Field Information Report — pp. 10–12

Report TITLE University of Minnesota Professor and Virologist Fang ▮ and Associates DaTeE AND ▮ OF INFORMATION 11/28/2018 00:00 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY On November 28, 2018, vials containing suspected coronavirus where intercepted on an inbound passenger at Detroit Metropolitan Airport. The vials, carried by a third party individual from a researcher in China, were for recipient Fang ▮ a professor and virology researcher at the University of Minnesota. LI's research is funded by National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants. Some of LI's research fellows and collaborators have connections to the People's Liberation Army ▮ of China and the Thousand Talents Program and have been identified for future targeting purposes. Foreign nationals with links to suspicious Chinese entities are of special interest and may pose a risk to the national security of the United States. NARRATIVE On November 28, 2018 Courier 1] arrived at Detroit Metropolitan Airport ▮ and was referred to agriculture secondary due to primary questioning by an US Customs and Border Protection Officer ▮ identified himself as a biologist at h ▮ Minnesota, Pp . Biological materials were not declared during primary inspection. In agriculture secondary, amended his declaration to a Supervisory US Customs and Border Protection Agriculture Specialist SCBPAS) to include "antibodies." Physical inspection of a's carry-on baggage led to the discovery of three (3) vials obscured with a combination of paper towel and wax film. ial stated he was given the vials by "Yusen ▮ aka Yusen ▮ for intended recipient "Fan ▮ aka Fang ▮ System checks in ePermits, the United States Department of Agriculture ▮ permit viewing and application system, revealed ▮ was previously issued an ▮ Veterinary Services Permit , for bat coronavirus ▮ The permit was valid from 01/13/2014 to 01/13/2015 and did not authorize foreign importation or possession of Select Agent material. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed did not have a valid CDC permit nor a security risk assessment at the University of Minnesota. Inspection of the vials revealed markings M and N. Open source research of LI's publication history revealed collaborations with Yusen ▮ on highly pathogenic coronaviruses (SARS, ▮ that used notations of M and N; M for Membrane and N for Nucleocapsid (1) 2). Due to the nature of LI's research and lack of documentation accompanying the vials, local Homeland Security of Investigations ▮ and the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) Weapons of Mass Destruction Directorate ▮ took possession of the vials for testing. Testing of the vials at the joint DHS/FBI Laboratory, National Bioforensic Analysis Center (NBFAC), revealed the contents of the vials to be "A partial immunoglobulin heavy chain precursor mRNA and a partial porcine epidemic diarrhea virus ▮ spike UNCLASSIFTIED//FOUO/LES/USPER 06/15/2020 Page 3 of 27 protein" (3). Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) is a coronavirus causing high morbidity and mortality in porcine (4). Figures 1 and 2 - Notations on intercepted vials M and N (5) Fang LI is a professor in the Department of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences, Institute for Molecular Biology and Virology, and a virologist at the University of Minnesota(6). LI has been employed at the University of Minnesota since 2007, and has been conducting research on coronaviruses as far back as 2005 (6) (7). Currently, there are two PhD students (Qibin GENG, and three postdoctoral researchers ( , , and Chuming (Chu-Ming) LUO) in Fang LI's lab. LI's research is funded by two (2) current National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants ( and ) (8). Qibin GENG entered the United States on June 30, 2016 on a J1 visa at Seattle Tacoma International Airport (SEA). GENG indicated on his J1 visa application to be a student at Wuhan University with previous employer as the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. During this employment, GENG conducted research on rotavirus and malaria at the Key Laboratory of Surveillance and Early Warning on Infectious Disease. GENG obtained a Bachelor's of Science degree in Biopharmacy at Southern Medical University (former First Military Medical University of China) affiliated with the People's Liberation Army (PLA) of China. GENG did not disclose military service or affiliation on any visa application. Chuming (Chu-Ming) LUO entered the United States on January 18, 2016 on a J1 visa at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP). The J1 visa application supplemental documents included LUO's resume, which listed LUO as a current PhD candidate at the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences under advisor Zhengli SHI with thesis topic: "Bat coronavirus receptor analysis." A review of LI's publications resulted in the findings of several repeat research collaborators on coronaviruses (9) (10). Some of those collaborators include Yusen ZHOU, Lanying DU, Shibo JIANG, and Zhengli SHI. Yusen ZHOU is a professor of Microbiology and Immunology and Head of the Department of Infection and Immunity at the State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Academy of Military Medical Sciences of the PLA of China (11) (12). ZHOU is also the spouse of Lanying DU. DU is the head of the Viral Immunology Laboratory at the Lindsley F. Kimball Research Institute, located at the New York Blood Center (13). The Lindsley F. Kimball Research Institute is one of the preeminent research institutes of blood diseases (14). Shibo JIANG is a former co-head with DU at the Lindsley F. Kimball Research Institute, New York Blood Center and is currently the Director and a Virologist at the Institute of Medical Microbiology Key Laboratory of Medical Molecular Virology, Ministry of Education and Health, Fudan University (15). Open source research revealed JIANG to be a "Thousand Talents" scholar who received his PhD from the Fourth Military Medical University (presently known as Air Force Medical University) affiliated with the PLA Air Force (16). Zhengli SHI is the Director of the Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases of the Wuhan Institute of Virology and Director of the Key Laboratory of Special Pathogens and Biosafety of Chinese Academy of Sciences (17). SHI is also known as "bat woman" by colleagues in China due to her research focus of emerging viruses of zoonotic origin especially bats (18). Wuhan Institute of Virology is the center of controversy due to theories that SARS-CoV-2 escaped from the lab, although there is no known supporting evidence at this time (19). Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is highly infectious and causes the disease COVID-19 (20). COVID-19 is an ongoing pandemic and a global health issue, causing infection in millions of people, and to date, more than 400,000 fatalities (21). LI began studying SARS-CoV-2 when its gene sequence was released in January 2020 and has several publications on research findings with his research fellows and collaborators (22). Due to the current state of affairs between the United States and China, there is elevated concern and a potential national security risk in regards to coronavirus research and links between LI, his research fellows, and collaborators to suspicious entities in China. Additional investigation is necessary to determine if LI's research, and any resulting scientific discoveries and advances, are for the benefit of the United States or for China, and if the intention of LI's research fellows/affiliates are to act as unconventional collectors of information. Questionable information revealed in the background research of LI's research fellows and collaborators highlights the concerns addressed in the recent proclamation issued by the United States Government which stated "students or researchers from the PRC (People's Republic of China) studying or researching beyond the undergraduate level who are or have been associated with the PLA are at high risk of being exploited or co-opted by the PRC authorities. The PRC authorities use some Chinese students, mostly post-graduate students and post-doctorate researchers, to operate as non-traditional collectors of intellectual property" (23).