AAFEN in the News
DOGE Sparks Surveillance Fear Across the US Government
The US government has increased the use of monitoring tools over the past decade. But President Donald Trump’s employee purges are making workers worry about how their data could be abused. ~ Wired (February 21, 2025)
A Decade-Long Campaign to Reform Assignment Restriction Programs
Assignment restrictions are conditions placed on an employee’s security clearance prohibiting the employee from working in a specific country or a portfolio related to a specific country. Assignment preclusions are personnel actions limiting employees from working in specific countries due to issues of privileges and immunities, often linked with an employee’s actual or potential claim to dual citizenship. ~ DOS American Foreign Service Association (September 2024)
Asian American Officials Cite Unfair Scrutiny and Lost Jobs in China Spy Tensions
National security employees with ties to Asia say U.S. counterintelligence officers wrongly regard them as potential spies and ban them from jobs. ~ New York Times (January 3, 2024)
Spy agencies’ focus on China could snare Chinese Americans
As U.S. intelligence agencies ramp up their efforts against China, top officials acknowledge they may also end up collecting more phone calls and emails from Chinese Americans, raising new concerns about spying affecting civil liberties. ~ AP News (June 05, 2022)
A Competitor Put the FBI on Haoyang Yu’s Trail. The Investigation Didn’t Go as Planned.
Paul Blount started small. When he set up a semiconductor chip company in his basement in 2006, he was the only employee. He had spent a decade at the chip behemoth Hittite Microwave Corporation, and he saw room in the market for a boutique design outfit. ~ Intercept (December 22, 2022)
Asian American diplomats say discrimination holds them back as US competes with China
Thomas Wong graduated from West Point, joined the Army and deployed to combat zones for the United States, but when he became a diplomat, the State Department restricted the New Jersey native from serving in China, citing security concerns. “I felt like my loyalties were being questioned,” he said, adding, “I’m convinced race was a factor in that decision.” ~ CNN (May 7, 2021)
City of Spies
As the FBI continues hauling university scholars and researchers off in handcuffs for their work with the Chinese, academics all over Boston are asking: Am I next? ~ Boston Magazine (May 20, 2020)
Major U.S. cancer center ousts ‘Asian' researchers after NIH flags their foreign ties
Chinese American community fears ethnic targeting at MD Anderson by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and National Institutes of Health. ~ Science (April 19, 2019)
At the State Department, Diversity Can Count Against You
Michael Young would be a good guy to have on your side in China. Born to a Taiwanese family that emigrated to San Francisco in the 1970s, he speaks fluent Mandarin. He studied martial arts in Beijing after college and considered going to make movies in Hong Kong, but ended up attending Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. ~ Washington Post (September 24, 2013)