Bo Jiang Released Pending Trial
Chinese ex-NASA worker to be released pending trial
“At a detention hearing today, U.S. Magistrate Judge Lawrence Leonard ordered Jiang released after a federal prosecutor acknowledged there is no evidence so far that he was in possession of any sensitive, secret or classified material. Jiang will be under supervision of the federal probation office, will be prohibited from traveling outside the Eastern District of Virginia, and will be tracked by an electronic monitoring system. He has surrendered his passport.”
Ex-NASA Langley contractor released on bond, Daily Press
“Jiang’s court-appointed attorney, Fernando Groene, said that Jiang didn’t have access to sensitive or classified information when he worked at NIA. Groene says that Jiang did violate NASA’s policy by taking the equipment out the country, but there was nothing classified on the laptop or hard drive. “NASA has looked at the computer up and down and can’t find any information that violates the export control act,” Groene said.”
Former NASA Langley Research Center pleads not guilty to lying, judge OKs release on bond, Washington Post
“Groene has suggested that Jiang is only in jail and under investigation because U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., has inferred that Jiang may be a spy. Wolf has targeted Jiang in news conferences and congressional hearings about NASA security, saying the space agency is using contractors to get around rules prohibiting citizens of certain countries from working for NASA.”
Bo Jiang To Plead Not Guilty; Will Ask For Jury Trial, earlier post
“…a federal prosecutor acknowledged there is no evidence so far that he
was in possession of any sensitive, secret or classified material.”
How much more taxpayer money is the government going to waste on this snipe hunt?
More than tax dollars if it cuts into export sales of US commercial aircraft. Hey, wasn’t NACA originally created to increase those sales?
Let me see, a Chinese spy carries a laptop, which is guaranteed to go through security, on a plane with “secret” information, instead of sending it via thousands of more secure methods, like hiding it in a jpg post or just hiding a micro sd chip in a fedex package to China.
I am not convinced.
There’s no proof of your accusation at all. Read the article again:
“federal prosecutor acknowledged there is no evidence so far that he was in possession of any sensitive, secret or classified material.”
I hope you will never be subjected to this kind of malicious prosecution, simply because of who you are.
Why don’t they sequester Rep. Wolf?
I’m sure glad that I leave my laptop at home when I take a trip abroad!
Apparently it’s only a problem if you are Chinese.
Note to self: only bring an encrypted flash drive with all my rough drafts, homework, and Tor if I want to go back to China without getting arrested.
Encryption would only make it look more suspicious, particularly Tor. It might be better to keep your stuff on a non-NASA, non-China cloud server, if you can find one that can be accessed from China, which is another story.
I would like to offer a suggestion. Americans cannot, for all practical purposes, vote Mr. Wolf out, but the Republican governor of Virginia, as head of the state GOP, could limit Wolf’s power. Ironically Chinese companies that import from Virginia have more political power in that regard than American voters. In China you can make your thoughts known to:
Mr. Hailey Fong, Director
State of Virginia China Office
[email protected]
Room 3081, 3/F Silver Court Tower,
No.85 Tao Yuan Road, Shanghai, China 200021
Tel: +86-21-6157 7331 Fax: +86-21-6157 7333
In the US you can call Virginia Secretary of Commerce Jim Cheng, http://www.commerce.virgini…
The goal is not get suspicion itself. Now that you mention it, it does works both way. Some might think “OMG, a spy!” if they found me carrying my laptop/tablet, others might think “why is that nerdy person carrying a super obvious laptop? spies ain’t that stupid!”, and some might think “that nerdy girl carry a super obvious laptop, others might think she is not a spy, therefore she might use this as a way of spying!”.
Consider that 1) I am not a Virginian and 2) NASA Watch is slightly older than me, I doubt they will take me seriously. But I will try.
We have been trying to get a written statement regarding whether American researchers who have unrelated scientific collaborations with Chinese researchers can even be included in NASA research grants. The informal belief is that they can, because it would be senseless to cut off every researcher who ever collaborates with a fellow researcher in China, which is a large number. But the wording of the notice in NASA solicitations suggests that they cannot, and no luck so far at getting any written statement on this from NASA HQ. Anyone else know?
“Assistant U.S. Attorney Lisa McKeel argued that Jiang is a flight risk, saying he attempted to leave the country abruptly after a Virginia congressman publicly identified Jiang in connection with an investigation of NASA security procedures.”
Sounds like he assumed the US legal system is as politicized as it is in China. Looks like we proved he was right. If I were his lawyer I would 100% be sure to subpoena Congressman Wolf, and with Wolf on the stand I would hold up a copy of his infamous 1995 letter to President Clinton and ask him to read it. That’s if it even gets to trial. It’s equally likely there will he hearings on why the FBI acted at his personal request.
Just remember the Wen Ho Lee case.
Well, if you want to bring up Wen Ho Lee then I feel safe in posting this:
http://www.bloomberg.com/ne…
This one (you cited in the above link) looks suspicious. I do not see a good defense for this one yet.
Ralphy, I would hope you feel safe posting even if I had not mentioned the Wen Ho Lee case. My point, which seems to have been made, was the weakness of the case.
I’m sorry , but I just have to say it: ANYONE who tries to leave the US to China with an assortment of computer haddrives & laptops is just a frickin IDIOT. clearly NOT smart enough to be a spy! They have these things called memory sticks that can hold a terabyte of data and you can stick it in your A__.
Or you could transfer data via SFTP to some intermediate location before leaving.The only thing this guy is guilty of is: 1 – Distraction from a real crime, or: 2 – Stupidity
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