NASA: Nobody Shouted Stop: Alleged Chinese Espionage Swept Under the Carpet

 

Nobody Shouted Stop: Alleged Chinese Espionage Swept Under the Carpet

http://www.forbes.com/sites/eamonnfingleton/2013/03/11/2380/

 

 

One of the most notable news blackouts in history occurred in the mid 1930s

when the British press suppressed reports of Prince Edward's affair with

Wallis Simpson. The subject was judged too painful for British readers. Of

course, things were different in America. The American press not only had a

field day reporting the details but not infrequently lectured their

pusillanimous British colleagues about American ideas of press freedom.

 

These days the tables are turned. News that is reported freely in the UK

seems sometimes to be suppressed in the United States - even when, or

perhaps particularly when, that news is of special relevance to the American

public. A case in point is alleged Chinese espionage at NASA's Langley

facility. In Britain, readers of  the Daily Mail, for instance, have been

treated to a good account here. But if major American news organizations

have reported the news, I have yet to find any evidence.

 

To say the least the story is explosive. NASA apparently has resorted to a

workaround to ensure that a Chinese citizen be engaged in a sensitive

capacity. If Congressman Frank Wolf is to be believed, whistleblowers within

NASA now allege that this person is affiliated with an "entity of concern"

in China. I understand from private sources that the entity concerned is the

China Academy of Space Technology.

 

The allegations are all the more topical for the fact that there seems to

have been a long history of Chinese penetration of key American

institutions. According to the U.S. Justice Department, of 20 cases of

economic espionage and trade secret criminal cases from January 2009 to

January 2013, 16 involved Chinese nationals.

 

As reported by the Daily Press, a local newspaper serving the Langley area

(and one of the few American media organizations to cover Wolf's

allegations), those convicted include electrical engineers, software

engineers, automobile engineers, research chemists, and research scientists

working for such companies as Motorola, General Motors, Space & Navigation

(now part of L-3), Dow Chemical, and Boeing.

 

All this is the more piquant for the fact that it follows so soon after

revelations that computer systems at the New York Times, the Washington

Post, and other major media organizations have been penetrated by Chinese

agents.

 

As a Washington-based friend of mine has pointed out privately, it is

interesting to think how differently a story of this sort would have been

covered in the 1980s. Suppose a Russian affiliated with a key Russian

aerospace agency had been employed by NASA. Would the American press be so

parsimonious with the truth? Probably not.

 

America has changed. It is weaker now.

 

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