Posted on 01/14/2021 8:16:29 PM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
A senior NASA scientist pleaded guilty on Jan. 13 to lying about his ties to a Chinese-backed program designed to harvest talents from the West and transfer intellectual property to China, the Justice Department announced.
Meyya Meyyappan, 66, joined NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) in 1996 and has been the chief scientist for exploration technology at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley since 2006.
He was charged with one count of making false statements and could face a maximum five-year prison sentence and up to $250,000 fine if convicted, according to a Justice Department press release. The court hearing is scheduled for June 16.
Prosecutors said that Meyyappan had participated in China’s state-run Thousand Talents Plan and held positions at universities in China, South Korea, and Japan without NASA’s knowledge. The Thousand Talents program has recruited thousands of experts globally since its inception in 2008, according to Chinese state media reports.
NASA prohibits “any outside employment activities” without approval, including engagement as a speaker or teacher, U.S. attorney Audrey Strauss said in the court complaint. As a NASA employee, Meyyappan is also required to report annually any additional income exceeding $5,000, gifts, and travel reimbursements.
Meyyappan failed to disclose these activities to NASA. Around 2016, he applied for and was accepted into the Thousand Talents Plan, through which he traveled to China and recommended other candidates into the program, according to prosecutors. Beginning in 2014, he worked as a visiting professor at a Chinese research university, giving lectures, writing research papers, and receiving compensation for his travel. He also started similar engagements at a South Korean university from 2009, and at a university in Japan from 2013.
(Excerpt) Read more at theepochtimes.com ...
The balls of this guy thinking that he was above reporting this. He knew the requirements, his colleagues knew, and undoubtedly his supervisor knew of his engagements.
“ Meyyappan failed to disclose these activities to NASA. ”
Someone is dropping the ball. They can not expect a spy to reveal their history. It is our responsibility to vet these people.
Now we know how China got to the moon.
Thousand Talents bump for later....
Foreigners, eh. . whatcha gonna do?
Meyya Meyyappan
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