Reno calls Taiwan an intelligence threat
By Bill Gertz
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
The Clinton administration, in a
departure from longtime U.S. policy, has
placed Taiwan on the FBI's secret list of
hostile intelligence threats, equating Taipei
with aggressive spying by Beijing and
Moscow.
China, Russia and Taiwan are among 13
nations designated as priorities for FBI
intelligence and counterespionage activities,
according to a classified memorandum from
Attorney General Janet Reno.
"I hereby designate the following
countries as country threats under the
[National Security List] for 1999/2000,"
Miss Reno wrote.
Based on FBI, Justice and State
Department reports, Miss Reno then listed,
in order of priority, Russia, China, North
Korea, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia,
Serbian-controlled Bosnia, Vietnam, Syria,
Iraq, Iran, Libya, Sudan and Taiwan.
In addition to nations, the so-called
national security threat list includes eight
issues that guide FBI intelligence work:
terrorism, espionage, proliferation,
economic espionage, infrastructure
targeting, government targeting, perception
management and legal intelligence gathering.
Disclosure of the threat list comes as the
House is preparing to vote on legislation that
would loosen trade restrictions on China.
Current and former U.S. intelligence
officials said the inclusion of Taiwan on the
list appears based on the administration's
pro-Beijing policies that seek to equate
Taiwan in the same threat category as
China.
Asked about the inclusion of Taiwan on
the list, Sen. Jon Kyl, Arizona Republican
and a member of the Senate Intelligence
Committee, said: "What threat?"
"It's very strange to me that Taiwan
would be on this list, especially since other
countries that spy on us are not," Mr. Kyl
said. He added he plans to seek an
explanation from intelligence officials.
If Taiwan is on the threat list, then
Israel, India, Pakistan and France also
should be added since those nations conduct
spying operations against the United States,
said a former senior U.S. intelligence
official.
"This is just for political purposes. The
Taiwanese are not in the same league as the
other threats and they are the one country
on the list that is not a mortal enemy of the
United States."
Justice Department sources said the
memorandum was written by Frances
Fragos Townsend, counsel for intelligence
policy and a political appointee who is close
to Miss Reno. Miss Townsend was
criticized in a recent internal Justice
Department report for turning down an FBI
request for a wiretap of Los Alamos
National Laboratory scientist Wen Ho Lee.
Mr. Lee is the chief suspect in an FBI
investigation of Chinese nuclear spying. He
was indicted in December for mishandling
nuclear secrets.
The former official said the danger from
"politicizing" the threat list is that "it has the
practical effect of distorting the focus of the
FBI and other intelligence community
agencies" charged with protecting national
security.
"It distorts the reality of the threat and
confuses people," he said.
Said a second former high-ranking
intelligence official, "Why isn't Israel on the
list?"
Taiwan's intelligence service in the past
has engaged in intelligence gathering aimed
at classified information, and also has
sought weapons technology. However, the
Taiwanese have not been involved in recent
cases, this former official said.
"I'm really surprised," he said of
Taiwan's inclusion on the list.
A current U.S. government official
involved in China issues said putting Taiwan
on the threat list reflects the administration's
pro-Beijing and anti-Taiwan stance. "The
administration clearly sees Taiwan as the
problem, as a provocateur and
troublemaker," he said.
Seven of the threat nations are states
subject to U.S. sanctions as state sponsors
of international terrorism: Cuba, North
Korea, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Libya and Sudan.
The FBI National Security Division
stated in a separate document that the threat
issues apply to the activities of all foreign
nations, "with special attention given to
those nations determined to be a strategic
national security threat." The strategic
national security threats are those on the
threat list.
FBI officials privately have expressed
frustration at limits imposed by the White
House and State Department that prohibit
any public identification of the hostile
nations and threat issues.
Justice Department and FBI spokesmen
had no comment.
A copy of the document was obtained
by The Washington Times from
investigative reporter Scott Wheeler of
American Investigator, a television news
show. Mr. Wheeler turned up the document
following production of a documentary film
on China called "Trading With the Enemy."
The threat list strategy replaced the
FBI's "criteria" country list and gives
investigators more flexibility in conducting
national security probes. It is the first time
the classified list of nations and issues has
been made public.
In addition to terrorism, spying and
weapons proliferation, a relatively new issue
in the issue list is the threat to the "national
infrastructure" from electronic information
warfare attacks.
"The national information infrastructure
is the electronic backbone for the storage,
processing and communication of
information for nearly every sector of U.S.
society," the memorandum states.
The FBI is charged with thwarting
foreign intelligence activities aimed at
denying or disrupting computer, cable,
satellite or telecommunications services, as
well as unauthorized monitoring.
The memo was sent by Miss Reno to
FBI Director Louis J. Freeh and sets FBI
intelligence priorities for 1999 and 2000. It
is dated March 8, 1999, and states that it
was to be reviewed in March 2000 and
approved by December.
Another former intelligence official said
the FBI has never uncovered an espionage
case involving Taiwan. "There is some
collecting [by Taiwanese agents], but it is
nothing on the level of the Chinese," he
said. He added "there is no doubt that the
Israelis are conducting more operations than
the Taiwanese."
Taipei's military was linked to the
murder of a dissident in the 1980s, said this
former official.
Editor's Note: Janet Reno's memo on
hostile intelligence threats will be posted on
American Investigator's web site
(www.americaninvestigator.net) on
Wednesday, May 24.
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Shalom, A Salaam Aleikum, and to all, A Good Day.
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