In the wake of the reputed Chinese spy balloon that floated over U.S. military bases last week, it might be instructive to recall that last February, the Biden administration canceled a program launched by the Trump administration to identify Chinese threats to national security.

Matt Olsen, the Biden administration’s assistant attorney general in charge of the national security division, claimed that Asians had said the program was biased against them, saying, “We helped give rise to a harmful perception that the department applies a lower standard to investigate and prosecute criminal conduct related to that country or that we in some way view people with racial, ethnic, or family ties to China differently.”