from: http://209.61.156.12/Article.asp?ID=751 Click Here: <A HREF="http://209.61.156.12/Article.asp?ID=751">Capitol Hill Blue: FBI Agent Admits Lying to Ma�</A> ----- FBI Agent Admits Lying to Make Los Alamos Scientist Look Guilty Friday, August 18, 2000 By JAMES STERNGOLD ALBUQUERQUE -- An F.B.I. agent admitted in federal court here today that he had provided inaccurate testimony last December that made a Los Alamos scientist accused of mishandling nuclear weapons secrets appear deceptive when he had not been. The issue is critical because the government has successfully argued since last December that the scientist, Wen Ho Lee, be held without bail in part because his pattern of deceptions, along with the fact that computer tapes containing a vast amount of nuclear secrets remain unaccounted for, suggested he was a major threat to national security. In his written decision denying bail to Dr. Lee last December, the federal judge, James A. Parker, had cited Dr. Lee's "deeply troubling" deceptions. Dr. Lee is trying for bail a third time and the government is now acknowledging what amounts to misleading testimony. Dr. Lee is the first person to be accused under the specific atomic energy statute cited in his 59-count indictment, and a growing number of Asian-Americans and civil rights proponents have rallied to his side, saying he was singled out for prosecution at least in part because of his Chinese ancestry. Robert A. Messemer, an F.B.I. supervisory special agent, had said under oath last December that when Dr. Lee improperly downloaded weapons secrets six years ago onto portable computer tapes he had lied to a colleague, Kuok-Mee Ling, in order to get permission to use Dr. Ling's computer. Mr. Messemer had testified that Dr. Lee told Dr. Ling that he was just going to download a r�sum�, which was not true. But since December, Dr. Lee's defense lawyers have gained access to Dr. Ling's previous grand jury testimony, and it does not mention that Dr. Lee spoke of a r�sum�. Mr. Messemer today acknowledged that he had made "an honest error" on this critical point in his testimony in December. "At no time did I intentionally provide false testimony," he said. "I made a simple inadvertent error." Mr. Messemer insisted nevertheless that, in other areas, Dr. Lee had been deceptive. There were, however, several other instances in which the defense appeared to show that the government had mislead the judge in describing Dr. Lee's supposed deceptions. Mr. Messemer had testified at the December bail hearing that Dr. Lee had not disclosed certain contacts with Chinese scientists during officially sanctioned, professional visits to Beijing in the 1980's. But the defense attorneys have since obtained a report Dr. Lee filed after a 1986 trip in which he listed seven Chinese scientists with whom he spoke during his visit. Mr. Messemer also acknowledged that, though Dr. Lee clearly disclosed the contacts, he was never subsequently questioned about them. Mr. Messemer also disclosed that he never consulted Dr. Lee's trip report before testifying in December. He still maintained that Dr. Lee had been deceptive because he had not been open about "the full nature and scope" of his contacts. The government contends that until Dr. Lee faced questioning a year ago, he failed to report a highly suspicious meeting he had with a Chinese scientist in his hotel room in a 1988 visit. The government also insists that Dr. Lee's downloading of the huge library of weapons secrets was itself a deliberate act of deception that took more than 40 hours of computer time and knowingly violated rules on the handling of classified data. None of the statements in court here today or yesterday appeared decisive. The government presented weapons experts who insisted Dr. Lee's downloading was unprecedented and a grave threat to national security, since the data, in hostile hands, could alter the global balance of power. The defense offered its own experts who insisted that most of the information was already public and that its usefulness to another country was extremely limited. In one tense exchange, Paul Robinson, the president of the Sandia National Laboratories and a witness for the prosecution, said that one of the defense experts, Harold M. Agnew, a former director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, had simply not understood the information Dr. Lee downloaded or had not understood the threat posed by Dr. Lee's actions. Dr. Agnew fired off a written affidavit to the court yesterday in response to that testimony, saying, "What Paul said is a bunch of bull," and then refuted parts of Dr. Robinson's testimony. In two other areas today, defense lawyers tried to show that government witnesses had provided misleading evidence in December. Mr. Messemer had said Dr. Lee had failed to disclose correspondence he conducted with some Chinese scientists, saying he had only exchanged Christmas cards. Today, one of Dr. Lee's lawyers, Mark Holscher, produced a transcript of an interview with Dr. Lee and the F.B.I. on March 5, 1999, in which Dr. Lee did discuss correspondence with the Chinese scientists. In addition, Mr. Messemer had said in December that during the search of Dr. Lee's home, the F.B.I. had discovered letters that Dr. Lee had sent to a number of foreign scientific institutes seeking a job. The prosecution has said in previous filings that they believe the principal reason Dr. Lee improperly downloaded the nuclear secrets was to enhance his job prospects with the foreign institutes. But under questioning, Mr. Messemer acknowledged today that the F.B.I. found some letters but had no evidence they were either mailed or received by the foreign institutions, which were in countries like Australia, France, Singapore and Switzerland. The bail hearing will resume on Friday. Judge Parker has allowed the examinations and cross-examinations of the witnesses, much of it in closed sessions because it involved classified information, to stretch on far longer than is usual at bail hearings. � 2000 NY Times News Service ----- Aloha, He'Ping, Om, Shalom, Salaam. Em Hotep, Peace Be, All My Relations. Omnia Bona Bonis, Adieu, Adios, Aloha. Amen. Roads End <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! 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