Hi, everyone, US CCR failed to issue a letter to CBS in the last two monthly meetings, due to some commissioners's variouse concerns and positions. This coming Friday all the commissioners are getting together and our complain is on their table. CBS Incident Committee believes that US CCR commissioners need some extra push to look at this issue more seriously, and start to issue the strongest letter possible to exert pressure upon CBS. Although US CCR is sympathetic to us, but we need their strong action more than anything else. We CBS-IC has drafted letters to address each and everyone one of the commissioners, and all of the letters have been faxed to them this morning aroun 2:30AM EDT. Now, please moblize as many people as possible to call the following numbers to express our concerns, and urge them to take actions. You may call (202)-376-8177 switch board; or 800-552-6843 complain hotline. Then ask to speak to the commissioners at the meeting, get their fax numbers, voice our concerns, fax them your version of the complain letters. Together we can make another difference! The following are the numbers you may want to try as well (CBS-IC official letter is attached at the endof this message) Here the list goes: Honorable Mary Frances Berry O (202)-376-7417 F (202)-376-7558 Assistant Krishna Toolsie O (202)-376-7419 Honorable Cruz Reynoso O (310)-206-5624 F (310)-206-6489 H (209)-748-2719 Assistant Tom Gray O (310)-206-3653 Honorable Carl A.Anderson O (202)-628-2355 F (202)-628-1243 H (703)-534-9114 Assistant: Prof. Joseph Broadus O (703)-993-8031 H (703)-972-1954 Honorable Arthur A. Fletcher O (303)-871-2441 Secretary Judy Miller O (303)-871-4171 O (202)-547-7890 F (202)-547-7966 Assistant: Renata Anderson O (202)-376-7572 F (202)-376-7577 Honorable Robert P. George O (609)-258-3270 F (609)-258-6837 H (609)-683-1304 Assistant: Dennis Teti O (202)-376-7676 F (202)-376-8315 H (202)-484-8181 Honorable Constance Horner O (202)-797-6053 F (202)-362-3069 Assistant: Ron Brown O (202)-376-7628 H (202)-965-0429 Honorable Russell G. Redenbaugh O (215)-988-0352 O (415)-521-6190 F (215)-567-1681 H (215)-238-8894 Assistant: Rachel Budd O (215)-988-0353 H (215)-627-1368 Honorable Charlse Pei Wang O (212)-385-1697 F (212)-383-1702 H (201)-299-0779 Assistant: Laurie Kitazono O (202)-725-3840 Mr. Lin Huang National Coordinator CBS Incident Committee (CBSIC) 3044 Albany Crescent, 1G Bronx, NY 10463 (718)-548-9114 October 13, 1994 US Commission on Civil Rights Honorable Charles Rivera: I am writing to you as National Coordinator of the CBS Incident Committee (CBSIC) and as Chair of the Civil Rights Committee of the Independent Federation of Chinese Students and Scholars (IFCSS), regarding the CBS News segment aired on May 19 alleging every ordinary ethnic Chinese in the US as potential spies. IFCSS is the national organization of Chinese students and scholars in the United States, and CBSIC is a nationwide assembly of 80 working volunteers and more than 6,000 members who have joined together to protest against this apparent racial attack on ethnic Chinese. On May 19, CBS Evening News announced that China runs the "biggest spy network in America", and that "ordinary" Chinese in the US are routinely being recruited by Ministry of State Security as spies or "future spies" when they are applying passports to go to the United States, who "a few years down the road, will be activated to steal America's military and technological secrets." In a letter to the Vice President of the IFCSS, the Vice President of CBS News declared that their accusations are valid "according to the Defense Information [sic] Agency." Over the last five months several thousands protest letters have been sent to CBS from this community. Our committee also has written to Commissioner Charles Rivera on this issue. However, there is no positive response from the CBS so far. To many ethnic Chinese, the CBS report is not just another tabloid news piece which can be simply ignored. This report jeopardizes our livelihood, our careers and our future. In the ensuing paragraph I would like to cite a few instances to show how innocent people have been hurt in this spy witch hunt and why people have fears and nightmares after this CBS report has been aired. Case number I, a Chinese American working for an US government agency was reported by an informant as a possible Chinese spy. His office was searched, computer files were scanned and private communications compromised, but he was found innocent. However his employer, scared to death of the so-called biggest Chinese spy network in America, fired him on the ground that he has used his computing equipment for private e-mail files that were not related to his work. Case number II, a Chinese national was employed by a private U.S. firm. He was working there for just a few month when CBS aired that report. Within days his employment was terminated, and the only obvious reason is that his company just received a military contract. Although stories like these involve only a fraction of the Chinese population, they cause immense fears of repression and racial discrimination within the Chinese community. The incident happened at the time many schools of higher education proceeding commencement. The report hits many college graduates hard. Since the CBS incident, Ms. Li Yingying, a Graduate Student Advisor at MIT, has received many students of Chinese origin expressing their fears of being suspected as foreign spies simply because they are born into Chinese! People expressed their worries to her are not just students who are currently looking for jobs, but also some recent graduates who has been working. The report is not only totally unaccountable and irresponsible, but really hurting people psychologically and socially. Many organizations and individuals, on assumption that there must be Chinese spies in the world, become careful and cautions in their social activities. As the National Coordinator on the CBS Incident, I have been advised not to uncover the lies and to fight the injustice, but to keep quiet. In a Chinese saying, keep the tails between our legs. This is not something that is supposed to happen in a free country!!! The logic CBS report used for its witch hunt goes like this: since most Chinese have relatives in Mainland China who can be held as hostage by the government, they have to spy for China. And even if they are not spies now, they will be spies in the future, thus subjecting virtually every Chinese and indeed every Asian looking person to brutal speculation. In doing so, the CBS not only has attacked the personal integrity of every ethnic Chinese by questioning their motives of coming to this country, but also insulted many of us who have fought hard for freedom and democracy under extremely dangerous conditions. After extensive research by our committee members, we have found many serious cases of inaccuracy, exaggeration and outright lies in the CBS report. As you can see, and I hope you will also agree, the way this particular report is done in constructing the whole spy theory are flawed to say the least, and their attitude toward the original source of data is hardly professional. Once the distorted pictures presented are accepted by the general public and become deeply rooted through the news media they will bring nothing but racial tensions to this society. They will create prejudice, stir fear, arouse suspicion and generate resentment and even hatred toward ordinary Chinese, be they employees, job applicants, business partners, next door neighbors or even oriental looking strangers walking down the street! Recently our committee has compiled a comprehensive report on this incident, based upon our several month's research, which is totally in contradictory to the CBS report. However, our report has been turned down by even some local Chinese newspapers on the ground that our results are not consistent with the CBS! This highlights the profound damage which has been done by CBS, which has been regarded as a reliable source of information, and the anchorwoman, Ms. Connie Chung, who aired the program, has been perceived as a knowledgeable insider of China! The news organizations are entitled to their opinions on the Chinese community. We recognize that and we respect their assessment of the espionage situation based on the information they think they have, so long as the information is true and the assessment unbiased. However, we feel that it is irresponsible and professionally unethical on the part of CBS to express opinions to the public without any justification and without considering the possible damages those opinions may cause. We support Ms. Chung as a minority individual who has achieved celebrity status by her hard work. However, protecting one person's achievement should not victimize tens of thousands of people's lives. And Ms. Chung is not the only one who is responsible for this incident. Ms. Chung has apologized on a Chinese publication with very limited circulation, which is far from enough to comfort people's fears and to stop their nightmares. There are many possible remedies from the CBS that we look for which may let our members feel more secure for their civil rights. For instance: 1. Apologize on air about the May 19 program, for A. being unbalanced; B. wrong choice of words like "ordinary"; C. wrongfully targeting ONLY the ethnic Chinese; D. the paranoid views about "Chinese spy network". 2. Apologize on printed media We can even offer making connections to reporters, including the Chinese media. Many of them are interested. 3. Produce and broadcast a balanced report about A. those ethnic Chinese who work hard for the United States B. those authoritative opinions, including the US government and prominent scholars, against the Chinese "spy threat". C. those opinions that are clearly racist, anti-immigrant in the name of anti-spy. 4. Arrange an interview with Connie Chung, Dan Rather and our members and other concerned organizations to address this and related issues. 5. Release a written statement addressing all of our concerns in our official letter to Mr. Venardos, the Vice President of the CBS News Division. Dear Commissioner, thank you for your attention. I am looking forward to your kind response. Sincerely, Lin Huang P.S. This is a accompanying letter further regarding the CBS Incident. The sole source of the CBS information is a Mr. Eftimiades, a self-proclaimed agent of Defense Intelligence Agency. However, in a response to our inquiry, the agency openly declared that Mr. Eftimiades was acting as a private individual, and he is not even employed in the Defense Intelligence Agency in the capacity of a China expert. When he wrote his little black book, he was working on MIA task force, which has nothing to do with Chinese intelligence. Therefore, We are questioning the appropriateness on the part of Mr. Eftimiades to seek personal gains by posing as a credible agent from a government agency which has authority on the subject matter that his personal profit venture is based on. We understand that the DIA can not possibly authorize Mr. Eftimiades' book and his public appearances, but the public will perceive Mr. Eftimiades as an "insider" of the agency in the name of an active agent, and having access to internal top secret information which led him to reach his unsubstantiated conclusions. Mr. Eftimiades obtained clearance for public release of the manuscript of his book in 1992 from the Department of Defense. However it is only a security clearance and there has been no public report on whether ethic codes are violated. We hope the Commission on Civil Rights will look into this matter, too.