The Scientist and the Spy

by Mara Hvistendahl

  Robert Mo signed his messages to me “Hailong,” but in his interactions with many contacts in the United States, including Kevin, he went by “Robert,” so I have used that name throughout. Tsien Hsue-Shen spelled his name several different ways throughout his lifetime. I stuck with the version that he used in an application declaring his intent to file for U.S. citizenship, filed in 1949.

  In notes referencing court cases, I have provided the document number from the case docket and the date of filing, not the date of the hearing. The principal case cited in this book is United States v. Mo Hailong, 4:13-cr-00147-RP-CFB (S.D. Iowa 2013–2016).

  Additional cases cited include:

  Bowman v. Monsanto Co., 569 U.S. 278 (2013)

  Monsanto v. E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., 13-1349 (Fed. Cir., 2014)

  Pioneer Hi-Bred v. Holden Foundation Seeds, 35 F.3d 1226 (8th Cir., 1994)

  United States v. Guoqing Cao and Shuyu Li, 1:14-mc-00071-WTL-TAB (S.D. Ind., 2013–2014)

  United States v. Sherry Chen, 14-cr-00149 (S.D. Ohio, 2014)

  United States v. Dongfan “Greg” Chung, 08-cr-00024 (C.D. Cal., 2008–2010)

  United States v. Dongfan “Greg” Chung, 10-50074 (9th Cir., 2011)

  United States v. Ji Li Huang, 4:12-cr-00296 (W.D. Mo., 2012–2013)

  United States v. Kexue Huang, 3:15-cr-00234 (S.D. Ind., 2010–2011)

  United States v. Liew et al., 4:11-cr-00573-JSW (N.D. Cal., 2011–2015)

  United States v. Walter Liew, 14-10367 (9th Cir., 2017)

  United States v. Hong Meng, 10-cr-00056 (D. Del., 2009–2010)

  United States v. Gary Min aka Yonggang Min, 06-cr-00121 (D. Del., 2006–2007)

  United States v. Michael David Mitchell, 09-cr-00425 (E.D. Va., 2009–2010)

  United States v. Xiaoxing Xi, 15-cr-00204 (E.D. Pa., 2015)

  Xiaoxing Xi v. FBI Special Agent Andrew Haugen and John Doe(s), 2:17-cv-02132-RBS (E.D. Pa., 2017–present)

  Readers looking for more information on specific industrial espionage cases can find a detailed, searchable database at https://jeremy-wu.info/fed-cases/. The database allows users to sort cases by date, company, and status.

  NOTES

  CHAPTER ONE

  AVOID ALL NEGATIVE TALK: A Dino’s Storage employee told me that the company regularly updates the message, usually with quotes from the Book of Proverbs. When I visited Bondurant in July 2017, the marquee read RUN FROM EVIL THOUGHTS. At another moment, Google Street View showed it reading DO NOT SPEAK IMPULSIVELY.

  toward the corn: Details about Cass Bollman’s role are sourced from an interview with him in Bondurant, Iowa, on July 17, 2017. I also relied on testimony given by Bollman in court at U.S. v. Mo Hailong, Document 372 (May 19, 2015), and on the incident report that Bollman filed about the encounter. (Cass Bollman, “Field Interrogation Report,” Polk County Sheriff’s Office, September 6, 2011.)

  South of here walking: Dale Petersen, “Calls for Service Report,” Polk County Sheriff’s Office, September 6, 2011.

  doing his morning rounds: This account, and what follows, is based on interviews with Bollman and with the Monsanto contract farmer, who did not wish to be named because of concern for his family’s privacy. The field in question is technically called a grower plot, meaning that it produced hybrids for production.

  spliced with genes: Interview with the Monsanto contract farmer.

  the Monsanto plot was unmarked: U.S. v. Mo Hailong, Documents 1 (December 11, 2013) and 6 (December 17, 2013).

  detassel the female rows: Interview with the Monsanto contract farmer.

  Bondurant, population 3,860: “Population & Housing Occupancy Status 2010: Bondurant, Iowa,” United States Census Bureau American FactFinder, https://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=DEC_10_PL_GCTPL2.ST13&prodType=table. Racial breakdown is drawn from “Race and Hispanic or Latino Origin in Iowa’s Incorporated Places: 2010,” State Data Center of Iowa, http://www.iowadatacenter.org/archive/2011/02/cityrace.pdf.

  by a gray SUV: Bollman, “Field Interrogation Report.”

  90 percent of the starch: “Corn Overview,” Georgia Corn Growers Association, http://georgiacorngrowers.org/corn-overview/.

  percentage of a McDonald’s: Michael Pollan, The Omnivore’s Dilemma (New York: Penguin, 2007), 117.

  grown in a corn by-product: M. El-Marsafy et al., “Evaluation of Various Brands of Corn Steep Liquor for Penicillin Production,” Starch—Starke 27, no. 3 (January 1975): 91–93.

  cosmetics contain corn: F. A. Andersen et al., “Final Report of the Safety Assessment of Cosmetic Ingredients Derived from Zea Mays (Corn),” International Journal of Toxicology 30, no. 3 supplement (May 2011), https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1091581811403832.

  ninety-three million acres: “Charts and Maps, Field Crops: Corn,” U.S. Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Statistics Service (USDA NASS), https://www.nass.usda.gov/Publications/Todays_Reports/reports/pspl0319.pdf.

  produces more corn: “Charts and Maps, Field Crops: Corn: Acreage & Change from Previous Year by State,” U.S. Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Statistics Service (USDA NASS), https://www.nass.usda.gov/Charts_and_Maps/Field_Crops/index.php.

  millions of dollars in grants: “Monsanto Soybean Breeding Chair,” Iowa State University Department of Agronomy, https://www.agron.iastate.edu/tags/monsanto. Also see “Monsanto,” Iowa State University Foundation, https://www.foundation.iastate.edu/s/1463/giving/interior.aspx?pgid=1027&gid=1&cid=3248.

  Type of Suspicious Activity: Bollman, “Field Interrogation Report.”

  CHAPTER TWO

  Did we do anything wrong?: Interview with Robert Mo.

  spotted him and Wang Lei: A description of this encounter appears in U.S. v. Mo Hailong, Documents 1 (December 11, 2013) and 6 (December 17, 2013). Robert maintains that he was driving.

  more than $100,000: The judge who heard Robert’s case noted that at DBN, he “made easily three and almost four times” his previous salary of $40,000. U.S. v. Mo Hailong, Document 661 (November 1, 2016).

  the company’s legitimate business: Interview with Robert Mo. Investigators also acknowledge that much of his work for DBN was legal.

  Robert had complained: U.S. v. Mo Hailong, Document 558 (December 22, 2015).

  waged bloody battles: Jim Yardley, “For Visitors, Graveyard Holds Memories of a Bloody Era,” New York Times, April 10, 2006, https://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/10/world/asia/for-visitors-graveyard-holds-memories-of-a-bloody-era.html. Other general background on Daichi during the Cultural Revolution is drawn from Guangyuan wenshi zike, ed. Cai Yuanzao (Guangyuan, Sichuan: Guangyuan City Government, n.d.).

  a world of jagged walls: Details about mines from the era are drawn from Ren Zongjing, “Behind the Clouds,” in Exiled Pilgrim: Memoirs of Pre–Cultural Revolution Zhiqing, ed. Peng Deng (Leiden: Brill, 2015).

  His mother, He Fangxun: Interview with Robert Mo.

  raised chickens and rabbits: Interview with Robert Mo.

  march to the mayor’s office: Ibid. I was not able to independently confirm Robert’s participation in the protest, but his lawyers gave the claim enough credence that they mentioned it in court. U.S. v. Mo Hailong, Document 661.

  took refuge in the U.S. embassy: Jim Mann, “Chinese Dissident Fang and Wife Fly to Britain,” Los Angeles Times, June 26, 1990, https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-06-26-mn-722-story.html. Fang eventually took a post at the University of Arizona in Tucson.

  started his first PhD: Interview with Robert Mo; confirmed by sources close to the case.

  married in 1998: The date of Carolyn’s marriage to Robert, and information on her life before leaving China, appear in U.S. v. Mo Hailong, Document 12 (December 27, 2013).

  the organization that kept tabs: Anne-Marie Brady, “Magic Weapons: China’s
Political Influence Activities Under Xi Jinping,” conference paper presented in Arlington, Virginia, September 16–17, 2017.

  took an untenured research position: A sampling of papers that Robert Mo published while affiliated with Florida International University can be found at https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/2057010675_H_L_Mo.

  around $40,000 a year: U.S. v. Mo Hailong, Document 661.

  a visit from the police: “Offense Incident Report,” Miami-Dade Police Department, October 21, 2004. Also see U.S. v. Mo Hailong, Document 12.

  lined up the position: Interviews with Robert Mo and other sources.

  Forbes China rich list: “China’s 400 Richest,” Forbes (2011), https://www.forbes.com/lists/2011/74/china-billionaires-11_rank.html.

  enough for a down payment: “Mortgage deed: Hailong Mo and Ping Li,” prepared by Ariel Melendez, Sky Investments, November 24, 2009.

  PhD in veterinary science: Information on Mo Yun’s background appears at U.S. v. Mo Hailong and Mo Yun, Document 90 (July 21, 2014).

  three thousand dollars in capital: Xiaoying Dong et al., Zhongguancun Model: Driving the Dual Engines and Science and Technology and Capital (Singapore: Springer, 2018), 218. Shao reportedly founded DBN with twenty thousand RMB. The company was officially incorporated in 1994.

  “modernize” people’s diets: Mindi Schneider, “Developing the Meat Grab,” Journal of Peasant Studies 41, no. 4 (2014): 613–33, doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03066150.2014.918959.

  created a subsidiary: “Beijing Kings Nower Seed Science & Technology,” LinkedIn, https://www.linkedin.com/company/beijing-kings-nower-seed-science-&-technology-co-ltd.

  by one count 8,700: “China Seeks to Develop Global Seed Power,” Wall Street Journal, May 23, 2015, https://www.wsj.com/articles/china-seeks-to-develop-global-seed-power-1427049765.

  swipe top-notch seeds: This shortcut is explained in various court documents, but particularly in U.S. v. Mo Hailong, Documents 559–2 through 559–5 (December 22, 2015).

  he needed to be careful: U.S. v. Mo Hailong, Document 558 (December 22, 2015).

  one hundred seed lines: U.S. v. Mo Hailong, Document 290–1 (April 27, 2015).

  five thousand samples: Ibid.

  lived in fear: In our interviews, Robert Mo maintained that he feared that the seeds would be intercepted by Chinese customs, because it is illegal to import seed into China without a permit. But his actions suggest that he also feared the haul might be intercepted by U.S. customs.

  two thousand seeds: U.S. v. Mo Hailong, Document 559–3 (December 22, 2015). Robert asked Dr. Li in an online chat, “The seed quantity is still inadequate? There were more than 2000 pieces for each variety. Too heavy—I lived in fear for more than a week.”

  escorted back to China: Ibid.

  followed by the Chinese press: See, for example, “She jiandie an: Zhong Dongfan chong qiu jin 16 nian,” Sina.com, February 2, 2010, http://dailynews.sina.com/bg/news/int/singtao/20100209/04121185039.html.

  fifteen years in federal prison: “Former Boeing Engineer Sentenced to Nearly 16 Years in Prison for Stealing Aerospace Secrets for China,” Department of Justice, February 8, 2010, https://archives.fbi.gov/archives/losangeles/press-releases/2010/la020810.htm. Chung was seventy-three at the time of his conviction but seventy-four by his sentencing.

  save money on flights: U.S. v. Mo Hailong, Document 558.

  Let Dr. Li come: Ibid. In a chat with a co-worker, Robert described the DO NOT ENTER signs and the gun violence in America.

  CHAPTER THREE

  “an unusual and brazen scheme”: John Eligon and Patrick Zuo, “Designer Seed Thought to Be Latest Target by Chinese,” New York Times, February 4, 2014, https://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/05/us/chinese-implicated-in-agricultural-espionage-efforts.html?_r=0.

  Stealing the color white: Del Quentin Wilber, “How a Corporate Spy Swiped Plans for DuPont’s Billion-Dollar Color Formula,” Bloomberg Businessweek, February 4, 2016, https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2016-stealing-dupont-white/.

  allocated funding for spaceflight: Micah Springut, Stephen Schlaikjer, and David Chen, “China’s Program for Science and Technology Modernization: Implications for American Competitiveness,” report prepared for the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, January 2011, 28.

  Between 1991 and 2016: “Is China a Global Leader in Research and Development?,” CSIS ChinaPower, https://chinapower.csis.org/china-research-and-development-rnd/.

  number two in the world: Geoff Dyer, “China Overtakes Japan on R&D,” Financial Times, December 3, 2006, https://www.ft.com/content/da4ed9f2-82fa-11db-a38a-0000779e2340. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development estimates that China will outspend the United States in R&D by 2020.

  China ranks first in the world: “Overview of the State of the U.S. S&E Enterprise in a Global Context,” National Science Foundation, https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/2018/nsb20181/report/sections/overview/research-publications.

  second in international patent filings: WIPO IP Statistics Data Center, World Intellectual Property Organization, https://www3.wipo.int/ipstats/index.htm?tab=patent (total patent applications by applicant’s origin).

  eighty-four new pulsars: “China’s FAST Telescope Identifies 84 Pulsars,” China Daily, July 3, 2019, http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201907/03/WS5d1c5d19a3105895c2e7b754.html. Also see Mara Hvistendahl, “Radio Astronomers Go for High Gain with Mammoth Telescope,” Science, June 19, 2009, https://science.sciencemag.org/content/324/5934/1508.full?rss=1.

  named it after me: Jun Wang et al., “Aphlebia hvistendahliae sp. nov. from the Early Permian Wuda Tuff Flora, Inner Mongolia,” Review of Paleobotany and Palynology 210 (November 2014), https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0034666714001110.

  pocketed 30 percent: “Research and Embezzlement,” Economist, March 20, 2014, https://www.economist.com/analects/2014/03/20/research-and-embezzlement.

  “blueprint for technology theft”: James McGregor, “China’s Drive for ‘Indigenous Innovation’: A Web of Industrial Policies,” U.S. Chamber of Commerce, July 27, 2010, https://www.uschamber.com/report/china%E2%80%99s-drive-indigenous-innovation-web-industrial-policies.

  United Front Work Department: Peter Mattis, “China’s Digital Authoritarianism: Surveillance, Influence and Political Control,” testimony before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, May 16, 2019. Other goals include stamping out dissident movements and maintaining political control. Anne-Marie Brady, “Magic Weapons: China’s Political Influence Activities Under Xi Jinping,” conference paper presented in Arlington, Virginia, September 16–17, 2017.

  filled with counterfeits: “Daoban, shanzhai manyan shichang ‘taopai’ lihai shanghai zhong ye chuangxin li,” QQ.com, December 16, 2010, https://finance.qq.com/a/20101216/004986.htm.

  putrid, black ears: Meng Xingshi, “30 duo wei nonghu huaiyi maidao jia xianyu 335: guanfang zhuoshou diaocha,” Shijiazhuang News Agency, September 12, 2014, http://www.chinaseed114.com/news/14/news_66415.html.

  GM sued in Chinese court: Gong Zhengzheng, “GM Charges Chery for Alleged Mini Car Piracy,” China Daily, December 18, 2004, http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004-12/18/content_401235.htm.

  “difficulty in pursuing it”: In 2012, former GM engineer Du Shanshan and her husband, Qin Yu, were convicted of conspiring to steal trade secrets from her employer and pass them to Chery. In that case, however, the trade secrets in question concerned hybrid vehicles.

  KFC has nearly: Daniel Shane, “Robot Waiters and Snail Pizza: What US Fast Food Brands Do to Please Chinese Diners,” CNN, March 5, 2019, https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/05/business/kfc-fastfood-pizza-hut-china/index.html.

  Starbucks has more than: “Starbucks Has an Eye-Popping New China Plan,” Fortune, May 16, 2018, https://fortune.com/2018/05/16/starbucks-china-plan-store-15-hours/.

  claimed 12 percent: L
ynn Hicks, “Feeding China: Monsanto Not a Big Player in Corn—Yet,” Des Moines Register, October 13, 2014, https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/money/agriculture/2014/10/13/feeding-china-monsanto/17204813/.

  more cars in China: While a slowing Chinese economy has affected sales, the country remains a critical market for auto manufacturers. “General Motors China Goes into Reverse as Market Stalls,” Reuters, October 8, 2018, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-gm-china-sales/general-motors-china-sales-go-into-reverse-as-market-stalls-idUSKCN1MI1N3.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  four federal trade secrets theft cases: U.S. v. Gary Min/aka Yonggang Min (District of Delaware), U.S. v. Hong Meng (District of Delaware), U.S. v. Michael David Mitchell (Eastern District of Virginia), and U.S. v. Walter Lian-Heen Liew (Northern District of California).

  remembers the East India Company: Such events nonetheless provoked outrage at the time. In the nineteenth century, the Germans dubbed Switzerland der Räuber-Staat—the nation of pirates—for neglecting to enforce patents. For more on these cases, see Sarah Rose, For All the Tea in China: How England Stole the World’s Favorite Drink and Changed History (New York: Penguin, 2010) and Doren Ben-Atar, Trade Secrets: Intellectual Piracy and the Origins of American Industrial Power (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2004). The Jesuit priest is François Xavier d’Entrecolles.

  No international treaty . . . just one federal statute did: Hedieh Nasheri, Economic Espionage and Industrial Spying (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), 131.

  particularly concerned about France: News had recently broken that Air France had spied on passengers with hidden microphones installed throughout its first-class cabins. Concern mounted further when the French consul general in Houston was caught rooting through the trash outside a wealthy U.S. executive’s home. William M. Carley, “Corporate Targets: As Cold War Fades, Some Nations’ Spies Seek Industrial Secrets,” Wall Street Journal, June 17, 1991, A1. Also see Peter Schweizer, “The Future of Spying Is Business: In the New World of High-Tech Trade Rivalry, There Are No Allies,” Baltimore Sun, March 31, 1996, https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1996-03-31-1996091058-story.html.