Several former DOJ officials have called for an end to the program or a change of focus. Attorney General Garland promised that the Justice Department would review the program when he testified before Congress.
If there had been an acquittal in the case, it would have looked bad for the government, says a law professor who has written extensively on the initiative.
The underlying facts of the case were strong, especially given the video footage of Lieber admitting to FBI agents that he received cash from a Chinese university, had a Chinese bank account, and hadn't been completely transparent by any stretch of the imagination.
One defense lawyer who followed the case for clues for his own client's upcoming trial said that the Lieber case was an outlier among China Initiative cases. It is not useful for predicting how the government might handle future research integrity cases under the initiative, but it has raised questions about a crucial component to the investigations.
Questions on the Thousand Talents Program were unanswered.
The trial has brought up additional questions about the China Initiative and, specifically, the question of whether or not Lieber was innocent.
Government sponsored talent programs are designed to attract overseas experts to work in China. The federal government has become more concerned about collaboration with Chinese universities in the past few years.
A Senate report found that China funded over 200 talent programs. The report warned that talent programs encouraged its members to lie on grant applications to US grant-making agencies, set up shadow labs in China working on research identical to their US research, and transfer US scientists' hard-earned intellectual capital.
"Dr. Lieber had many Chinese students, so he was a person to be interviewed about."
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Mukasey is the defense attorney.
According to the data investigation by MIT Technology Review, 19 of the 77 China Initiative cases were prompted by suspicions that defendants had participated in Chinese talent programs. There are 14 talent- program cases that are alleged to have research integrity issues stemming from failures to disclose all affiliations to Chinese entities on grant documentation. There are no charges that the scientist in question transferred US intellectual property to China.
It is not clear whether revealing participation in talent programs is material to the federal government.
This was a question that the defense attorney for the other China Initiative case, who was following the trial to better prepare his own client's case and did not want to be named so as not to jeopardize it, hoped would be clarified in the course of the trial. Some defendants could argue that they didn't know it was material to report talent program participation.
The prosecutor did not have to clarify on the record whether participation in the Thousand Talents Program did or did not happen because he had covered up his participation and income.
My ears perked up.
On the fifth day of the trial, Mukasey asked the Department of Defense investigator about her motives in investigating the chemist. He asked if the Naval Research Laboratory told him that there was too many Chinese students in the lab.
Mousseau said yes.
Mukasey rephrased the question after James Drabick objected. Dr. Lieber had a lot of Chinese students, so he was a good candidate for an interview.
The trial was not about the China Initiative.
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Margaret Lewis is a law professor.
He asked if it came to his attention that Dr. Lieber had many Chinese students working in his lab, yes or no.
Mousseau said yes.
The law scholar said that the courtroom account made his ears perked up, because it asked the fundamental question of whether or not the government sees China as a reason for heightened suspicion.
The Justice Department has long claimed that their actions are based on what people have done, their conduct, and not by race, nationality, or any of those factors.
According to Michael German, a former FBI special agent turned whistle blower and a fellow with the Brennan Center for Justice, racial bias is just one type of bias that is documented within the FBI and DOJ. He sees that there is some kind of prosecution.
If the Justice Department focused their resources on investigating corporate executives instead of academics, they could find more people who didn't properly report their income. The problem of tax evasion is a problem, but it isn't the problem the China Initiative was intended to solve.
There are more fundamental questions that each case highlights for many critics of the China Initiative.
Lewis asked if the penalty for these kinds of disclosure violations was appropriate. She says that the verdict doesn't say anything about the China Initiative creating a larger threat narrative for people with connections to China.
Lewis said that the issues remain unresolved at the end of the trial. She says the trial was not about the China Initiative.
