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After Missteps, U.S. Tightens Rules for Espionage Cases

Source: New york Times

Photo

The Justice Department last year dropped all charges against Xiaoxing Xi, head of Temple University’s physics department; he had been accused of sharing sensitive American-made technology with China. Credit Mark Makela for The New York Times

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department has issued new rules that give prosecutors in Washington greater oversight and control over national security cases after the collapse of several high-profile prosecutions led to allegations that Chinese-Americans were being singled out as spies.

The new rules are intended to prevent such missteps, but without undermining a counterespionage mission that is a top priority for the Obama administration.

In December 2014, the Justice Department dropped charges against two former Eli Lilly scientists, Guoqing Cao and Shuyu Li, who had been accused of leaking proprietary information to a Chinese drugmaker. Three months later, prosecutors dropped a case against Sherry Chen, a government hydrologist in Ohio who had been charged with secretly downloading information about dams.

Then in September, the Justice Department dismissed all charges against a Temple University professor, Xiaoxing Xi, after leading physicists testified that prosecutors had entirely misunderstood the science underpinning their case.

“We cannot tolerate another case of Asian-Americans being wrongfully suspected of espionage,” Representative Judy Chu, Democrat of California, said last fall. “The profiling must end.”

While those cases raised the specter of Chinese espionage, none explicitly charged the scientists as spies. The cases involved routine criminal laws such as wire fraud, so national security prosecutors in Washington did not oversee the cases.

In a letter last month to federal prosecutors nationwide, Deputy Attorney General Sally Q. Yates said that would change. All cases affecting national security, even tangentially, now require coordination and oversight in Washington. That had always been the intention of the rule, but Ms. Yates made it explicit.

“The term ‘national security issue’ is meant to be a broad one,” she wrote.

Ms. Yates told federal prosecutors that consulting with experienced national security prosecutors in Washington would help “ensure prompt, consistent and effective responses” to national security cases.

The letter, which was not made public, was provided to The New York Times by a government official.

John P. Carlin, the Justice Department’s top national security prosecutor, reorganized his staff in Washington in recent years to focus more aggressively on preventing theft of America’s trade secrets. The new rules mean that espionage experts will review cases like Dr. Xi’s. Such cases “shall be instituted and conducted under the supervision” of Mr. Carlin or other top officials, the rules say.

Peter R. Zeidenberg, a lawyer for the firm Arent Fox, who represented Dr. Xi and Ms. Chen, called the new rules “a very positive step.”

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Sherry Chen, a government hydrologist in Ohio, was charged with economic espionage in 2014. The case was dropped five months later. Credit Maddie McGarvey for The New York Times

“It’s welcome, and it’s overdue,” he said. “A bad reaction would be ‘We’re not going to do anything. Everything is fine.’ ”

Several of the cases fell apart when defense lawyers confronted prosecutors with new evidence or previewed the arguments they planned to make in court. In traditional white-collar criminal investigations, those conversations between prosecutors and defense lawyers often happen before charges are filed. In cases involving even a whiff of espionage, however, such conversations rarely happen. Authorities worry that suspects, tipped off to the investigation, will run or destroy evidence.

The absence of those conversations makes it important, then, that such cases receive an extra layer of review, defense lawyers said.

Ms. Yates did not mention the botched cases in her letter. But at the Justice Department, they were regarded as unfortunate — and perhaps preventable — black eyes that detracted from a string of successful espionage prosecutions. The United States faces an onslaught of economic espionage and other spying from China. Last year, Chinese hackers stole a trove of government data — including Social Security numbers and fingerprints — on more than 21 million people.

Last month, Su Bin, a Chinese businessman, pleaded guilty to trying to hack into American defense contractors to steal information on the F-22 and F-35 fighter jets and Boeing’s C-17 military cargo plane. In January, a Chinese citizen pleaded guilty to trying to steal corn seeds from American companies and ship them to China to replicate their genetic properties.

In the Obama administration’s most direct confrontation with China, the Justice Department in 2014 charged five members of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army with hacking into prominent American companies.

Mr. Zeidenberg and others have argued that rushed cases create suspicion and unfairly tarnish reputations. In the case against the Eli Lilly scientists, prosecutors were unsparing in their description.

“If the superseding indictment in this case could be wrapped up in one word, that word would be ‘traitor,’” Cynthia Ridgeway, an assistant United States attorney, told a federal court in Indiana last year, according to the Indianapolis Business Journal.

The Justice Department gave no explanation for later dropping the case, saying only that it was done “in the interests of justice.”

Prosecutors made a similar statement last year when dropping charges against Dr. Xi. The dismissal suggested investigators did not understand and did not do enough to learn the science before they brought charges. Prosecutors had accused Dr. Xi, chairman of Temple’s physics department, with sharing schematics for a piece of American-made laboratory equipment, a pocket heater, with China. After leading scientists — including the inventor of the pocket heater — testified that the schematics showed an entirely different type of heater, the Justice Department dropped the case.

Though prosecutors dropped charges against Ms. Chen, the government has said it intends to fire her. She is fighting that decision.

Vote Instruction for DE 2016 Election

初选党派更换截止日期 2/26/2016
初选登记截止日期 4/2/2016
海外公民或军人初选截止日期 4/11/2016

大选初选日期 4/26/2016
州内初选日期 9/13/2016
大选日期 11/8/2016

有关投票选举的信息请查阅官方网站
http://elections.delaware.gov/index.shtml

一 选民 登记:

居住在特拉华的年满18周岁美国公民才能投票。 投票人无精神病,非重罪犯(并非所有,详情查看官网),必须登记才能投票。可以直接在网上登记:

https://ivote.de.gov/voterlogin.aspx

登记后会收到delaware polling place card

二 重要日期:

初选 (General Primary) 04/26/2016 (登记截止日 4/2/2016)
大选(General Election) 11/08/2016 (登记截止日10/15/2016)

初选只有登记为民主党或共和党的选民才可以参加。如果你希望你喜欢的候选人能够顺利进入大选,你就应该在2/26日前登记或更改党派, 并参加该党的初选。

完整的选举日期

http://elections.delaware.gov/calendar/2016ElectionCalendar.pdf

三 参加投票:

缺席投票(Vote By Absentee Ballot)的信息可在以下链接中找到

http://elections.delaware.gov/voter/absenteeballot.shtml

投票地点 (Polling Place)

显示在Delaware Polling Place Card上,也可以在网上查询

https://ivote.de.gov/voterlogin.aspx

四 联系

New Castle County Office
Phone: 302-577-3464 Fax: 302-577-6545

Kent County Office
Phone: 302-739-4498 Fax: 302-739-4515

Sussex County Office
Phone: 302-856-5367 Fax: 302-856-5082

(智剑无敌 )

Liang juror to face judge for ‘lie’ about dad’s shooting conviction

By Emily Saul, New York Post

A Brooklyn judge will convene a special hearing to question the juror accused of lying his way onto the trial of ex-cop Peter Liang in the accidental killing of unarmed Akai Gurley.

Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun will determine whether the manslaughter conviction against the former NYPD officer should be set aside, given the bombshell discovery that the juror, Michael Vargas, did not disclose during jury selection that his dad had done time for shooting a friend.

Vargas hid from Chun that his estranged father had served time on a manslaughter conviction — for accidentally shooting a friend — despite the fact that he’d revealed the information to another judge just hours earlier as he was questioned as part of another jury pool on a different case.

Liang’s defense team submitted a motion Tuesday asking Chun to set aside the manslaughter verdict — possibly netting the former rookie a new trial — after Vargas blabbed about his dad.

The proceeding will take place April 13, a day before Liang is due to be sentenced for the fatal shooting of unarmed Akai Gurley in a housing project stairwell in Nov 2014.

Gurley and his girlfriend were on the landing below Liang when his gun went off–the bullet ricocheting off the wall and piercing Gurley’s heart.

Liang faces up to 15 years in prison on the manslaughter charge, but Brooklyn DA Ken Thompson has recommended a no-jail sentence.

Vargas did not immediately return a call for comment.

Source: http://nypost.com/2016/04/07/liang-juror-to-face-judge-for-lie-about-dads-shooting-conviction/

Run for Finance Supervisor for PTA

家酉

经常听到同胞抱怨华裔在美国被歧视或不被重视,本人不认同,说此话的同胞有无扪心自问一下:“我行使或参与美国宪法赋予人民的权利和义务,去投票、做陪审员或者参与公益活动?我有没有为维护自己的权益勇敢的站出来?” 从个人经历的一件小事,我认为美国是一个真正“机会平等,公平竞争”的国家。
到美后我一直是全职妈妈,过着相夫教子的生活,相对上班妈妈时间比较机动,有更多机会参与两个女儿的学校活动,为各种活动做义工、捐赠所需物品或者帮助去募捐等。大女儿上学前班时学区白人占95%,几乎每天拿回些表格让我填写做义工,其中有一份表格是“PTA Treasurer”。财务出身的我未加细看便把自己的名字填入了空白处,哪想过了一段时间,女儿告诉我今晚是PTA竞选大会!当时便把我逗乐了,做个义工搞得这么兴师动众,我不去可以吗?谁爱干谁干,先生告诉我PTA Officers是需要通过选举产生表格上写得清清楚楚,问题是我沒仔细看,既然自己闯的祸自己得去收拾烂摊子。到了会场那竞选场面你美利坚总统也不过如此罢了,各种有望成功的侯选人名字贴得到处都是。选举准时开始,提名人逐步逐个报出每个职位和候选人名单,如此职位仅有一候选人,那这职位就是此人;但如有两人或以上各候选人必须上台做个简单的竞选演说,然后家长教师会会员投票。轮到报财务主管候选人名单时,提名人只报出一候选人名字,接着马上问到会者如无人想参与竞选,那此人就自然当选财务主管。个人性格使然,本想放弃此职位的我,举手站起来发问:“为什么没听到报我的名字?”提名人藉口无法念出我的名和姓,我说念不出和不念是完全不同的两回事。接着我们俩候选人分别上台做了简单的自我介绍和为什么觉得自己更适合做财务主管,我简明扼要介绍自己的财务背景和到美后的情况,另一候选人发表了长篇自我介绍,她是地方名人但没有任何专业背景。会员投票结果是50对50,为了最终的定夺,所有理事长和校长去另一房间再次投票,结果是我胜出!
通过这件事,我体会到了什么是“机会平等,公平竞争”。自己先勇敢的跨出去,机会是平等的,竞争也是公平的”!当然在工作中难免遇到困难,也受到过威胁,这都是后话。美国毕竟是一個法治國家,两年任期届满时,全体同仁挽留我参加竞选下两年的任期,由于打算搬家我婉拒了;抱怨不能解决问题,只有站出来发声参与,才能从根本上解决华裔在美的处境!

The Committee of 100 submits the following comment on Privacy Act

To Whom It May Concern:

The Committee of 100 submits the following comment on Privacy Act: Implementation of Exemptions; Department of Homeland Security/ALL–038 Insider Threat Program System of Records, Docket Number DHS-2015-0050:

The Privacy Act was enacted to safeguard against misuse and abuse of information and data about an individual collected by the government. DHS proposes major, extensive exemptions from the Privacy Act under the National Insider Threat Program, including avoidance of accounting for disclosure, denial of an individual from accessing his or her own records, and collection and retention of information about an individual regardless of relevancy or accuracy and without notification.

The Committee of 100 strongly supports law enforcement in general, and has done so in the past. There is a singular concern in this instance that the DHS proposal is too broad and should reflect a needed protection or assurance about the importance of protection of innocent individuals who may be caught up in DHS’ activities and processes.

Historically in our country, Asian Americans have been subjected to incredible discrimination including the Chinese Exclusion Act. Again, during the Second World War, individual census data was used to identify, collect and intern Japanese Americans although such disclosure was prohibited by law. In more recent times, an overzealous desire to protect American properties has overstepped legal boundaries. A Chinese American federal contractor was prosecuted by a biased investigation, which ultimately led to the presiding federal judge apologizing for the inappropriate prosecution and treatment at the end of the trial. Another Chinese American federal employee was wrongfully accused by an unreliable source based on the former’s national origin; serious damage had already been inflicted on the individual by the time the government dismissed her case. These matters shattered dreams, and destroyed careers, lives, and financial security.

Today, hundreds of thousands of Asian Americans serve our nation loyally and honorably as federal employees and contractors. The DHS proposal, as it stands, increases the risk that innocent individuals will be falsely accused in secret due to misunderstanding, prejudice, or
bigotry, and subject to unjust and damaging investigations and prosecutions with no recourse.

Therefore, the Committee of 100 recommends that the DHS proposal be modified to allow, at a minimum, for:
 An individual to be allowed to review at least a summary of his or her security file upon request;
 An individual, upon investigation or when accused of wrongdoing, to be allowed full access to his or her security file as part of due process;
 Irrelevant and inaccurate information to be purged from the individual’s records when their status is clear;
 Publicly available statistical summaries to be produced to track and monitor the status and trends of the collection and use of information;
 Third-party monitoring to be established to review regularly the inherent policies and practices related to the program.
Thank you for considering our comments.

Sincerely,

Herman Li
Acting Chair

Download PDF: http://www.pavatar.us/Documents/C-100Comment20160324.pdf

Link to the  Proposed Rule document: https://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=DHS_FRDOC_0001-1439

Possible turn for Peter Liang: Juror expressed shock, first time revealed own father jailed for accidental shooting

Jurors expressed shock and dismay Friday over Brooklyn District Attorney Kenneth Thompson’s recommendation of a no-jail sentence for the ex-NYPD cop who killed Akai Gurley.

“What was the point of prosecuting him?” asked a 62-year-old juror who requested anonymity. “What did we do this for?”

“I agree he doesn’t deserve tremendous time,” the juror added, “but if something is wrong, you shouldn’t get a slap on the wrist.”

Former Officer Peter Liang faces up to 15 years in prison after he was convicted of manslaughter in the November 2014 slaying of Gurley, 28.

The unarmed father was mortally wounded when a bullet fired by Liang ricocheted into his chest inside a darkened stairwell at the Pink Houses in East New York.

Thompson has been under attack from Gurley’s loved ones and supporters since he sent a letter to the sentencing judge recommending Liang perform 500 hours of community service, five years’ probation and home confinement for six months.

“Wow. Is this right?” a stunned second juror said after being told about the letter by a Daily News reporter.

“That’s ridiculous.”

BROOKLYN DA KENNETH THOMPSON CALLED ‘TRAITOR’ FOR NOT SEEKING JAIL TIME FOR EX-NYPD COP PETER LIANG OVER AKAI GURLEY’S DEATH

The 62-year-old juror noted that his own father served more than seven years in prison for accidentally shooting a friend.

“You cannot put away the average person’s thoughts here just because they are police officers,” the juror said. “They deserve to be prosecuted and sentenced just like everyone else who has the same background or committed the same crime.”

The Brooklyn resident said he believes Thompson was swayed by pressure from the Asian community, which vigorously protested the charges brought against Liang.

“I think the Asian community played a lot with the DA’s decision and got to him,” the juror said.

But not all of the jurors had harsh words for Thompson.

“He is doing his job and I can’t question him,” said Carlton Screen, 69, the only African-American among the 12-person panel. “That’s how he felt and he is doing what he needs to do as a man in the position, the district attorney.”

GREENE: BROOKLYN DA NEEDS TO BE CLEAR ON AKAI GURLEY DEATH

The jurors spoke out a day after a remorseful Liang offered a face-to-face apology to Kimberly Ballinger, the mother of Gurley’s 3-year-old daughter Akaila.

Liang is slated to be sentenced on April 14.

NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton praised Thompson for his “courage” in urging the judge to spare Liang a prison sentence.

“Thompson has a right to make these recommendations,” Bratton said on 1010 WINS radio.

“He is intimate with all the circumstances in this case and I applaud him for making this decision.”

 

 

 

Source: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/akai-gurley-jurors-express-shock-da-request-no-jail-article-1.2578181

STATEMENT OF ASSEMBLYMAN WILLIAM COLTON (D, WFP, 47 A.D. KINGS) ON THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE KINGS COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY ON THE SENTENCING OF PETER LIANG

While the Press Release issued by the Kings County District Attorney, at least does not compound the injustice done to Peter Liang by recommending jail time, nonetheless it fails to correct the injustice created by the conviction of Peter Liang for manslaughter.

. I am pleased to see that the statement of the District Attorney contradicts the closing statement made by its prosecuting attorney in the case who told the jury that the defendant was somehow aware that a person was in the stairwell and turned and pointed his gun intentionally shooting at the victim. This gross misstatement was not based on any facts or evidence presented in the case and should have resulted in the granting of the Defense Attorney’s motion for a mistrial.
A sentencing recommendation of five years probation, with six months of home confinement and 500 hundred hours of community service leaves Peter Liang, marked as a convicted felon.

Never before has a defendant been convicted of manslaughter based upon such a lack of law or facts to justify such a conviction.

The unjust conviction came about under a unique fact pattern which brought together both Peter Liang, a rookie NYC Police Officer, teamed with another rookie NYC Police officer, and Akai Gurley, a totally innocent person using the stairways because of the lack of dependability of the building elevators, in a notoriously crime ridden and dark stairway directly resulting from the failure of the NYC Housing Authority to maintain the Pink houses in a safe and habitable state.
Since the conviction we have seen both the New York Housing Authority and the New York City Police Department scampering to correct their own internal policy failures, which bear the true cause of this tragedy. NYCHA seeks to shift blame to its workers despite evidence that the lights were out for months and not merely one half hour from the end of a workers shift. The New York Police Department seeks to blame a training officer its charges failed to adequately provide CPR training to the two rookie officers, while promising to issue a directive no longer partnering two rookie officers.
Justice can only be achieved in this case by dismissing the conviction as not supported upon law or facts or in the alternative declaring a mistrial and overturning the conviction. Any other solution simply perpetuates the injustice and results in the continued seeking a scapegoat to distract from the failure of city agencies and city officials to meet their obligations properly.

To avoid a repeat of tragic event, city government and its officials must do better to deliver services to protect and serve the people of New York City.

Brooklyn DA recommends house arrest for Peter Liang in Akai Gurley death

Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson is recommending no jail time and six months house arrest for former NYPD officer Peter Liang in the fatal shooting of Akai Gurley.

Liang was convicted of manslaughter last month for killing Gurley while on a vertical patrol in a stairwell at the Pink Houses in 2014. He faces up to 15 years in prison, but a statement released by Thompson says justice would best be served with a mixture of house arrest, probation and community service.

Here is the full text of Thompson’s statement:
“Peter Liang was indicted, prosecuted and subsequently convicted by a jury because his reckless actions caused an innocent man to lose his life. There is no evidence, however, that he intended to kill or injure Akai Gurley. When Mr. Liang went into that building that night, he did so as part of his job and to keep the people of Brooklyn and our city safe.

“In sentencing a defendant, the facts of the crime and the particular characteristics of that person must be considered. Mr. Liang has no prior criminal history and poses no future threat to public safety. Because his incarceration is not necessary to protect the public, and due to the unique circumstances of this case, a prison sentence is not warranted.

“Justice will be best served if Mr. Liang is sentenced to five years of probation, with the condition that he serves six months of home confinement with electric monitoring and performs 500 hours of community service. I have provided this sentencing recommendation to Justice Chun.

“As I have said before, there are no winners here. But the sentence that I have requested is just and fair under the circumstances of this case. From the beginning, this tragic case has always been about justice and not about revenge.”

Prosecutors portrayed the rookie police officer as a coward who fired his weapon into a darkened stairwell after he became startled. The bullet ricocheted off the wall and killed Gurley, an innocent, unarmed man simply taking the stairs. The defense insisted he fired by mistake and that Liang was wracked with remorse.

Following the DA’s announcement Wednesday, Police Benevolent Association president Pat Lynch released a statement, saying, “Police officers are human being and as such can make mistakes while risking their lives to protect the community. Criminalizing a mistake, even a tragic accidental discharge like this, serves no good purpose. The reasons cited by the DA for justifying no jail time in this tragedy are the very same reasons that the officer should not have been indicted in the first place.”

The shooting happened in a year of debate nationwide about police killings of black men, and activists have looked to Liang’s trial as a counterweight to cases in which grand juries have declined to indict officers, including the cases of Michael Brown in Missouri and Eric Garner in New York. Like Gurley, Brown and Garner were black and unarmed.

The verdict came after two full days of deliberations. Sentencing is scheduled for April 14.

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