Senate report: 'Rogue' Commerce security unit targeted Asian-American employees

A security unit within the Department of Commerce acted as “a rogue, unaccountable police force across multiple presidential administrations” targeting Asian-American department employees, a new Senate report based on allegations from over two dozen whistleblowers says. .

The unit, named the Investigations and Threat Management Service (ITMS), conducted unauthorized — and oftentimes “overzealous” — investigations that targeted those employees in an attempt to weed out supposed connections between them and the Chinese government beginning as early as 2014, the report says. .

In one case, ITMS investigated Chinese-born hydrologist Sherry Chen on charges of espionage and providing false statements, alleging she distributed unclassified information to a foreign national, the report reads. .