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China

Bo Jiang To Plead Not Guilty; Will Ask For Jury Trial

By Keith Cowing
NASA Watch
March 22, 2013
Filed under , , , , , ,

Attorney: Former Chinese contractor at NASA’s Langley Research Center to plead not guilty, Washington Post
“Jiang’s attorney Fernando Groene said Jiang was unfairly targeted and is looking forward to being vindicated. He said he plans to ask for a jury trial and wants Jiang’s side of the story coming out. Groene said Jiang was leaving the country because his work visa was about to expire and he had been unable to find other employment since losing his job in January.”
Attorney: Former NASA contractor subject of ‘witch hunt’, Daily Press
“… But Jiang’s lawyer, Fernando Groene — a former federal prosecutor who now practices out of Williamsburg — said he’s not going to let Wolf misportray Jiang. … Groene challenged Wolf to come to the trial in Newport News federal court to present his evidence against Jiang. If Congressman Wolf testifies as a government witness, Groene said, “We’ll be glad to cross-examine him.” Asked why Jiang was going to China, Groene said, “He was going home.”
Congress Vs NASA on China (Home Alone with Wolf and Bolden), earlier post
NASA Technical Reports Server Mysteriously Taken Offline, earlier post
Former NASA/NIA Employee Arrested by FBI Trying to Leave U.S., earlier post

NASA Watch founder, Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA, Away Teams, Journalist, Space & Astrobiology, Lapsed climber.

23 responses to “Bo Jiang To Plead Not Guilty; Will Ask For Jury Trial”

  1. Eli Rabett says:
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    As Eli mentioned before Wen Ho Lee II.

  2. 2004MN4 says:
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    Not knowing what really happened here, but remembering some history about one of JPL’s founders…
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wik
    “[Qian] at one point was arrested for allegedly smuggling secret documents out of the US; these ultimately turned out to be simple logarithmic tables.”   ..and many other things happened to him that drove him out of the US and back to China.  If he hadn’t been driven out of the US, China very likely would not have developed ICBMs.

    • James Lundblad says:
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      There was a Chinese movie about him released last year, watched it on youtube and really liked it, doesn’t cover his early life in the US and during the war with Von Karman.

    • Tom Young says:
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      The case against Dr. Qian may be summarized as follows: You’ll either confess to being a Communist, or we’ll turn you into one.  In any case, we’ll make it impossible for you to work in your chosen profession in this country.  So you can either starve, or go work for Chairman Mao, thereby proving that you’re a Communist.

      That reminds me of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, where they’re testing a suspected witch by throwing her into a lake.  If she floats, then she’s a witch and should be burned.  If she drowns, then she’s not a witch.  Unfortunately, she’s also drowned.

      I guess that’s why these things are called “witch-hunts.”

  3. Love Buckeyes says:
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    The story I heard is, Jiang’s contract (expired in Feb) with NASA wasn’t renewed and he found a new job in Europe beginning this summer. He booked an one-way ticket to China and probably will spend some time with his family. He got the NASA job because his PhD boss moved there (apparently Jiang was the guy who did the hands-on research job). His computer might contain the data and software of his early work or current, which I really don’t know. In short, the one-way ticket theory doesn’t make much sense.

  4. Steve Whitfield says:
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    If this guy should turn out to be innocent of any wrong doing, what are the odds that he’ll get an official apology, or any statement as public as the accusations that have been against him?  I suspect that Rep. Wolf will have some additional inappropriate words to add.

  5. OpenTrackRacer says:
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    I’ll go with innocent until proven guilty on this one, especially since Wolf is involved.

  6. dogstar29 says:
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    NACA was originally created to support the US commercial aircraft industry. China is our largest export customer except for Canada and Mexico, and commercial aircraft are our most valuable manufactured export. Billions of dollars are at stake. This case is creating immense bad feeling in the Chinese blogosphere. To insult your customer is always unwise, but to do it for no reason other than the personal animosity of one powerful politician with a high school education is utterly insane. The Republican Party gave Wolf this position and backs him on every crazy statement; they need to step up and either take the blame for any lost business or remove his committee assignment. My suggestion to Chinese companies is to stop doing business with Virginia. 

  7. Jeff says:
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    Bo Jiang’s case looks suspicious to me. First, why did the NASA whistler-blowers go to Rep. Frank Wolf first? If they are real whistler-blowers, shouldn’t they go to the police first? Or shouldn’t they at least go to the employer NASA first? Anyhow, Jiang is supposed to steal important information from NASA, and NASA do have internal security staff. It’s even weird that “FBI special agent Rhonda Squizzero said the FBI reviewed these whistle-blower reports that it received from Wolf’s office on March 13 and concluded that the information was ‘reliable’.” Hey, we are talking about a spy here. It’s not an easy case. Why didn’t FBI bother to take a professional investigation, but instead, they relied on the unprofessional Frank Wolf? And the innocent NASA seems like the last one to know it?
    A second suspicious point is FBI made the arrest on March 16, 2013, yet “Wolf first named Jiang at a press conference on March 7, saying that he had previously had unauthorized access to sensitive NASA documents, which he might have taken to China in 2012”.  So Wolf went to the press first, broadcasting to the whole world that Jiang is a Chinese spy. A week later on March 13, 2013, Wolf finally passed this info to FBI. 3 days later on March 16, FBI finally made the arrest.
    1.     Can Wolf accuse someone without hard police evidence? Isn’t that you are supposed to be innocent until proven otherwise?
    2.     Why was Wolf so eager to go to the press, yet so reluctant to tell the police? The time between his press release, in which he accused Jiang of being a Chinese spy, and his telling FBI was a whopping 6 days! Shouldn’t it better that Wolf privately called FBI, let FBI secretly lay down a net around Jiang? More evidence can be collected this way, and possibly more Chinese spies could be caught. Hey, Jiang might not work alone.
    You broadcasted to the whole world someone is a spy, and waited 6 days to tell the police; any stupid spy would have enough time to destroy all the evidence in this 6 days. Yet our supposed spy Jiang was still carrying this incriminating evidence to the airport. Wow! That’s incredible, on both sides.
     
    My hunch is this is yet another framed case directed by the FBI. The FBI anti – Chinese espionage team constitutes of Fa Lung Gong members, a cult banned by the Chinese government. All their published Chinese spy cases have one thing in common: there is no Chinese government involvement. Bo Jiang is one such example, the contemporary Benjamin Pierce Bishop is another example. They do this for the funding. They have pilfered hundreds of millions dollars from the US and Canadian government. They have fabricated tens of such Chinese spy cases. Thousands innocent people have fallen victims.
    My hunch is that the Obama administration has finally tired of them and wanted to cut this branch; they used Rep. Frank Wolf to attack the government to try to save themselves. Fear mongering is their traditional tactics.
    My hunch is that the whole thing is a sting operation. Jiang’s employer National Institute of Aerospace is actually a FBI run company, the whistler blowers are under covered FBI agents, NASA was well aware of the game even before Jiang was hired.
    Obama administration, you are doing the right thing. FBI Director Robert Mueller, you have been grilled by Frank Wolf, it’s time to fight back. The starting point could be the whistler-blowers. Are they under covered police? The reasons they arose my suspicion are,
    1.     For a high tech worker like Jiang, downloading and saving files is one of the most normal daily work. This kind of activity shouldn’t raise any notice from workers around him. Unless these workers are sent to watch him.
    2.     These whistler-blowers knew Jiang was bringing secret document back to China in 2012, why didn’t they report then? Were they waiting for some bigger fish to come? For example, Jiang’s boss? This is a typical police behavior, ordinary people will not do so.
    3.     These whistler-blowers obviously have intimate knowledge about Jiang, they are the ones on March 15, 2013 telling federal agents that Jiang would “abruptly leave United States on a one way ticket back to China on March 16, 2013”. Notice the “abrupt” part, yet it is not abrupt to the whistler-blowers. So ask Jiang who persuaded him to leave the US “abruptly” when he was messed up with Frank Wolf.  My hunch is these whistler-blowers are the black hand behind.
    Next, Robert Muller can confront Frank Wolf. “Wolf first named Jiang at a press conference on March 7.” And Wolf told Discovery News ‘What they did here potentially could be a direct threat to our country’. Obviously he was very concerned about the threat Jiang imposed. But the action he took was to the media, and attacking the government in congress. Wasn’t he worried that during the time he talked in front of cameras, or preparing speeches in the congress Jiang could steal more secret? Or Jiang could abruptly pass the treasure secret he has stolen back to China and then destroyed all the evidence? Or Jiang could abruptly leave the country since no police has noticed him at the time? The math doesn’t add up, Wolf.
    Thirdly, Robert Muller can interview FBI special agent Rhonda Squizzero. Rhonda reviewed the whistle-blower reports that she received from Wolf’s office on March 13, 2013 and concluded that the information was ‘reliable’.
    1.     Why didn’t she take any action when the information was reliable? Look, Wolf had accused Jiang in front of the media 6 days ago. Wouldn’t she be concerned that Jiang could abruptly destroy the evidence, and / or abruptly leave the country?
    2.     On March 15, 2013, sources told Rhonda that Jiang was going to take a one way ticket plane back to China the next day, ie. March 16, 2013. Again this source is those innocent whistler-blowers. Let’s replay the scene in slow motion: Jiang bought the ticket; Jiang packed the luggage, including the stolen secret; Jiang closed the door; Jiang arrived at the Dulles International Airport; Jiang was boarding; the plane’s door was closed; the plane was pulling away from the gate; stop… Wow, that was close! Finally at this critical moment, FBI appeared and stopped the plane. What a Hollywood scene! Didn’t the source told you yesterday? How dangerous it was if the traffic held you up for an extra 30 seconds?
    3.     The arrest is based on the “charges that he lied to federal investigators.” How are you so sure that Jiang would bring self-incriminating evidence with him when boarding? How are you so sure that Jiang would lie to you? If Jiang did tell you that he had “another laptop, an old hard drive and a SIM card”, did it mean that you have no reason to arrest him?
    Lastly, missing from the scene is the most important part – the treasured secret that has been stolen by Jiang. According to Wolf, the information ‘would be of the greatest interest to foreign spies, including China’. He said Jiang worked on programs for ‘source code for high technology imaging’ that could be used by the Chinese military. Yet why neither Wolf, nor Rhonda, nor NASA seems to care about it? Look, Jiang doesn’t necessarily need to carry the secret in his old computer. There are thousand ways for Jiang to transport this secret. For example, he could send them through emails, he could burn them into disc and mailed them back to China, he could make a copy and pass them to another spy that work with him,  … etc.
    The fact that nobody cares of the stolen programs tells that the stolen programs are actually junks. Losing them to China won’t hurt US national interest. Everything is framed for the media; everything is aimed to achieve the most dramatic effect. Just like any other Chinese spy cases, this is yet another FBI scam that no Chinese government was involved.
    This case is a show set up by FBI. Everything is 100% under police control. Jiang is an innocent gun for hire from the very beginning. He was picked by FBI to play this spy role. His life was purposefully destroyed so that the person designed this can have a career advancement. Whoever did this is extremely self-centered and has complete disregard for other people’s well-being. It is a crime under the disguise of national security.
    Mr. Muller, I strongly urge you to dig into the very bottom of this case. These people only do disservice to the country. You’ve got to fire the whole team and prosecute the leader if you want FBI to have any credibility.

    • Ralphy999 says:
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      “You’ve got to fire the whole team and prosecute the leader if you want FBI to have any credibility.”

      Say what? 

    • dogstar29 says:
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      Jeff – Some of your points are excellent but your overall theory is too complex to be possible. Never assume conspiracy when the explanation may be simple incompetence. Are you Chinese? If so, can you tell us more about the reaction in the Chinese press and government?

      My advice to China would be to contact companies in Virginia that do business with China and tell them that if Wolf retains his chairmanship in the House then the Chinese companies that purchase Virginia exports will move their business to other states.

      • Tom Young says:
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        I’m always wary of boycotts, because they have the potential to hurt the wrong people.

        Frank Wolf is a Congressman, not a Senator.  Virginia has 11 Congressional districts — and ten of them are not represented by Frank Wolf.

        • Steve Whitfield says:
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          Tom,

          What concerns me is:  Is Frank Wolf’s mindset representative of the people in his district?  They keep reelecting him.

          • kcowing says:
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            I live only 2-3 miles from his district. No, we do not all think like him.

          • Steve Whitfield says:
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            Thanks Keith.  That’s a relief to hear.  I’m not generally an alarmist, but I think this situation has the potential to turn into a major blow up if people in other countries get the idea that Wolf speaks for America.

          • Eli Rabett says:
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             Wolf needs something to feed to the tea party in his district

      • Wendy Yang says:
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        No response from the government yet. The Chinese blogsphere call this event a product of racism and suggest others not to choose U.S. as a place to start a career.

    • Steve Whitfield says:
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      Jeff,

      I suspect some of your suggested points may be true, but I’d have to say that the overall idea involves far too much assumption.  We don’t do anyone any favors if we don’t stick to known facts. If someone put a gun to my head and forced me to make a guess, I’d guess that the FBI did make some mistakes, but they are basically caught in the middle, being pushed around by a headstrong Congressman.  The FBI can’t afford to be seen as biased; it would destroy their credibility both in the US and abroad.  I suspect they may disown Wolf before this is over.

  8. Steve Whitfield says:
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    They arrested him a full week ago, and yet we’ve heard nothing so far, that I’ve been able to find, about what was actually on his “other” electronics devices.  How long does it take to scan “an additional laptop, an old hard drive and a SIM card for a cell phone”?  Is the FBI that technically backward, or has the information simply not been disclosed to the public?

    According to the news stories, he was in court Thursday for a “preliminary and detention hearing” and is scheduled back again next Thursday for another “detention hearing.”  Meanwhile he sits in jail and we get no updated information.  What, if anything, happened or was said during the court appearance?  Is it typical that the media would be told nothing at all because this is allegedly an espionage case?

    I  realize there are limits to what the public can be told about an on-going investigation, but the longer this thing goes on, the worse it smells to me.

  9. BobbyWong says:
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    Looks like FBI just made up a charge to hold him, so there‘s more time to search him:

    1) According to Bo Jiang’s friends (source MITBBS, an overseas scholar message board), Jiang went to NASA with his professor. His boss died in a car accident and his employment contract was not renewed. Without valid work visa Jiang had to go back to China (and there’s no reason to buy a round trip ticket.)

    2) The lying to investigator charge is bogus. Jiang was questioned during a layover, and he described to the FBI what he had with him in the carry on. Now the FBI is charging him because he didn’t mention what was in the checked luggage? It’s not even omission based on the context of the conversation.3) There’s a perfectly reasonable explanation why Jiang had two SIM cards – he canceled his cell phone contract and was using a prepaid SIM card for the last few weeks in the States.

  10. Gonzo_Skeptic says:
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    Why isn’t the NASA manager who gave Jiang access sitting in jail too?

  11. Gonzo_Skeptic says:
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    I don’t know why people continue to speculate whether or not Jiang was trying to smuggle some restricted information out of the country on his memory devices.  If he was the foreign agent some claim he is, he would have already encrypted and dumped the information on one of the millions of servers around the world so his handlers could retrieve it even if he was caught.