I think you're cherry picking here. There were:

16-20 cases handled by the NSF IG's office "regarding the disclosure of foreign ties" since 2018. "They were considered rule violations, but not criminal activity."

Separately, an undisclosed number of criminal cases were referred to the FBI.

Additionally, in the past two months, "seven universities have also contacted the NSF directly with information on faculty who may have violated rules." This represents another number of undisclosed potential cases. All this comes from "the agency’s first chief of research security strategy and policy," who started the job in March. So this clearly a new problem they're still working to fully grasp.

The NIH, which is a separate entity, stated they'd learned of "150 cases in the past 12 months,” according to their head of extramural research. The NIH has been conducting "an ongoing probe that has swept up 399 scientists since NIH received the first allegation in June 2016." [1]

That 93% mentioned in the original article includes 189 scientists investigated by the NIH, at least 54 of whom have been fired or resigned. The 189 scientists represent "285 active grants" totaling "$164 million." It was also reported that "cases involving the alleged theft of intellectual property or economic espionage, he says, are referred to either the inspector general for NIH’s parent body, the Department of Health and Human Services, or to the Department of Justice (DOJ)." So those cases are likely not included in these stats. Additionally, "Of the 189 scientists flagged in its letters to institutions, 133 of them (70%) failed to disclose a grant from a foreign entity, and 102 failed to disclose their participation in a foreign talent recruitment program, such as China’s Thousand Talents Program. "[2]

It also seems like you're discounting the value, purpose, nature, and impact of the research at play within these incidents, much of which is likely considered critical to the U.S. government. Murder is probably the least likely form of crime to occur where you live, but that doesn't make it a trivial issue. The driver across all of this is the continued perceived power of the US government in its technological supremacy in science and defense. China is fast on our heels, and any opportunity they have to "leap frog" research and development, as was seen with the J-31 Fighter Jet made by China [3], gives a perceived "frenemy" a significant edge that U.S leadership would consider a significant and detrimental risk to American power, politics, and foreign policy.

[1] https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/06/has-it-peaked-i-don-...

[2] https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/06/fifty-four-scientist...

[3] https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-fighter-hacking/theft-of...