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05/13/2016
My Personal Story - Part II Sherry Chen
Previously in Part I of my story, I made a call to Lee as instructed by my boss and explained the situation to Lee. But unbeknownst to me, Lee reported me to the USACE security office right after our phone call. Why would Lee do that and put me through a tormenting nightmare?
A personal prejudice, grudge, or some misplaced patriotism?
Looking back, Debbie Lee had a long history of being difficult when we needed to interact with each other. But I never had personal disputes with her and she had officially requested my assistance with tasks at her agency (USACE) before. And our office once had a joint project with her office and several other agencies to develop a large hydraulic model called the Ohio River Community HEC-RAS Model. Lee questioned my data requests over and over again and also argued with our agency. Our management told her repeatedly that my data request was reasonable and eventually our agency had a big dispute with her. One of our management who was in charge of coordinating with all agencies filed a complaint to the Hydrologist in Charge of our office and said he would not talk to Lee again until she apologized. So given that history did my 5-minute phone conversation with Lee give her an opening she needed to take her retribution against me and the National Weather Service (NWS)? I don’t know Lee’s motive. Is it a personal prejudice because of my ethnicity, or a personal grudge because of past dispute with our agency, or maybe some misplaced patriotism? But for anyone with a reasonable mind and a clear head, would they even consider this as “espionage” when I had presented all the information openly in public and had followed all the intra- and inter-agency processes in transparency? Lee has since left ACE as she was promoted to the Department of Commerce (which is in charge of our agency) and she has never offered a word of apology.
It was my job to answer public inquiries
At the National Weather Service, we provide weather and water related data and service to the public, including daily weather forecasts and river level forecasts, etc. Our duty is to serve the public. Our office receives all kinds of requests everyday by phone or through email etc., from government agencies, industries, and the public. We get questions such as, “how high is the river level in my city?” “Can I go fishing or boating tomorrow?” I remember on the very first day I came to work, the phone was ringing off the hook as some rivers were flooding and people wanted to know if their buildings or homes would be safe from the flood. Answering public inquiries is part of our job. Whoever receives the call should answer the questions. And if you don’t have the answer, then you need to find the information or answer.
While I was trained to answer public inquiries, was I wrong in trying to answer Jiao’s question? I don’t think so, and neither do my NWS colleagues. Actually, the NWS mission statement clearly states that “NWS data and products form a national information database and infrastructure which can be used by other governmental agencies, the private sector, the public, and the global community.”
A relentless Inquisition
After Lee’s misinformed “spy” tip-off, the USACE security immediately contacted the security section at the Department of Commerce (“DOC”) to which the NWS belongs. A task force of seven security agents was formed at the DOC four days later. And it was called “Counter Intelligence/Criminal”. The covert investigation soon started and lasted about one year without my knowledge before two investigators finally showed up in my office in June 2013. They conducted a 7-hour grueling “interview”. And since I had been working non-stop for 4 hours straight running real-time river forecasting operation, I went through a total of 11 hours without food, drink, or break. And they told me I could not tell this to anyone and I didn’t need a lawyer. I did not realize at the time that I had become a shooting target and serious troubles were awaiting me as I never had to deal with the law enforcement before. They didn’t explain the purpose of the interview but only said that they just wanted to ask a few questions. I tried to do my best to answer all their questions. However, their questions kept jumping back and forth, and mainly about things happened a year or so ago. I tried to recall all the details such as the exact time and place. But after hours and hours of questioning, I was exhausted and confused. I couldn’t remember a few details clearly but was able to recall better after they showed me some old emails. At the end of the interview, I wrote it all down about what happened when I was in China and what I did with Jiao’s questions. And that summary is all correct and accurate recounting the sequence of events.
It was quiet for three months. In September 2013, I went to China to visit my parents in China, and my father had been very ill and passed away when I was there. On the first day back to work, around 7:30 am, my supervisor said the two investigators came back and wanted to talk to me again. I went to the conference room. The first thing they asked me was, “why did you go back to China? Who did you meet? Who did you stay with?” I felt very insulted this time. I thought to myself why they would be asking this kind of questions. But I explained to them that my father was very sick and passed away during my visit. I was struck with worries and had to arrange the last minute visit to see my father one last time. They asked me some other ridiculous questions. I was still in grief and I became quite upset with all this nonsense. I said to them, “are you guys coming all the way from DC just to ask this?” I was annoyed, and perhaps I pissed them off. I never heard from them again, but I learned later that they had escalated the case to FBI and other intelligence offices.
In September 2014, I went back to China on the first anniversary of my father’s death. My husband and I were stopped by the Homeland Security at the Newark Airport after we had gone through all the security checks and we were just one step away from boarding the airplane. The officers did a special search of our carry-on bags and also retrieved our checked-in suitcases
On our return to the U.S., we were stopped and questioned again at the Newark airport. As I was standing in a long queue to go through a security check point, several agents came to me and took me upstairs and asked me some questions, and then they went into another room. They came out after a long time in that room, and then led me back downstairs to the waiting line. I had a transfer fight from Newark to Columbus, but I was too late to catch the flight now, and I had to stay there overnight for a flight the following morning. Two days later, on October 20, 2014, I was arrested in public in my office and was officially indicted by the government.
While the long investigation failed to produce any “spying” evidence, part of the initial charges was centered on the use of an office password to a government database to which I had full right of access and I used the database for the Ohio River forecasting model I was working on. When the investigators asked one of my co-workers whether he had shared the password with me, he said no. They also asked me whether I used his password, I also said no. When the investigators showed us the email, in which the co-worker emailed the password to me, my co-worker said, “Not really, Man, That was years ago, trying to remember….” I also recalled the exchange after seeing the email. I probably don’t have the best memory anymore and so did my co-worker even he is about 10 years younger than I. And the similar memory lapses or mix-up also happened to another colleague during the investigation. But I was charged for lying to the investigators. So why was I singled out? Is it just because I am of Chinese ethnicity?
The indictment changed my life in totality. The same day I was indicted, I was suspended from work and our office immediately changed the combination code. My neighbors and people I know were staying away from me as they didn’t know whether I was innocent or not. My house suddenly became silent, no phone calls and no visitors. I felt so lonely and missed my family so much, especially my mom. I didn’t know if I would ever see her again.
In the following days, the news also spread all over the internet including in China, with headlines like “a hydrologist at the NWS met a Chinese official in secret; national database was breached; Spy for China; etc. etc.” I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t drink, and I couldn’t sleep. I kept crying every day. I didn’t want to go outside to be seen. I didn’t even do grocery shopping for a month. Then, the government stopped my pay and I had no income. I also felt that I was being monitored and wire-tapped, and so did my friends. Right now I am not able to pull myself together to describe how my husband and I went through this horrible mental and psychological trauma. Maybe someday I will.
Fighting to get my life, job, and dignity back
A week later, I slowly came back to my senses. I realized that I could not just cry and I needed to fight to clear my name as I am innocent and I don’t deserve any of this shoddy treatment. I opened the indictment to see what was in it. When I looked at the case description on the indictment, I felt so hopeless. It says, “The United State vs. Xiafen Chen”. Is the whole country
After reviewing my case carefully, my lawyer found several serious flaws in the government case and filed three motions requesting the DOJ to have the case dismissed. But the prosecutor just went back to the grand jury to “fix” those serious problems in their case, and brought another prosecutor onto his team and they came back with eight charges! But after about two and half years of going back and forth, the extensive interview of witnesses including almost all my co-workers, the search of the entire history of my bank accounts over twenty years since I came to the U.S., my personal and official email accounts, and the airport searches, plus the hidden device in my computer to monitor my activities, the government finally dropped all the charges against me.
Yes, all the charges were dropped, but my career, my reputation, and my life are now totally ruined. The National Weather Service would not let me go back to work as the Department of Commerce is now proposing to terminate my employment. The DOC claimed that terminating my job is to help promote federal efficiency. But a high official at the National Weather Service told our Union President that I was an outstanding employee. FBI went through all my performance reviews over the twenty years of my government service, and summarized that I had consistently received positive performance reviews with highly satisfactory or outstanding rating. I put my heart into my job and gave my best to this country. I have been working very hard to help protect properties/homes, and save lives. And I have received several government rewards for my contribution. But as of now, I am not sure what is going to happen next. I am facing an uncertain future no matter how much I wish to put this long and tormenting nightmare behind me, and to move on with my life.
In spite of what has happened to me, I am going to keep fighting to get my job, life, and dignity back. And I do need help in this fight, a fight for justice, a fight for all law-abiding, hardworking Chinese Americans. I will appreciate any support you may be able to provide. Thank you!
Yours truly, Sherry Xiafen Chen On Christmas Day, December 25, 2015
在我的故事的上篇,我按照老板的指示给李打了电话,并对李说明了所有情况。但刚刚挂断和我的通话,Deborah Lee即向安全部门举报了我。
陈霞芬
(更多资料可参看我的网站:http://www.sherrychendefensefund.com/ sherry chen专题网站:http://newasianleaders.org/sherry-chen) |
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