%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%  Editorial Board of CBS Incident Committee  %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%   
                                                                                
                      Thursday, October 13, 1994   (No. 17)                     
                                                                                
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1. US CCR upcoming meeting this Friday - Need our campaign push ........... 12  
2. CBS-IC's Letter to EVERY US CCR commissioners .......................... 83  
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1. US CCR upcoming meeting this Friday - Need our campaign push ........... 12  
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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                        
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2. CBS-IC's Letter to EVERY US CCR commissioners .......................... 83  
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                                        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.                                                                    
                                                                                
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