Congressman John Culberson (TX-07) issued the following statement after the indictment of two NASA supervisors involved in the Bo Jiang espionage case. Jiang, a Chinese national, was arrested at Dulles Airport in 2013 while trying to flee to China with a computer containing sensitive government information.
“Yesterday’s indictment is further proof of widespread negligence at NASA and throughout the Obama Administration when it comes to protecting U.S. intellectual property and sensitive information.
“I want to thank my predecessor Congressman Frank Wolf who understood the threat posed by the Chinese. His leadership on this issue exposed many of the problems that have led us to this point.
“The Obama Administration’s lax attitude toward cyber security at federal agencies has cost millions of Americans their personal privacy, put our national security at risk, and given our foreign competitors an economic advantage.
“Recent attacks on U.S. IT systems clearly show that the Chinese are after every bit of information they can get their hands on.
“American scientific knowledge is one of our most precious commodities, and we must do a better job protecting it.”
Congressman John Culberson represents the Seventh District of Texas and Chairs the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science (CJS), which oversees the Department of Commerce, the Department of Justice, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the National Science Foundation, and other related agencies.