Individuals who previously worked for Chinese propaganda operations found their way into positions within the federal government and Congress, the Washington Examiner has learned.
A Washington Examiner review of public LinkedIn profiles identified dozens of alums of Chinese state-controlled or owned media who had been hired under previous presidential administrations for roles at the Census Bureau, the U.S. Agency for International Development, Voice of America, the State Department, the Department of War, the Department of Energy, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and even at high levels within Congress. The true number of such individuals within the government is likely higher, given that public LinkedIn accounts are not ubiquitous among federal workers, and some may choose to omit Chinese media operations from their work history for pragmatic reasons.
As far as media outlets go, none are closer to the Chinese Communist Party than the People’s Daily, Xinhua News Agency, and China Daily. The People’s Daily has the distinction of being the official newspaper of the CCP, whereas the Chinese government has designated Xinhua as its official state news agency, and China Daily is owned and operated by the CCP’s Central Propaganda Department. Alums for all three outlets have found their way into the federal government.
Former China Daily writers and editors have had particular success in getting congressional offices to hire them.
One staffer, who served as communications director for the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), and former Rep. Kay Granger, led China Daily’s English-language coverage before being hired for those roles, according to his LinkedIn account. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen’s (D-NH) former deputy press secretary, meanwhile, was a marketing associate and editorial coordinator at the outlet where he helped it “establish strategic partnerships with China-focused U.S. organizations” and directed a national network of writers.
The People’s Daily also had an alumna presence in Congress.
Between May 2021 and July 2023, the Democrats on the House Financial Services Committee retained a woman who had previously worked as an editor at the People’s Daily during the 2000s as a member of its policy staff, per a LinkedIn profile. After serving as an editor at the CCP’s official newspaper and assisting Democrats on banking policy, she has since moved on to working as the policy director of Baltimore’s city government.
“There are plenty of qualified and patriotic Americans who have not received a single paycheck from the Chinese Communist Party,” Michael Lucci, CEO of the national security organization State Armor, told the Washington Examiner. “Affiliation with one of the Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda outlets is a red flag for anyone looking for a government role or for obtaining a security clearance, and at a bare minimum, extraordinary vetting must be required for anyone who has been on the payroll of CCP.”
Of potential concern to national security hawks could be the presence of Chinese state media alums among staffers tasked with advancing the United States’s diplomatic interests. Such alums have, under prior administrations, been hired at the State Department, the now-defunct USAID, and Voice of America — a federally funded media organization intended to provide the world with free and unbiased news coverage.
Individuals with Chinese state media backgrounds hired by the State Department included two diplomats, a digital media coordinator, translators, consultants, a consular officer, as well as a handful of low-level fellows and interns. USAID, meanwhile, tapped former Chinese state media operatives for communications and research roles, whereas Voice of America hired individuals to fill similar positions to those they held at CCP-controlled news outlets. One such staffer, who worked as a freelance translator for the State Department between May 2023 and January, also worked with a Confucius Institute chapter prior to their stint in Chinese state media.
“Every person hired at the State Department undergoes rigorous vetting, background checks, and security clearances process if required for their role,” a spokesperson for the department told the Washington Examiner. “We are continuously working to minimize internal threats and strengthen our operational security across the Department.”
China Global Television Network and China Radio International, in addition to the aforementioned outlets, counted their alums among the diplomatic staff.
CGTN is one of China’s most prolific state-run media outlets, operating under the CCP’s Central Propaganda Department. The network’s strong ties to Beijing earned it a designation as a foreign mission of China from the State Department in 2020. China Radio International, meanwhile, is a state-owned broadcaster that works to build the CCP’s global soft power.
One individual, who worked as a communications specialist at USAID between April 2022 and March 2025, spent nearly a decade at CGTN as a producer directly before being hired by the federal government, according to his LinkedIn profile. Another person, this time a communications team lead who has worked at the Department of Labor since November 2022, was hired directly from CGTN after spending nearly nine years at the operation. Her LinkedIn profile describes how she was given “increasing leadership responsibilities” at the network and tasked with heading production of its video content.
CGTN seeks to produce content that portrays the U.S. as “poorly governed, plutocratic, racist, and a destabilizing international influence” in contrast to a China that is “well governed, benign, stable, and a rising superpower,” according to a 2022 academic paper published by scholars at King’s College in London.
The Environmental Protection Agency, which employed an archivist for nearly two years after they spent six years working for CGTN, told the Washington Examiner that it “does not comment on individual personnel matters.”
Other notable staffers who disclosed previously holding roles at Chinese state media operations include an executive producer at the U.S. Agency for Global Media, an analyst at the Air Force’s China Aerospace Studies Institute, a senior program analyst working as a contractor for the General Services Administration, and another senior contractor with the Department of Energy. Though not technically part of the federal government, the Washington Examiner also identified staffers at Federal Reserve banks, as well as Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, who are Chinese state media alums.
“GSA follows a robust and well-defined fitness determination process to ensure that all contractors working under a GSA contract are vetted and cleared prior to beginning work on the contract,” a spokesperson for the agency told the Washington Examiner. “At no time has GSA deviated from these processes.”
While there’s no proof that any of these individuals are engaged in espionage or are otherwise working on behalf of the CCP, their prior employment nonetheless shows that the federal officials in question were comfortable helping Beijing spread its propaganda in exchange for a paycheck.
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“Anyone who worked for the CCP in the last decade either lacked the judgment to avoid working for America’s primary adversary, or lacked the discernment to understand the genocidal one-party state that was signing their paychecks,” Lucci said.
The federal agencies mentioned were reached for comment. Shaheen and Murkowski did not respond to requests for comment.
