Well, this is disquieting. Steven Braun of the Associated Press reports:

A longtime adviser to the U.S. Director of National Intelligence has resigned after the government learned he has worked since 2010 as a paid consultant for Huawei Technologies Ltd., the Chinese technology company the U.S. has condemned as an espionage threat, The Associated Press has learned.

Theodore H. Moran, a respected expert on China's international investment and professor at Georgetown University, had served since 2007 as adviser to the intelligence director's advisory panel on foreign investment in the United States. Moran also was an adviser to the National Intelligence Council, a group of 18 senior analysts and policy experts who provide U.S. spy agencies with judgments on important international issues.

The case highlights the ongoing fractious relationship between the U.S. government and Huawei, China's leading developer of telephone and Internet infrastructure, which has been condemned in the U.S. as a potential national security threat. Huawei has aggressively disputed this, and its chief executive, Ren Zhengfei, has said the company has decided to abandon the U.S. market.

Moran, who had a security clearance granting him access to sensitive materials, was forced to withdraw from those roles after Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., complained in September to the intelligence director, James Clapper, that Moran's work on an international advisory council for Huawei "compromises his ability to advise your office."

In fairness:

Moran, who earlier had declined to discuss the matter, said in a statement Friday to the AP, "I was totally transparent." He said he told the National Intelligence Council in 2010 about his membership on Huawei's advisory panel.

I would be very interested in what kind of review the National Intelligence Council made of his disclosure. Is it possible they considered and found that a paid relationship constituted no threat? Is it possible the notification went unnoticed?

I do not jump to the conclusion that Moran was doing anything wrong. It is entirely possible that the flow of information was to our advantage. But the way that this information came out is not reassuring.

Hat tip: Bryan