Of the survey respondents who have obtained US federal grants 45% say that they will avoid applying for such awards for fear of making mistakes in the application process that could lead to them being investigated.

Xiaoxing Xi is mentioned in the article and I wondered what Wikipedia had to say about him.

This jumped out at me: “According to Xi’s lawyer Peter Zeidenberg, the government did not understand the complicated science and failed to consult with experts before arresting him.”

Xiaoxing Xi

False accusation of spying

In 2015, police raided the home of physics professor Xi Xiaoxing and arrested him at gunpoint in front of his wife and 2 daughters. The US Justice Department (DOJ) had accused the scientist of illegally sending trade secrets to China: specifically, the design of a pocket heater used in superconductor research, threatening him with 80 years in prison and $1 million in fines. The scientist’s daughter Joyce Xi said, "newscasters surrounded our home and tried to film through windows.

The FBI rummaged through all our belongings and carried off electronics and documents containing many private details of our lives. For months, we lived in fear of FBI intimidation and surveillance. We worried about our safety in public, given that my dad’s face was plastered all over the news. My dad was unable to work, and his reputation was shattered."

Temple University forced the professor to take administrative leave and suspended him as chair of the Physics Department. He was also banned from accessing his lab or communicating with his students directly. It was later learned that FBI agents had been listening to his phone calls and reading his emails for months — possibly years.

In September 2015, however, the DOJ dropped all charges against him after leading scientists, including a co-inventor of the pocket heater, provided affidavits that the schematics that Xi shared with Chinese scientists were not for a pocket heater or other restricted technology. According to Xi’s lawyer Peter Zeidenberg, the government did not understand the complicated science and failed to consult with experts before arresting him.

He said that the information Xi shared as part of “typical academic collaboration” was about a different device, which Xi co-invented and which is not restricted technology.

Suit against the government

Xi sued the United States and the FBI agents over violations of fourth and fifth amendment rights. The suit alleges that Xi was surveilled without a warrant and the FBI knowingly made false claims. In 2021, Xi a Philadelphia court rejected his legal claims for damages. The judge ruled that the claims involved matters of discretion and judgement of the defendants. Xi’s appeal was argued in Sept, 2022.

However, recent Supreme Court decisions will make it difficult to obtain damages for violations of constitutional rights.