Harvard Arrest Ups the U.S. Ante on China as Security Threat

A Harvard University chemist, an ex-Coca-Cola Co. scientist and a University of Kansas researcher.

All three have been swept up in a U.S. crackdown on intellectual property theft sponsored by China and linked to the Thousand Talents Plan, a Chinese government program to recruit overseas researchers.

The charges unveiled Tuesday against Harvard’s Charles Lieber -- that he lied to U.S. investigators about his role in recruiting people to pass along scientific research to the Chinese government -- mark a high-profile escalation of the Trump administration’s effort to root out economic espionage in academic institutions.

While the Justice Department ...