[CTRL] =?iso-8859-1?Q?Report:_Files_Weren=92t_Secret?=

[Shane A. Saylor, Eccentric Bard]

Report: Files Weren’t Secret
Data in Lee Case Was Under Low Security



N E W  Y O R K, April 15 — The computer files at the heart of the case
against U.S. nuclear espionage suspect Wen Ho Lee were given higher security
classifications last year only after the former Los Alamos scientist was
arrested, the New York Times reported today.
     The newspaper said that at the time Lee downloaded the files onto his
computer they were classified but not designated secret or confidential, as
the indictment against him alleges.
     Instead they were covered by a lower kind of security precaution, the
Times said, citing sources on both sides in the case as well as a document
that federal prosecutors filed as evidence.
     The case against Taiwan-born Lee has become the most-watched espionage
affair in years, with prosecutors saying he may have given away the designs
to the “crown jewels” of the U.S. nuclear arsenal to China.
     Lee, who has not been officially charged with espionage, has maintained
his innocence. His lawyers have said they intend to argue that the computer
tapes and files he made were copies of scientific work already published
with the government’s permission.
Gov’t Stands By Indictment
The lead lawyer for Lee, Mark Holscher, told the Times that the change in
security classification, which he said his team discovered while studying
prosecution evidence, would be a powerful weapon for the defense. “The
indictment is deceptive,” he told the newspaper.
     Government officials conceded to the Times that the original security
level was low but emphatically denied the material was insignificant. A
Justice Department spokesman said the government stands by the indictment.
     Lee, 60, was arrested in December and is now in jail awaiting trial on
charges of illegally downloading nuclear secrets from his lab’s computers.
     The Times said the downloaded material had a security designation
“protect as restricted data” or PARD, a category applied to scientific data
so voluminous and frequently changing as to be impossible to asses in terms
of security.
     While such material is classified, it is not subject to the same
stringent precautions applied to data designated secret or confidential. For
example, scientists may leave such material on their desks overnight rather
than keeping it in a safe.
     One independent expert on security and classification told the
newspaper that the revelation would throw the government on the defensive
and shows the case is more complicated than it first seemed.
     The indictment in the case said that in 1993, 1994 and 1997 Lee had
illegally transferred secret and confidential restricted data, the federal
term for information about the design, manufacturing and use of atomic
weapons. But a document filed as evidence in the case said the downloading
involved either unclassified or PARD data.
--
Everything on this earth has a purpose, and every disease an herb to
cure it, and every person a mission. This is the Indian theory of
existence. --Mourning Dove, 1888-1936

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