Mara Hvistendahl, The Scientist and the Spy

A riveting true story of industrial espionage in which a Chinese-born scientist is pursued by the U.S. government for trying to steal trade secrets, by a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in nonfiction.

In The Scientist and the Spy, Mara Hvistendahl gives a gripping account of an unusually far-reaching FBI investigation. The inquiry pitted a veteran FBI special agent against Florida resident Robert Mo, who after his academic career foundered took a questionable job with the Chinese agricultural company DBN—and became a pawn in a global rivalry. Through previously unreleased FBI files and her reporting from across the United States and China, Hvistendahl describes a long history of shoddy counterintelligence on China, much of it tinged with racism, and questions the role that corporate influence plays in trade secrets theft cases brought by the U.S. government. The Scientist and the Spy is both an important exploration of the issues at stake and a compelling, involving read.

Follow the conversation online using #ScientistSpy and following @NAFellows.

Registration begins at 4:30PM, conversation begins promptly at 5:00PM.

Light refreshments will be served.

Speakers:

Mara Hvistendahl, @MaraHvistendahl
2017 National Fellow, New America
Author, The Scientist and the Spy: A True Story of China, the FBI, and Industrial Espionage

Jorge Guajardo, @jorge_guajardo
Senior Director, McLarty Associates
Former Mexican Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China

Moderator:

Anne-Marie Slaughter, @SlaughterAM
CEO, New America

Copies of The Scientist and the Spy: A True Story of China, the FBI, and Industrial Espionage will be available for purchase through our bookselling partner Solid State Books, and a book signing will follow the discussion.