Originally Posted by
GUWonder
I wouldn't be surprised if he was targeted due to concerns about leaking or selling "secrets" (or facilitating contacts that may be seeking to be in that market) with regard to one or more Asian country -- perhaps India specifically. Sometimes that is why certain people in the governmental sciences sector with Asian ethnicity and affiliations get selected for such searches.
It is within the realm of the routine for some FBI counter-espionage investigations to use the CBP as a means to further an investigation.
Originally Posted by
Section 107
Yes, and the pax might not have been the target of the investigation.....
It would have made infinitely more sense for the Bureau to contact the NASA CI people (many of whom I know very well) and coordinate the proper thing to do. Most agencies (including mine) require you to bring your IT device to the Help Desk for scanning after an overseas trip. The CI folks could have simply done their thing back at JPL in a routine manner, nobody would have noticed and whoever needed the data would have gotten the date with their investigation still intact.
Instead, DHS decided to go "cowboy" and take matters into their own hands. This could have been a completely low-key and unnoticed investigation. Instead, it's now all over the internet.
Great job, CBP. You've lived down to your reputation and perhaps have blown a case (if there is one now or ever was a case) to smithereens.