it be.
11/23/2019 12:20 AM
You have no clue what you are talking about. Most basic research facilities at LANL are "outside the fence." Meaning - unclassified research. You have never worked at either LANL or LLNL, or if you did, you refused to pay attention. I worked for many years at LANL in the classified research area, and most of what LANL did, and does, had nothing to do with me.
Deep underground neutrino experiments, cosmology, quantum field theory, civilian nuclear power, energy-related geophysics, etc., etc., etc. You just need to use a little Google in your life to learn how wrong you are.
Never been to a Lab have you.
"Deep underground neutrino experiments, cosmology, quantum field theory, civilian nuclear power, energy-related geophysics, etc., etc., etc. You just need to use a little Google in your life to learn how wrong you are.
11/23/2019 5:27 PM"
In case you have not been paying attention to this blog or the LANL blog over the many years, most people consider this stuff as parasitic tax on the real work the NNSA labs. You can see countless posts that we should get rid of LDRD, these are welfare queens, wanna be professors, mission creep, and so on. People in the open science part of the labs feel this effect and over the years it has gotten outside of the labs that basic science is something that is tolerated at best at the labs.
I don't buy into this mind set, however for many that do they can claim that we should not be having foreigners working at that the labs that do not have clearances or will not have one in at least two years. Having them around adds nothing to the lab (I have countless times how nothing from basic science is ever used in the mission). I have even pointed out cases where basic science got used and was told that that was for secondary stuff for national security but not the real mission. Of course some of these people have a very very narrow definition of what the mission actually is.
Oh, I'M NOT THE ONE complaining about science. Yeah, right. Nice try, "devil's advocate."
" most foreign lab employees get nowhere near classified research "
Do the names Teller, Szillard, Segre, Fermi, Kistiakowsky, Ulam, von Neuman ring a bell?
Of course Klaus Fuchs was foreign born and that did not turn out well.
We don't need to have our spies to be foreign born, Pollard, Ames, Pelton, Hanssen and Walker were home grown.
There are salient points to the facts that we don't produce the best and brightest in Science and Technology, or at least we don't produce a bumper crop that would make it plausible to ignore talent from off our shores.
I don't envy the folks that have to determine who may or may not be spies. I do know that providing the government all of our personal data and then having it stolen by the Chinese was a kick in the teeth.
11/25/2019 9:48 PM
"" most foreign lab employees get nowhere near classified research "
Do the names Teller, Szillard, Segre, Fermi, Kistiakowsky, Ulam, von Neuman ring a bell?"
I think there is a difference between "foreign" and "foreign born." Many of the latter have Q clearances.
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