Science, Law, and Money: The Crackdown

To praise Professor Charles Lieber as a scientist of exceptional erudition would be an understatement. Winning the ACS chemistry award at just 33 years old, the Harvard nanoscientist became greatly respected among his contemporaries, winning 30 notable awards in 30 years. Recently, he became the 30th person in history to achieve membership in the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Before his election, however, he was shackled in handcuffs and ushered into downtown Boston wearing a jailhouse jumpsuit with a bail set at $1 million.

Lieber was arrested because of his dealings with China. No, he has not been charged with any type of economic espionage or illegal exportation as a Communist Party member. Instead, he’s been charged with lying to investigators from the U.S. Department of Defense about his scientific work with China’s prestigious Thousand Talents Program (TTP).

The program is designed to recruit leading academic scholars to conduct research on behalf of the Chinese government by hosting “shadow labs” in China that mirror U.S. research. Contracts vary between TTP members: sometimes it is required for the member to build and train a team of post-doctoral students or to enroll at least five other researchers in the program. At least seven contracts noted that a TTP member could not cancel their contracts unless their Chinese employer consented.

Upon being asked about any involvement in TTP, Lieber denied affiliation. However, the Department of Defense claims that he received $50 thousand a month and a grant of $1.5 million to lead a lab at Wuhan University through the program.

Lieber’s cutting-edge efforts to map brain tumors with nanosensors rely on outside grants for paying salaries and buying equipment. In the United States, the two major funding sources, National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF), come from the federal government. To be funded by the NIH or NSF, one is legally required to disclose any foreign funding, research, or relationships, which includes TTP. Though participating in foreign programs isn’t illegal, Lieber isn’t the first one to be arrested for the nondisclosure of foreign links with TTP.

Last May, Emory University fired a husband-and-wife team of neuroscientists for allegedly failing to disclose their participation in the TTP. The duo, Shihua and Xiao-Jiang Li, conducted experiments on monkeys in a lab in Southern China to develop gene therapies for Huntington’s disease. Such large-animal studies are controversial in the U.S. and tend not to be funded. However, Christopher Ross, the director of neurobiology at Johns Hopkins, says such research “is very valuable for developing drugs because monkeys have similar brains to humans.” Ross collaborated on several papers with the couple and opined that “the removal of the Lis’ Huntington’s disease research in the U.S. is a substantial loss.”

However, if participating in the TTP isn't illegal, the question arises: Why did Lieber lie? The answer is less cynical than it appears.

Politics have made renowned scientists in the program, like Lieber, victims with a choice: fight for progress through lying or risk it all. Those who chose the latter and admitted their involvement have been investigated exceptionally for criminal activity, and researchers have been discharged from their positions over alleged mishandling or non-disclosure of the foreign funds. Other institutions are at risk of losing grant funds from federal and state agencies because of collaboration with foreign governments through joint research projects. By targeting individuals who participate in TTP as criminals and placing them under vexatious investigations, it becomes a threat to their jobs, research funds, and academic career even if the individual is innocent.

Before 2015, participating in the TTP was an honorable feat that was encouraged by universities. This is no surprise: the program covers extensive research from animal studies to mechanical robots while also providing a decent income and high-status position in the field. Then, it became apparent that the government surveys foreign programs based on political relationships rather than academic merit, which includes the aggravating tension between the United States and China. Similarly to the TTP, the German Academic Exchange Service Program (DAAD) grants research funds and provides highly qualified graduate students internships. But after the NIH repeatedly examined Chinese links in 2018, the Department of Defense had categorized the risk of individuals in DAAD differently from those in TTP, the latter constantly investigated. This crackdown on scientists will never be about just foreign programs. As China began to abuse this program to develop its military gage, the U.S. hypocritically accused China of manipulating scientists even though during the Cold War, the U.S. had recruited Soviet scientists to do research abroad for its government. However, this political turmoil had started long before its embodiment in research.

For several years, the U.S. accused China of distorting global trade by only allowing specific industries through generous subsidies into its market and limiting others. The U.S. even claimed that China bequeathed intellectual property from U.S. companies in return for access to its market run by large enterprises. After unsuccessful negotiations and multiple tariffs, the U.S. and China were in a trade war. This ever-growing tension between these nations has led to consequences, which upsettingly targets the scientific community.

Firstly, the United States placed significant limitations on visas based on ethnicity: Chinese graduates wanting to study robotics, aviation, or high-tech manufacturing in the U.S. could no longer apply for five-year study visas. Instead, they were only eligible to apply for mere one-year visas. Likewise, scientific conferences have reported a decrease in Chinese attendees due to delayed visas. Almost 300 Chinese nationals withdrew or did not show up for the American Geophysical Union meeting in Washington DC last December, nearly doubling last year’s absences. A spokesperson told “Nature,” a scientific journal, that the only reason those scientists were unable to attend was due to delayed visas.

But many scientists have warned that the government’s involvement in academia, specifically the TTP, may lead to the racial profiling of Chinese Americans in the scientific field. A paper published in “Science” already displayed the concerns of biomedical societies that represent Chinese American researchers. It reports that many scientists of Chinese descent working in the United States are in danger of experiencing “scapegoating, stereotyping, and racial profiling.”

If this crackdown continues to escalate, the consequences will be terrifying: the foundations of collaboration, inclusiveness, and respect in science will shatter. Caltech president Thomas Rosenbaum says that formulating a new policy regarding research collaboration “is the narrow line we are walking now. We want to remain the destination for the most talented researchers from around the world. It is fundamental to our ability to create knowledge.”

As for Lieber, he currently faces at most five years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of $250 thousand. His hearing filled the world with astonishment, especially from his closest peers. Brian Timko, a colleague of Lieber, says that “everybody in Charlie’s lab knew exactly why you were there: to do good science and get it published. The Charlie I know was not driven by money. He was driven by science.” If this crackdown persists, Lieber may not be the only target of the U.S. government's pursuit. Behind Lieber are about 100 former lab members from China who have chosen to stay in the U.S. These are China’s most brilliant minds that the U.S. undeniably needs to keep its technological edge, and they may just become other victims as we compromise science for law and money.