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Committee revives DOJ 'CCP initiative' for economic espionage despite warnings from civil-rights advocates
Summary
The panel voted to report HR 1468 to create a DOJ initiative targeting economic espionage by the Chinese Communist Party; supporters said it focuses prosecution resources on IP theft, while opponents said the prior China Initiative led to wrongful prosecutions and racial profiling of Chinese-American researchers.
The House Judiciary Committee approved and ordered HR 1468, titled the Protect America's Innovation and Economic Security from CCP Act, which would reestablish a Department of Justice initiative focused on economic espionage and intellectual-property theft allegedly linked to the Chinese Communist Party.
Proponents described the proposal as a whole-of-government approach to protect R&D, universities and the defense industrial base from state-directed theft. Rep. Gooden said the CCP presents "the single greatest threat to the American people" and that a dedicated enforcement initiative is needed to safeguard innovation.
Opponents warned that the earlier China Initiative resulted in profiling and the prosecution of academics for paperwork errors rather than demonstrable espionage; they said the initiative damaged Asian-American researchers and chilled scientific collaboration. Several members pointed to past mistaken prosecutions that were later dismissed or overturned.
The committee adopted an amendment in the nature of a substitute with technical edits after discussion and reported the bill to the House. The debate reflected a split between national-security urgency and civil-rights concerns about racialized enforcement.
