-Caveat Lector-
Wen Ho Lee: Copied Tapes Went in Trash
By Walter Pincus
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday , December 1, 2000 ; Page A02
Former Los Alamos physicist Wen Ho Lee has told investigators
that he threw portable tapes containing nuclear secrets into a
trash bin outside the weapons laboratory in January 1999, shortly
after his security clearance was revoked.
Under recent questioning by the FBI, government sources said, the
60-year-old Taiwanese American scientist has steadfastly
maintained that he made the tapes in 1993, 1994 and 1997 only to
preserve data in case of a computer failure.
Lee also has asserted that no one else knew of his actions and
that he never removed the pocket-sized tapes from Los Alamos
National Laboratory, the sources said.
On Sept. 13, prosecutors dropped 58 of 59 felony counts against
Lee, and a federal judge sentenced him to the nine months he had
already served in jail while awaiting trial. In return for his
freedom, he promised to cooperate with the government's effort to
determine what happened to the cassette tapes, which contained
test data and design information on U.S. nuclear weapons.
Although Lee first told the FBI in September that he had disposed
of the tapes in the trash bin, the bureau waited until this week
to begin searching the landfill where the laboratory dumps its
garbage.
One official familiar with the investigation said the FBI "had
been planning this dig for months but did not rush into it,
because he was vague and nonspecific about what he had done."
For example, another source said, Lee admitted that he had made
copies of the missing tapes, "but he couldn't remember how many."
Under the plea bargain, the government is allowed to question Lee
under oath for up to 10 days. Eight days of questioning have
been completed, and the final two days are to take place before
Dec. 15.
After that, the government can give Lee a polygraph exam. If the
two sides fail to agree on a neutral person to administer the lie
detector test, a federal judge will pick one.
"Lee has repeatedly showed deception [on polygraphs] in the
past," said one government official, adding: "The truth on this
may never be known."
Lee's lawyers maintain that he passed two previous polygraph
exams and failed one under highly adversarial circumstances.
Lee initially was the prime suspect in an espionage investigation
that began in 1996 after allegations that China had gained secret
data about the newest U.S. nuclear warhead, the W-88. When he
returned from a trip to Taiwan and was questioned by Energy
Department investigators in December 1998, he admitted for the
first time that he had been asked about classified subjects
during a private meeting with Chinese scientists in a Beijing
hotel.
After that disclosure, Lee was barred from his office in the
lab's X Division on Dec. 23, 1998. On that night and the next
night, Christmas Eve, he made the first of 17 attempts to
re-enter the secure area to collect his personal items, Lee has
told his questioners.
According to earlier court testimony, he was successful twice,
entering once by closely following someone into the facility, and
another time when a colleague, who was unaware that Lee's
clearance had been removed, let him in.
At about the same time, Lee erased classified files he had
transferred to unclassified computers and removed secret data
from three tapes that were later found in his office.
In March 1999, Lee was fired for security violations. After his
lab computer was reviewed and a search of his house turned up a
notebook detailing what was on the tapes, he became the subject
of a new FBI investigation. In December 1999, he was indicted,
arrested and jailed.
But he denied passing secrets to any foreign government and was
never charged with espionage. His detention in solitary
confinement drew increasing criticism, particularly from Asian
American groups, who argued that he was singled out because of
his ethnicity.
Lee recently sold his story to television and is writing a book
about his experiences. Supporters are planning a 61st birthday
celebration for him on Dec. 21.
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Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, YHVH, TZEVAOT
FROM THE DESK OF:
*Michael Spitzer* <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Best Way To Destroy Enemies Is To Change Them To Friends
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