U.S. blocked Chinese purchase of San Diego fertility clinic over medical data security concerns
But the reasons for the government’s concerns go to the heart of the great power competition between the United States and China and to the cutting edges of medical science.
John Demers, head of the DOJ’s National Security Division and one of the nation’s top spy hunters, declined to confirm the specific CFIUS action. Yet he did speak in general terms in an interview with CNBC about why the U.S. government is wary of Chinese ownership of American fertility clinics.
“Your genetic material, your biological material, is among the most intimate information about you, who you are, what your vulnerabilities may be, what your illnesses have been in the past, what your family medical history is,” he said.
He also said the United States has two concerns when it comes to Chinese ownership of U.S. fertility clinics.
First, officials believe the Chinese could use the data from fertility clinics to amass a large database of biological information that can be used against Americans.
“That can be used from a counterintelligence perspective to either coerce you or convince you to help the Chinese,” Demers said. “I’d be worried that the Chinese were going to get sensitive personal information about individual Americans, whether it’s their financial information, their health-care information, their genetic information, all of which they could use, from an intelligence perspective, to target that person.”
Second, Demers worries that the Chinese could use data from fertility clinics to create a military threat.
“I’m not saying that we’ve seen this, but the worst case would be the development of some kind of biological weapon,” Demers said. “If you had all of the data of a population, you might be able to see what the population is most vulnerable to,” he said, “and then develop something that’s taking advantage of that vulnerability.”
While Demers declined to confirm the blocked acquisition, former deputy national security advisor Mira Ricardel told CNBC that CFIUS has taken action.
“These are not things that are reported,” said Ricardel, who served on Trump’s National Security Council in 2018. “It’s a confidential process. But I understand there’s been at least one case.” Asked whether the Chinese were trying to buy a fertility clinic, Ricardel said: “Correct.”
Article source: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/10/16/trump-administration-blocked-chinese-purchase-of-us-fertility-clinic.html