FBI heat on Chinese-origin minds while global competition hots up

The Federal Bureau of Investigation conducted a day-long raid at the house of Wang Xiaofeng, a Chinese-American professor at Indiana University Bloomington, and his wife, Ninali Ma, on Friday. Multiple items were seized during the search, but the FBI is yet to disclose reasons for the operation.

A glance at Wang's résumé, however, offers some clues. Wang is one of the world's foremost experts in computer security. He is a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers as well as the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a member of the Association for Computing Machinery. He has also served as chairman of the Association for Computing Machinery's Special Interest Group on Security, Audit, and Control. He is rated as a top author according to CSRankings, and he holds the record for having the most publications in the field's top four conferences.

Yet, despite his solid academic credentials, Wang was subjected to an all-day FBI raid. With the FBI giving no reasons for the raid, one is forced to conclude it might have something to do with his Chinese roots.