A&M PROFESSOR CHARGED WITH CONSPIRACY
(Texas A&M)
According to the Department of Justice, a Texas A&M professor has been charged with conspiracy, making false statements and wire fraud.
53-year old Zhengdong Cheng is a professor in the College of Engineering at Texas A&M and a NASA researcher working on U.S. space projects.
According to authorities, Cheng, who led a team conducting research for NASA, willfully took steps to obscure his affiliations and collaboration with a Chinese University and at least one Chinese-owned company for several years.
The terms of Cheng’s grant prohibited participation, collaboration or coordination with China, any Chinese-owned company or any Chinese University, according to the charges.
Texas A&M System Chancellor John Sharp said the university takes security seriously and that they worked with the FBI during the investigation.
If we Aggies who follow the idea that “We do not lie, cheat, or steal, nor tolerate those who do” have any hopes, those hopes lie in the investigators, the prosecutors, and the jury who might hear this person’s case, in hopes that they feel the same way. If found innocent, so be it–that’s the American way. If found guilty, I hope that he receives the maximum punishment that the law will allow.
It makes me wonder how and why this person was ever hired in the first place; does anyone think that an unemployed aerospace engineer who worked for Boeing or McDonnell Douglas or a NASA employee would be given an honest job and such security clearances in China (and not one where the expectation would be to sellout his/her former employer)?
Punishment needs to be equal jail conditions and equal punishment that a Chinese university would inflict on an American professor for the same conspiracy crime in China.
If A&M actually wants to take national security seriously, then it should not be employing foreign nationals from countries that are hostile to us. This was an easy fix. I’m sure there were many qualified applicants for that position. Sounds like HR needs an overhaul.
Ironically, KWHI had a story at the end of July 2019 about the FBI director making statements regarding security at universities. From their story:
“The head of the FBI praised Texas A&M for their steps in protecting sensitive information and intellectual property from Chinese spies.
Christopher Wray, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, the nation’s universities and colleges could learn a thing or two from Texas A&M and its extra efforts.
The comment was in response to a statement made by Senator Ted Cruz, who said he has serious worries about universities protecting vital information that could be of national interest.”
According to A&M’s faculty directory, Cheng is listed as a professor on the Qatar campus, which is another one of those pathetic ideas to become “more international” and gain rank among universities rather than taking care of your own business and teaching students here.
I wonder if the FBI director would like to make a comment on this situation now knowing full well what he said about 13 months ago… or maybe Ted Cruz might like a new job…