Through a letter written to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, 10 senators pressed for details of reports alleging that Chinese Intelligence outposts are operating inside the United States.
Citing details from conservative news outlets, the lawmakers spoke of grave concerns about Overseas Chinese Service Centers (OCSCs) being run by the intelligence arm of the Chinese government. They pointed to seven nonprofits across the country, including in the Carolinas Chinese Chamber of Commerce in Charlotte, N.C.; San Francisco, Calif.; Houston, Texas; Omaha, Neb.; St. Paul, Minn.; Salt Lake City, Utah; and St. Louis, Mo. All were reportedly created within the last decade.
Together, U.S. Sens. Ted Budd, Thom Tillis, Ted Cruz, John Cornyn, Deb Fischer, Pete Ricketts, Eric Schmitt, Josh Hawley, Mike Lee and Mitt Romney linked the OCSCs to the United Front Work Department (UFWD), identified by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission as a Chinese intelligence service in its annual report to Congress. Furthering the connection, they stated that U.S.-based representatives of these organizations met with officials from the Chinese Ministry of Public Security on a trip overseas.
“Further, the ongoing discovery of additional OCSCs raises the question of whether DOJ’s response sufficiently addresses the threat, particularly because OCSCs have openly operated for several years and their activities have been reportedly documented in Chinese state media and social media posts,” the senators wrote. “The DOJ must ensure that our adversaries such as the CCP are not operating intelligence operations or engaging in repression on U.S. soil.”
By the end of the month, they have asked for details on what the DOJ is doing to identify and act against any illegal OCSC moves, as well as to bar further creations by the People’s Republic of China. They also asked if the DOJ had determined if any of the OCSCs specifically targeted by the senators here had actually engaged in illegal activities.