The instigator

A single FBI agent spurred NIH’s campaign against foreign intervention on U.S. campuses. Now, he’s studying the extent of the problem

22 Oct 2026

2:00 PM ET

ByJeffrey Mervis

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Former FBI counterintelligence agent Tam Dao now works on research security at Rice University. Jared Jones/Rice University

Table of contentsA version of this story appeared in Science, Vol 394, Issue 6822. Download PDF

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The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has spent the past decade compiling information on hundreds of U.S.-based scientists it believes tried to illegally help their country of origin, most often China. But it’s never been clear what triggered NIH’s aggressive pursuit of these scientists, many of whom eventually lost their jobs or even went to jail, and why it was so much more extensive than efforts at other federal agencies.

Mystery solved.…