Chinese Nationals Accused of Pathogen Smuggling Spark National Security Concerns Over CCP Infiltration

‘The CCP is working around the clock to deploy operatives and researchers to infiltrate American institutions,’ FBI Director Kash Patel said.

A colonization of Fusarium head blight, a costly fungal disease, growing on field-grown hemp in Kentucky on Sept. 29, 2020. Nicole Gauthier via AP

FBI Director Kash Patel and some Republican lawmakers are sounding the alarm about threats posed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), after two Chinese nationals were charged with smuggling a pathogen into the United States.

“This case is a sobering reminder that the CCP is working around the clock to deploy operatives and researchers to infiltrate American institutions and target our food supply, which would have grave consequences ... putting American lives and our economy at serious risk,” Patel wrote on social media platform X on June 3.