(Washington, DC) Judicial Watch announced last week that it filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the State Department for non-identifying records of U.S. diplomatic personnel being subjected to invasive COVID-19 “anal swab” tests by the Chinese government (Judicial Watch v U.S. Dept of State (No. 1:21-cv-02111)).
This lawsuit was filed after the State Department failed to respond to a June 18, 2021, FOIA request for:
All records about US diplomatic personnel in or seeking to enter China being subjected to anal swab tests for the COVID-19 virus, including all complaints and communications regarding such testing. This request does not seek any personal identifying information of US diplomatic personnel that may have been subjected to such testing.
In February2021, it was reported that U.S. diplomats were subjected to anal swab testing for COVID-19 by the Chinese government. At the time, the State Department told The Hill that,
Chinese officials who forced American diplomats to undergo an anal swab for COVID-19 testing did so “in error,” the State Department told The Hill on Thursday, as Beijing denies it conducted the tests at all….
A State spokesperson responded to a request for comment from The Hill by saying that the department “never agreed” to such tests and had protested directly to the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs following complaints from staff.
“Our diplomatic personnel were abused in a reprehensible way by the Chinese and the Biden administration seems to have done little in response – except to cover it up,” stated Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.