VOA hired and sponsored visas for foreign journalists tied to Chinese state media, memos show

The U.S. Agency for Global Media sponsored hundreds of visas over a number of years for foreign journalists to come work for its subsidiary Voice of America, some of which were awarded to employees tied to Chinese state media, according to records reviewed by Just the News.

The agency’s hiring of more than 400 foreign journalists, from about 2009 to the end of the Biden administration, raises questions because of the liberal use of J1 cultural exchange visas, which are not designed for use as a general work authorization.

The employment records were uncovered by a sweeping review of the United States Agency for Global Media by Senior Advisor Kari Lake and her staff ordered by the Trump administration, which seeks to reorganize the agency and return it to its statutory role. 

The work builds on concerns dating back to the first Trump administration, unearthed by the president’s pick to lead the agency, Michael Pack. Just a week before President Joe Biden took office, Pack submitted a formal request to the State Department's Office of Inspector General for a full investigation of security, financial and other issues—including alleged improper use of the J1 visas—he said he uncovered at USAGM during his seven-month tenure. 

National security protocols 

Now that Trump is back in power, House Republicans also launched a probe last month into the agency’s hiring practices and vetting of foreign national employees. 

The USAGM was formed in the 1990s to oversee various U.S. government media entities, including the Voice of America, which was established during World War II to combat Axis propaganda and used during the Cold War to promote Western and American values behind the Soviet Union’s Iron Curtain.

The review commissioned by former director Pack in late 2020 and early 2021 concluded that the agency routinely failed to adhere to proper “national security protocols” and personnel security practices, as well as “left largely unaddressed” repeated warnings from federal intelligence and personnel offices, Just the News previously reported. 

The newly-disclosed employment records confirm some of the other conclusions of the Pack review, including allegations that not only was USAGM heavily relying on J-1 visas to hire foreign nationals, in violation of President Trump's 2017 "Buy American and Hire American" order, but it was "rubber-stamping" applications and renewal requests for staff. 

Ordinarily, J1 visa holders are required to return to their home countries following the end of their program for at least two years before applying for residency in the United States. However, the employment records show many of the foreign nationals hired by VOA were issued Green Cards shortly after or during their tenures. J1 recipients are eligible for this requirement to be waived under certain conditions, one of which is by a request from a U.S. government agency, per the Department of State.

At the time, however, the independent law firm hired by Pack to conduct the review was not able to determine how many foreign nationals were hired using the visas or identify them. The State Department's portal for J-1 visas says their application includes professors, students, researchers, interns, au pairs and "summer work travel" among others, but does not list journalists or federal workers.

Countries of concern

While there are many foreign employees of USAGM that hail from U.S. allies, like South Korea, France or the United Kingdom, nearly 100 of the more than 400 journalists hired by USAGM are citizens of countries that could present particular security concerns. These countries include the United States’ geopolitical rivals like China and Russia, as well as, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, and Somalia, hotbeds of terrorism. 

After taking control of USAGM and VOA, the Trump administration has begun winding down the program and will no longer sponsor J1 visas for the agencies’ employees, an official who declined to be named told Just the News. Very few J1 visa holders remain employed with VOA, and they are currently being phased out. 

The security concerns first raised during Pack’s review of the agency were left unaddressed for years as the program endured over successive administrations. Compounding those concerns, some of the Chinese nationals hired by VOA under the J1 visa program appear to have direct ties to Chinese state-backed media operations, according to a Just the News review of their public profiles and employee records.

Former employees of CCP's mouthpiece

VOA and the USAGM hired at least three Chinese nationals who worked for Chinese Communist Party-controlled state-owned media outlets before or after their work with the United States media agency, public social media profiles show. 

One employee named Yiyi Yang, currently works as a “Senior Digital Video Producer” at VOA, according to her public LinkedIn profile. She notes in her resume that she worked at Xinhua News Agency and China Global Television Network, both Chinese state-backed media outlets, before joining VOA. Xinhua is described as the official state-run press agency of the PRC.

Yang worked as an intern at Xinhua from October to November 2013, according to the digital resume. The outlet is unabashedly a tool for Chinese propaganda and, in the words of its head, Party Secretary Fu Hua, it will “never depart from the party line, not even for a minute, nor stray from the path laid down by General Secretary Xi Jinping.” 

After departing Xinhua, Yang secured a job as a Production Assistant at China Global Television Network, known widely as CGTN, which is the international arm of the Chinese state-backed broadcaster China Central Television.

Chinese President Xi Jinping formed CGTN in 2017, rebranding CCTV International networks, and tasked the new outlet to “Tell China’s story well,” as the outward-facing broadcast propaganda arm of the Communist Party.   

Another VOA employee named Ziyang Wang started work at the outlet in June 2013 as a “Video Journalist and Line Producer,” according to his public LinkedIn profile. During his undergraduate education at the Communication University of China in Nanjing, Wang worked as a video editor at Phoenix TV—a majority state-owned outlet headquartered in Southern China, near Hong Kong. The company is operated by a firm owned by Liu Changle, a veteran of both the Chinese army and Chinese state-owned media. 

In one case, another Chinese national who worked directly for the U.S. Agency for Global Media joined the Chinese state broadcaster CGTN immediately after departing the federal agency. Kaishuo Zhao, according to her public LinkedIn profile, joined the USAGM in 2017 as a “Video Producer.” Zhao has extensive experience in American media that spanned local and national outlets, including the left-leaning Vox. 

Immediately after leaving VOA in March 2022, which aligns closely with the employee records reviewed by Just the News, Zhao joined CGTN America as a “Program Producer,” according to her LinkedIn page. 

There have been nearly 50 more Chinese nationals hired by VOA in the years that the records cover, but a review by Just the News could not immediately link them to any public profiles.   

Neither Yang nor Zhao responded to requests for comment from Just the News. Wang could not be reached for comment. 

Congress requests documentation

Last month, the House Oversight Committee launched a probe into the U.S. Agency for Global Media focusing on allegations that its leadership misused the J1 visa system for years and failed to properly vet the foreign nationals it hired. Findings that some of the Chinese nationals hired by the agency had ties to state media are likely to become a central focus of their probe. 

Oversight Chairman James Comer and Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency Chairwoman Marjorie Taylor Greene sent a letter to Lake in June requesting documentation about the agency’s hiring practices, specifically surrounding foreign nationals. 

“The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is conducting oversight of the [USAGM], especially longstanding security vulnerabilities exacerbated by mismanagement—a situation that persisted for years at the agency,” Comer and Greene wrote.