Washington bureau collaboration offers all-formats look at how adversaries harass activists and dissidents in US

By Eric Tucker, Didi Tang and, Nathan Ellgren

Eric Tucker, Didi Tang and Nathan Ellgren of the Washington bureau collaborated on a deeply reported, comprehensive and all-formats look at how Iran, China and other adversaries stalk, intimidate and harass activists and dissidents living in the United States.

Tucker, who covers national security, heard from sources at the FBI and at the Justice Department about how the problem of transnational repression — the harassment and intimidation of dissidents and activists by China, Iran and other US adversaries — had become increasingly alarming. Working with U.S.-Asian Affairs reporter Didi Tang and video journalist Nathan Ellgren, they spent weeks tracking down sources for a report that included on-the-record and background interviews with a dozen subjects, including senior officials at the FBI, Justice Department and Congress, as well as victims of harassment from Iran and China.

Tang’s deep connections and years of source-work ensured that not only was AP able to do video interviews of two victims of Chinese government harassment, in both English and Mandarin, but that AP was able to obtain photos and videos depicting the frightening harassment. Tucker’s interviews with FBI and Justice Department officials with whom he’d cultivated relationships revealed new trends in the countries’ tactics.

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