And there are officials in the U.S. government and those in related circles who think people who have spent substantial time in China (and some other countries) are greater security risks. This leads to hurdles in getting security clearance and works against some real experts.
People with family members in China or some other countries are also often considered more suspect in the eyes of those officials. Here's our @nytimes story on these issues: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/1...
@ewong “Related circles” unfortunately includes Five Eyes partners. It is becoming very difficult for anyone who has lived and worked or studied in China to get a government job involving any kind of classified information. Paranoia is rampant and the result increasingly is the blind
@ewong Name one China expert who's never been to China.
@ewong So if an think tank finds out that you have CCP connections, no job for you. If an investment bank finds out that you have CCP connections, can you arrange a meeting with daddy? This means that there is now a big tech/finance/policy split.
@ewong One reason people like me end up in industry is that companies for the most part don't *CARE* what your political beliefs are. They *do* care about what you post online, but they aren't going to care about private beliefs.
@ewong And people like me who pretty loudly commie-symp. No way I am ever going to get a security clearance. Also, there is no way that I am going to put myself anywhere near classified information since I am going to be the first one they look at if anything goes missing.