FOIA Request: Records Related to Ending DOJ’s China Initiative
| Agency | Department of Justice |
|---|---|
| Type | FOIA Request |
| Issue | Center for Diplomacy and Global EngagementChina Initiative |
| Tracking | DFI FOIA No. 100-6-22 |
| Date | Feb 25, 2022 |
Despite China’s ongoing efforts to attack and undermine the national security interests of the U.S. and its allies, the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Assistant Attorney General for the National Security Division announced on February 23, 2022, that DOJ was ending its “China Initiative,” established to counter Chinese national security threats to the U.S. Major American universities, including the University of Pennsylvania (where the Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement was established in 2017), have been recipients of billions of dollars in value of foreign gifts and contracts. Through DOJ’s China Initiative, criminal investigations were conducted at major American universities, revealing extensive vulnerabilities of critical U.S. research and development materials (often developed at major American universities). Several prominent outside interest groups have lobbied extensively on behalf of university and college foreign source gifts and contracts, seeking to eliminate the China Initiative and other federal investigative efforts regarding China’s efforts to access critical American technologies at American universities. DFI’s FOIA request (to multiple DOJ entities) is for records of communications from and with outside interest groups who may have driven the Department’s policy changes.
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