Mina Chang
Mina Chang
Mina Chang is the Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations under the Trump administration. [1]
Education
Mina Chang attended the University of the Nations and said in a 2014 interview that she has a degree in international development from the University of Hawaii. Mina claims to be a graduate of Southern Methodist University as well as a four-day United States Army War College National Security Seminar. [1]
Mina Chang says that she graduated from Harvard University in 2016, but a spokesperson for Harvard says that Chang attended a seven-week course and didn't actually earn a degree.[1]
Career
In 2009, Mina Chang was pursuing a career as an international Pop singer, recording albums in both English and Korean. She even released a Christmas album. However,a June 2014 feature in the Dallas Observer penned Chang as a singer turned activist. In the article, she announced that she was about to sign a new deal with her record company, but she had to walk away to pursue a greater calling with her charity, Linking the World. She was inspired by the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. [2][3]
After moving Linking the World's offices from Pretoria, South Africa, and Seoul, South Korea to Dallas, Texas, Mina launched the Global Social Leadership Program. She said about the program: [2]
"This program helps our students to see what life is like around the world.
They get to see that for some kids, school is a privilege.
I want my daughter to grow up in a world where her classmates don't take school for granted.
Where she doesn't take school for granted"
Mina Chang got her foot in the door at the White House with a little help from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's friend Brian Bulato. It's reported that she was even considered for a post at the U.S. Agency for International Development's work in Asia, in which she would have oversaw a $1,000,000,000 budget. Her nomination for the post was withdrawn on Sept. 9 without public explanation. [4]
Controversy
Chang has come under fire for providing misleading information in the resume that got her hired at the White House. Her official State Department biography describes Chang as an “alumna” of Harvard Business School, even though she only took a seven week course and never earned a degree. However, Harvard Business School spokesperson Mark Cautela said the school grants "alumni status" to anyone who attends one of the school’s executive education programs. [4]
"Here you are on Time magazine, congratulations!
Tell me about this cover and how it came to be?"
Chang replied with:
"Well, we started using drone technology in disaster response and so that was when the whole talk of how is technology being used to save lives in disaster response scenarios, I suppose I brought some attention to that"
Kristin Matzen, a spokesperson for Time magazine said the cover is not authentic.[4]
In addition, Chang has made boasts about her charity Linking The World, that cannot be substantiated. In 2015, she said:
"We have in-house K9 search and rescue teams, we have testified in front of hearing committees on Capitol Hill, we've done things like lectured at West Point, brief chiefs of staff at the Pentagon"
Her nonprofit's tax filings show a budget of less than $300,000, and only a handful of staff.
For 2015, the organization listed spending just $44,645 on salaries but more than $60,000 on "advertising and promotion" and $50,298 on travel.
The IRS revoked their tax exempt status in May of 2019 for skipping annual filings for the past three years. Chang also took a trip to Afghanistan for humanitarian efforts and but no aid or relief was distributed. She posed with two women and told the media they were hiding, but they it turned out they were just the wives of local employees the defense contractor paid for the trip.[4]
On November 17th 2019, Mina Chang resigned from her post in the White House, saying:
"It is essential that my resignation be seen as a protest and not as surrender because I will not surrender my commitment to serve, my fidelity to the truth, or my love of country.
Indeed, I intend to fight for those things as a citizen in the days and years to come."
Personal Life
Mina Chang is the daughter of two Salvation Army corps workers and and has a daughter named Trinity Chang. She was diagnosed with brain cancer in May of 2013. She worked most of the time she was going through chemotherapy and even traveled abroad for fieldwork with her charity. [2][4]
Mina Chang is married to Jake Harriman, the founder of Nuru International, a charity that seeks to end extreme poverty in Kenya and Ethiopia. He was a Special Operations Platoon Commander in the Marine Corps. He's seen on Instagram nursing her to health after an undisclosed event left her in need of spinal surgery. [4][5][7]
Chang's Instagram presents her as a socialite. It's full of selfies with prominent figures like former President Bill Clinton, retired Gen. David Petraeus, former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Karl Rove, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Buzz Aldrin and others.[4] [8][9]