Former Intel Official: China Wants to Collect Americans' DNA
China could be looking to collect DNA of Americans and then use the information to monopolize or control critical medical supplies, a former U.S. intelligence expert says.
Bill Evanina, the director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center in the Trump administration, told ''60 Minutes'' in a report to air Sunday that offers by the Chinese company BGI Group, the largest biotech firm in the world, to set up testing labs shortly after the outbreak of the novel coronavirus were alarming.
The state of Washington was the first company BGI approached followed by five other states including New York and California. It was so disturbing, Evanina authorized a rare public warning that said ''foreign powers can collect, store and exploit biometric information from COVID tests."
Partially due to the warning, none of the states accepted the offer from BGI, which has close ties to the Chinese military and Chinese Communist Party.
"This shows the nefarious mindset of the Communist Party of China, to take advantage of a worldwide crisis like COVID," said Evanina, an FBI and CIA veteran. "We put out an advisory to not only every American, but to hospitals, associations, and clinics. Knowing that BGI is a Chinese company, do we understand where that data's going?"
The primary concern of Evanina and his colleagues was that access to biodata can lead to complete control over healthcare. If an individual’s medical condition is obtained through DNA and other data, a government like China can take steps to control or monopolize the therapy or drugs to treat it.
"From a long-term existential cost to our nation, do we want to do that? Do we want to have another nation systematically eliminate our healthcare services?" Evanina asked rhetorically. "That's what's happening."
Concerns of China’s control over supply chains reached a peak last year with regard to medical protection equipment such as masks, gowns and other items.
"What happens if we realize that all of our future drugs, our future vaccines … are all completely dependent upon a foreign source?'' asked former biochemist and now FBI supervisory agent Edward You. ''If we don't wake up, we'll realize one day we've just become healthcare crack addicts and someone like China has become our pusher.''
The story added that many Americans already have given away their DNA by using genealogy service to learn their ancestry.
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