Has the Chinese Spy Story Fizzled?
For months there have been news stories suggesting that Wen Ho
Lee, a scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, was a spy for
China. Los Alamos, the lab in which the first atomic bomb was developed in
1945, is still the main U.S. center for nuclear weapon research and
development. There have been further suggestions that the Lee case exposes the
Clinton administration as cavalier about national security--or, worse, that it
traded national security for Chinese campaign contributions. Recently, though,
there have been stories suggesting that Lee may not have been a spy after all.
What, in brief, is the state of play?
The investigation of Chinese espionage has actually been going
on for four years. It is clearly established that China somehow obtained design
specifications for many of America's nuclear warheads during the 1980s and
early '90s. But these secrets could have leaked from many places, including
other government research labs and private defense contractors.
What is the evidence implicating Wen Ho Lee? Mainly, it seems,
his apparent friendship with Chinese scientists. He often attended scientific
conferences in China, and hosted Chinese counterparts on visits to Los Alamos.
He was even once seen hugging one of them. But these exchange visits and
conferences were all part of his job as a U.S. government employee--and indeed
friendship among Chinese and U.S. scientists was part of their purpose. Lee
also downloaded secret files to an insecure computer--a clear violation of the
rules. But there is no evidence the information ever went any further. Lee says
he was just making backup copies. Other Los Alamos scientists have done the
same, though on a smaller scale.
The thinness of the evidence against him has led some to
suggest that Lee, who was born in Taiwan, is being persecuted because of his
ethnic heritage. There is scant evidence for that, too. The FBI now concedes
that it is unlikely Lee will ever face charges of spying. At most, he may be
charged with mishandling classified information--the offense for which he lost
his job in March. However, even this charge may never end up in court. Last
week, former CIA Director John Deutch was stripped of his security clearance
for a similar offense, but will not be prosecuted for his actions. The FBI
would likely find it difficult to justify a different standard being applied to
Lee.
The Clinton administration is accused of compromising national
security by mishandling the investigation of Lee. How? Separate investigations
launched by the Energy Department and the FBI in 1996 were poorly coordinated,
and Los Alamos officials did not act quickly on recommendations to improve
security and to revoke Lee's access to sensitive information. The president and
Cabinet officials were not fully informed of the security issues until late in
the investigation. But there is no evidence of actual damage to national
security due to these lapses. And there is no evidence tying any of this to
Clinton campaign contributions. Experts agree that the most significant
intelligence losses occurred in the 1980s--well before Lee was suspected of any
wrongdoing, and before Clinton was president.
Next question?
