Dark Money Drives Anti-China Crackdown Across State Legislatures

States are passing a flurry of anti-China bills that critics warn could chill free speech create an administrative albatross for ordinary citizens and invite politically motivated civil penalties Though framed as efforts to curb Chinese influence civil liberties advocates contend that the bills bear the hallmarks of modern-day McCarthyism propelled by newly created dark-money organizations There s often a fair debate to be had over China s influence commented James Czerniawski head of emerging innovation initiative at Consumer Choice Center But my bigger concern is that states are greenlighting a second Red Scare My bigger concern is that states are greenlighting a second Red Scare Nebraska Louisiana Arkansas and Texas have now passed sweeping state-level foreign influence registries Nebraska s bill called the Foreign Adversary and Terrorist Agent Registration Act creates a state registry for agents working on behalf of entities in adversary countries a list which includes China Cuba Iran North Korea Russia and Venezuela A pair of nonprofits with opaque funding streams State Shield and State Armor are helping fuel the legislative frenzy Both of the dark-money organizations are newly arrived players founded in and respectively The two organizations have been showing up to statehouses across the country testifying in favor of state-level foreign agent registries that go far beyond the Foreign Agents Registration Act or FARA The new law in Nebraska contains none of the exemptions seen in FARA the federal law that regulates influence peddling known for famously uneven enforcement Instead the state-level ordinance has expansive requirements Businesses universities and humanitarian organizations must register as foreign agents if they conduct programs that involve advocacy on behalf of a foreign principal meaning an organization or company that is at least percent owned by a foreign entity A Nebraska university that set up a population talk at the request of a Cuban dissident could seemingly have to register explained Nick Robinson a senior legal adviser at the International Center for Non-for-Profit Law So could a Nebraskan farmer who was just selling their crop to a company with percent Chinese ownership as the Nebraska law covers purely economic transactions Multiple employees of large household companies would be required to register under the rule U S -based workers of firms owned or partially owned by Chinese companies for instance Smithfield General Electric Epic Games Motorola Lenovo and Waldorf Astoria will likely have to register Facing a penalty and for noncitizens deportation the law could have a chilling effect for citizens across states that have passed such laws Democratic Nebraska state Sen John Cavanaugh posed the question bluntly during a floor debate on the bill What s the appropriate amount of intrusion into our citizens privacy to crack down on China Dark Money Just who is funding State Shield and State Armor both based in Austin Texas is unknown Michael Lucci the founder of State Armor has disclosed that State Armor s donors do not have financial interests in the work though does not disclose their names A Wall Street Journal profile of Lucci in May noted that several wealthy China critics close to him could stand to gain from hawkish state policies State Armor and State Shield did not respond to the Intercept s questions about their funding Related Tech Official Pushing TikTok Ban Could Reap Windfall From U S China Cold War The State Armor founder used to be a fellow at a think tank funded by Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale Former Trump national protection adviser Robert O Brien who now leads a defense contractor-oriented consultancy firm called American Global Strategies sits on State Armor s board Resilience is the key topic for states to address being ready for probable conflict being ready to counter political warfare this is a part of resilience Lucci mentioned of the Nebraska law in a press release from the governor s office touting the bill s passage Lucci and Tom Rawlings the procedures director of State Shield both point to New York as evidence that states need to combat China s strategy of influencing states Former New York state official Linda Sun allegedly worked for China in exchange for millions of dollars in gifts including a Hawaii apartment and a Ferrari Sun was indicted by the Department of Justice on visa fraud money laundering and charges of acting as an unregistered foreign agent In addition to representatives from State Armor and State Shield several other organizations parachuted into Nebraska to testify in favor of the bill A research fellow at the Washington-based Global Taiwan Institute which has received several generous grants from a Taiwanese government-affiliated organization also testified in favor of the anti-China bill Alexander Gray CEO of American Global Strategies also testified Gray sits on the board of State Armor alongside O Brien Towards the end of the population hearing Republican state Sen Rita Sanders had become accustomed to the routine at one point asking a witness Are you local or are you from Washington D C More to Come Anti-China efforts are popular for state and federal lawmakers alike who are eager to prove their flag-waving zeal Congress has launched probes into universities that collaborate with Chinese researchers or excursion to China to attend a conference China is the magic word these days explained Czerniawski Related Trump Wants to Label Antifa a Terror Group His Real Target Might Be a Lot Bigger In late September the Trump administration also signed a national safety directive called NSPM- which among other things gives the FBI authorization to investigate Americans with close ties to foreign governments and citizens that backing domestic terrorism Antifa was designated a terrorist organization days earlier suggesting that the directive will be used to investigate left-leaning groups China is the magic word these days This would be like if George W Bush had declared Code Pink was Al Qaeda or people protesting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were associated with the Islamic State commented Miles Taylor a former chief of staff for the Department of Homeland Measure of NSPM- Last week Lucci singled out the left-wing anti-war group Code Pink on X saying Code Pink Code Red adding a Chinese flag emoji In July the American Legislative Exchange Council a nonprofit that former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has dubbed the the bulk effective organization at spreading conservatism to state lawmakers published a draft model initiative bill that mirrored the Nebraska bill ALEC will likely consider whether to approve the rule or not during its winter conference in December If they do several red states may follow suit Who Registers ALEC s model bill would require every nonprofit and business to attest that they are cognizant of and in compliance with the bill A lot of everyday businesses will be stumped when they have to attest to this question Are you in compliance with the Foreign Adversary and Terrorist Agent Registration Act commented Spike Eickholt a governing body liaison at the ACLU of Nebraska And they might say Look I don t know I just make donuts Nebraska s newly created FATARA unit set up to administer and enforce their new law doesn t provide various concrete answers as to how Nebraskans can remain Foreign Adversary and Terrorist Agent Registration Act-compliant The state s FATARA unit has been vague in answering questions about who must register When probed by The Intercept by phone an official at the FATARA unit commented There s been a lot of questions about this you re not the first Related A Powerful Petrochemical Lobbying Group Advanced Anti-Protest Provision in the Midst of the Pandemic A three-sentence announcement posted by the FATARA unit online announced in part Educational charitable entertainment and populace relation pursuits that promote or intend to influence political or approach views are subject to registration In the absence of clarity state governments wield discretion as to how to enforce these laws There is a real concern that since these laws are so broad and vague that they will be enforced in a politicized manner only targeting those with which the executive disagrees explained Robinson of the International Center for Non-for-Profit Law With a penalty in both ALEC s proposed model provision and the Nebraska bill the stakes are enough to bankrupt a small business or nonprofit Eickholt revealed This bill is going to have a chilling effect on the basic rights of citizens The post Dark Money Drives Anti-China Crackdown Across State Legislatures appeared first on The Intercept