Few political clichés are more frequently invoked than “personnel is policy.” Like most aphorisms, it’s rooted in truth. Ideas aren’t self-executing, and the government is no better than the people who staff it. Washington received the latest reminder of this reality on Wednesday when news broke that the House Foreign Affairs Committee had hired a new staff director for the East Asia and Pacific subcommittee. Committee jobs in Congress are competitive, and it’s common for staffers to rack up private sector experience before stepping into these roles. In this case, however, the industry experience was directly tied to America’s foremost geopolitical adversary.
Before joining the committee, the staffer in question, Mark Aitken II, was senior director of U.S. government relations at DJI and a vice president at Shein. DJI is domiciled in the People’s Republic of China and controlled by the Chinese Communist Party. U.S. officials have longwarned about the dangers of relying on CCP drones that leave America’s critical infrastructure exposed to espionage. Shein, for its part, is notorious for skirting U.S. import laws. The company seems less concerned about avoiding taxes and more preoccupied with evading accountability for its use of Uyghur slave labor-produced cotton.
There are numerous examples of congressional staff trading on their government experience for plumb positions in CCP-aligned companies, like TikTok. This episode with HFAC, however, inverted that process: Aitken successfully leveraged experience for a company complicit in the Uyghur genocide and another company surveillance U.S. critical infrastructure into a position on U.S.-China relations. It isn’t illegal for Americans to choose a paycheck over patriotism, but the U.S. government shouldn’t reward that choice.
His time on the Hill didn’t last long. Public outcry began a little after 5 o’clock in the afternoon, and less than three hours later, Aitken was no longer employed by HFAC.
At one level, the outcome is a success story. Chairman Brian Mast (R-FL) deserves credit for swiftly taking action. Public service is a sacred duty reserved for advancing America’s interests. Prior experience for companies controlled by the CCP or complicit in its atrocities raises questions about personal motivation and professional judgment. Washington must clarify the incentive structure for anyone seeking public service: You can work for the United States or you can work for the Chinese Communist Party, but you cannot do both.
At another level, however, the episode raises serious concerns. Congress has rightly sought to prohibit the use of DJI drones in the U.S. The fact that someone with prior employment at DJI, a Department of Defense-designated Chinese military company, was hired for an influential position in Congress beggars belief. The possibility of staffers bending legislation in the interest of prior employers is a real problem if the prior employer is affiliated with the People’s Liberation Army.
That this hiring decision happened at all suggests the need for legislative reforms. An amendment to the annual National Defense Authorization Act could probably close this loophole. More broadly, Congress should reform the Foreign Agent Registration Act to make it more difficult for CCP-controlled companies like DJI to avoid disclosing their political activities.
With Shein, Congress and the Trump administration should axe the de minimis loophole that allows slave labor-produced goods to flood the U.S. market. These changes will only occur, however, with the right people serving America inside the government.