FBI raids home of prominent computer scientist who has gone incommunicado

Known Facts and Timeline (From Thread and Linked Follow‑ups)

• Indiana University (IU) notified faculty in mid‑March that the professor was placed on leave; his web pages were scrubbed at that time.
• FBI and DHS later executed court‑authorized searches at two homes linked to him (Bloomington and Carmel); a woman at one house was present and returned with a lawyer.
• Colleagues and students report he has been unreachable for weeks; it’s unclear if he is in US custody, abroad, or simply missing.
• Later reporting cited in the thread says faculty were not told he was fired at first; a faculty union has since protested a later termination decision.

Espionage vs Immigration / ICE Theories

• Many commenters stress this is an FBI matter, not ICE, and argue the fact pattern doesn’t match the recent “secret ICE deportation” cases.
• Others note FBI now has some Title 8 immigration enforcement authority and that green card holders and even citizens have been swept up in recent crackdowns, blurring the line.
• A large contingent suspects a national‑security or espionage angle, given his cryptography/security work, Chinese origin, and references to the (revived) “China Initiative.”
• Others push back, pointing out that prior China‑focused investigations have often been wrong or overbroad and have wrecked careers without proving spying.

What Happened to Him? Competing Speculations

• Hypothesis “he was disappeared by the US government”: driven by recent extrajudicial ICE actions and sealed court records; critics note there’s still no evidence he’s detained.
• Counter‑hypothesis “he vanished himself”: he may have fled or left the country before law‑enforcement action; the university then discovered issues and called in the FBI.
• Alternative speculations include mundane criminal conduct, coercion or kidnapping by Chinese security services, or a personal crime (e.g., domestic violence), but commenters emphasize all of this is guesswork.
• Several people distinguish “he vanished” from “he was vanished,” and caution against conspiracy‑style reasoning without concrete facts.

Due Process, Secret Courts, and Civil‑Liberties Concerns

• Long debate over FISA/FISC: some assume it’s involved; others clarify it only handles secret surveillance warrants, not trials or charges.
• Worry that secret surveillance, sealed warrants, and lack of public information erode trust and make even legitimate investigations look like abductions.
• Broader political thread: comparisons to McCarthyism and past abuses (COINTELPRO, Guantánamo, China Initiative), and arguments over whether current US institutions still deserve “benefit of the doubt.”

Meta and Visibility

• Commenters note earlier threads on the case were flagged or de‑ranked on HN, interpreting that as political sensitivity.
• A CourtListener maintainer set up alerts and later found a motion to unseal search warrants, but no underlying warrants were yet visible on the public docket.