Fox News Channel Report Prompts Grassley Inquiry to Homeland Security

A Fox News Channel report  has prompted the powerful chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee to seek more information on federal investigations into the Rossyln, Va.-based University of Management and Technology.

Committee chair Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), in a letterto Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, cited almost a half dozen references to FNC's February report "Fox News Investigation: DOD-Funded School at Center of Federal Probes Over Suspected Chinese Military Ties," and reporters Catherine Herridge, Pamela K. Browne and Cyd Upson

Grassley is concerned, among other things, that thousands of records of service members enrolled at the school could be compromised.

"Questions have been raised as to whether the UMT personnel in the Beijing office remotely accessed and compromised the personal and military histories of U.S. service members from China," Grassley said.

"According to Fox News, Defense Secretary James Mattis has also voiced concerns with the situation," Grassley wrote. "Allegedly, Secretary Mattis said schools like UMT are attractive to the Chinese military because it could allow access to sensitive technology and insight into our capabilities."

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.