Mara Hvistendahl
Mara Hvistendahl writes about national security and technology. Before joining The Intercept, she was a National Fellow at New America and the China bureau chief for Science. Her writing has also appeared in The Atlantic, The Economist, and Wired, and she has appeared as a commentator on the BBC, CBS, MSNBC, and NPR.
Mara is the author of “The Scientist and the Spy,” on an FBI counterintelligence investigation involving industrial espionage, and “Unnatural Selection,” which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the Los Angeles Book Prize. She lived in Shanghai for eight years and is now based in Minneapolis. She speaks Spanish and Chinese.
The Coronavirus CrisisIn Its Zeal to Blame China for Coronavirus, the Trump Administration Is Thwarting Investigations Into the Pandemic’s Origins
The administration’s claim that the virus spread from a Wuhan lab has made the notion politically toxic, even among scientists who say it could have happened.
The Coronavirus CrisisAs Trump and Biden Trade Anti-China Ads, Hate Crimes Against Asian Americans Spike
“There’s a clear link between the rhetoric that’s being used and the increased harm to our community,” said John Yang of Asian Americans Advancing Justice-AAJC.
The U.S. Government Secretly Spied on Chinese American Scientists, Upending Lives and Paving the Way for Decades of Discrimination
The program’s effects reverberate today, at a moment when combating economic espionage and scientific theft from China are among the FBI’s top priorities.