September 2, 2022
The Honorable Joseph Biden
President of the United States
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20500
Dear President Biden,
The Committee of Concerned Scientists (CCS) is an independent organization of scientists, physicians, engineers, and scholars devoted to the protection and advancement of human rights and scientific freedom for colleagues all over the¬ world.
We are writing to voice our concern and to request you withdraw the nomination of Mr. Casey Arrowood as the next U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee. We are concerned, in what appeared to us, to be an overzealous prosecution of the University of Tennessee Knoxville Prof. Anming Hu for his alleged concealment of his affiliation with Beijing University of Technology while receiving funding from NASA. Mr. Arrowood was the lead prosecutor of Prof. Hu. Prof. Hu has been reinstated as a University of Tennessee faculty member, which has been applauded by the academic community. However, the facts of the case which had appeared in open press, revealed numerous missteps made by government agents, as well as by the administration of the University of Tennessee in the course of the investigation. These missteps appeared to represent even more serious breaches of laws and regulations than those of which Dr. Hu has been accused.
The CCS is concerned about how the case of Prof. Hu was handled by Mr. Arrowood who failed to halt this wrongful investigation. We respectfully ask that you withdraw Mr. Arrowood’s nomination.
Sincerely,
Joel L. Lebowitz, Paul H. Plotz, Walter Reich, Eugene M. Chudnovsky, Alexander Greer
Co-Chairs, Committee of Concerned Scientists
cc:
Senate Judiciary Committee
Dirksen Senate Office Building
Room 224
Washington, DC 20500