-Caveat Lector- Energy Officials Avoided Spy Case By JIM ABRAMS .c The Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) -- Energy Department officials say they kept a House Armed Services subcommittee in the dark last year about alleged Chinese espionage at a national weapons lab as part of a policy of limiting those being told of the case. Notra Trulock, the agency's special adviser for intelligence, told the military procurement subcommittee Thursday that he was under specific orders from Elizabeth Moler, then deputy energy secretary, not to talk about the alleged Chinese theft of nuclear warhead secrets from the Los Alamos National Laboratory in the 1980s. ``I did not make full disclosure'' at a closed hearing of the subcommittee last October, Trulock said. ``I apologize.'' The panel's chairman, Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., said the lawmakers were ``very upset'' by the failure of Trulock and Moler, who were under oath at the time, to reply to questions about espionage at the national labs and asked, ``Why weren't we told the whole truth?'' Since the alleged spy case was revealed earlier this year, congressional Republicans have been strongly critical of what they say was the administration's slow response to the case and its failure to keep Congress adequately informed. Trulock on Monday backed up their contentions, telling the Senate Armed Services Committee that Moler last July prevented him from talking to the House intelligence panel about the case. On Thursday he said Moler edited the testimony he had prepared for the October Armed Services Committee hearing to take out references to espionage at the national labs. Moler, who also appeared at both the Monday and Thursday hearings, took strong issue with Trulock's version of events, saying she never tried to stop him from testifying and did not edit his testimony. But she acknowledged that Federico Pena, then energy secretary, had decided the agency, because of the sensitive nature of the case, should limit its Capitol Hill briefings to the House and Senate intelligence committees. She said this was ``common practice.'' She said she told Trulock to limit his testimony to the subject of security issues involved in visits to the labs by foreign nationals. Hunter reminded her that his subcommittee oversees two-thirds of the Energy Department's budget and said, ``We need candor from the department on (security) losses this country has suffered.'' ``With the benefit of hindsight,'' Moler said, ``we should have been more responsive in this area.'' The Energy Department and the FBI in 1996 began an investigation into suspicions that Taiwan-born American Wen Ho Lee, a scientist at Los Alamos, transferred intelligence on the W-88 nuclear warhead during the Reagan administration. Lee was fired from his job at the New Mexico facility last month, but has not been charged with any wrongdoing and the FBI has cautioned it may not have the evidence for a criminal case. DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
