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Justice Department Releases Excerpts of Wen Ho Lee Report

Dr. Wen Ho Lee leaves federal court in Albuquerque, New Mexico followed by his daughter Alberta Lee in this Sept. 13, 2000, file photo. Photo by AP

APIA leaders critical of finding that racial profiling was not a factor

By Associated Press & Sam Chu Lin

Wen Ho Lee was inappropriately targeted by the Energy Department in its investigation of suspected espionage — but it was not because of his race — concluded a Department of Justice report.

With the release of this latest information on the Lee case, sources close to the former Los Alamos scientist say he and his legal team are proceeding with caution. He has one month left to complete his agreement with the government to participate in “cooperative exchanges.” There is the feeling no one wants to “rock the boat,” and it would be in the scientist’s best interest to be restrained in his comments.

Lee’s supporters, however, have voiced harsh criticism. Their main objections: that the report failed to interview people on Lee’s defense, and delayed release of information didn’t give journalists enough time to adequately report on the story.

The report, assigned by former Attorney General Janet Reno to analyze the Lee investigation, was prepared by former federal prosecutor Randy Bellows. It was completed in May 2000, but remains classified because it contains sensitive nuclear weapons information. Its remainder is due for release over the next several weeks.

The findings, and timing of the report’s delivery to the public, prompted Ling-chi Wang, an Asian American studies professor at U.C. Berkeley, to charge the government with launching a “second-round battle over Wen Ho Lee.”

Said Wang: “Having failed in the judicial lynching of Wen Ho Lee, the Department of Justice has decided to dust off the outdated Bellows Report to continue its smear campaign against Wen Ho Lee since the day he was released by Judge James Parker nearly a year ago.”

Two heavily censored chapters of the Justice Department report, declassified on Aug. 13, take to task both the DOE and the FBI for the botched probe of Lee that lasted years and landed him in prison for nine months.

The report says that Lee was singled out for an investigation into suspected Chinese espionage because the Energy Department misled the FBI. It criticizes the FBI for accepting the DOE assertion that Lee, a former nuclear scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, was “the only individual … who had opportunity, motivation and legitimate access” to the nuclear weapons information believed to have been leaked to the Chinese.

The report stated the DOE ignored locations other than Los Alamos where the nuclear secrets could have been compromised by numerous other potential suspects. “The message communicated to the FBI was that the FBI need look no further within DOE for a suspect. Wen Ho Lee was its man,” the report said. “The FBI never should have accepted this message, as is.”

The report, however, also stated that Lee was not singled out because of his race.

DIFFERENT VIEWPOINTS

That finding contradicts assertions by two other government investigators. On Aug. 31, 2000, affidavits of Charles Washington and Robert Vrooman were unsealed, saying the two former counterintelligence chiefs believed Lee was singled out for prosecution because of his race.

Washington, who led the Energy Department’s counterintelligence branch for several years in the 1990s, said he knew of other employees who eluded prosecution for more serious offences. Washington said he had routinely handled infractions like Lee’s by merely counseling violators. At the time, Washington said:

“I am personally aware of a DOE employee who committed a most egregious case of espionage that cost our nation billions of dollars and drastically impacted our national defense. That DOE employee was not prosecuted.”

Vrooman stated that Lee became the focus of an investigation to the exclusion of other potential suspects who fit a “matrix,” or profile based on access to W-88 nuclear warhead information and travel to China. “Dozens of individuals who share those characteristics were not chosen for investigation,” Vrooman said.

Lee was indicted on 59 felony counts alleging he transferred nuclear weapons information to portable computer tapes. Lee was not charged with spying. After spending time in jail, he pleaded guilty to one felony count of downloading sensitive material.

Upon his release, presiding Judge James Parker said prosecutors misled Lee and apologized to Lee for the nine months he spent in solitary confinement. Former President Bill Clinton also said he was troubled by the long imprisonment, which “just can’t be justified.”

APIAs STAND BEHIND LEE

In light of the facts in the case, Diane Chin, executive director for the San Francisco-based Chinese for Affirmative Action [CAA], alleged government officials are once again trying to manipulate public opinion.

“What I find most interesting about the report is that we know … very high-level government officials who said that racial profiling exists in the FBI,” she said. “I find it very interesting that the federal government once again would clear itself of these allegations in spite of these … very high level officials “

Los Angeles Attorney Angela Oh, a former member of the President’s Race Initiative, warned that the Justice Department’s report impacts all APIAs. Like Chin, she said Bellows should have interviewed the defense witnesses of Lee’s.

“I think any credible impartial inquiry into the prosecution of Wen Ho Lee must include individuals who were prepared to testify on behalf of the defense,” she said. “These individuals presumably had direct personal knowledge about issues that were material to this prosecution.”

Kathy Feng of the Asian Pacific American Legal Center, pointed out that the Justice Department handed out the reports in the late afternoon of Aug. 13, limiting the time journalists had to review it before their deadlines. Moreover, excerpts were leaked to the public a week earlier.

“The leaks from the Department of Justice of the Bellow’s Report … were inappropriate,” she said. “It smacks of the same kind of inappropriate leak that happened during the early stages of the investigation against Wen Ho Lee, where his name was revealed to the New York Times, and the story was run, clearly claiming the scientist’s guilt.”

Karen Narasaki, executive director of the National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium, called on Attorney General John Ashcroft to appoint an independent commission to study the Lee case.

“I think the community deserves to have independent confirmation other than just the word of someone who is within the Justice Department, and who has jurisdiction over the FBI,” she stated. “As we know, there are a lot of people who are trying to cover their butts there. Given the recent revelations as to what’s been going on at the FBI, I don’t think it’s too outrageous to ask for more of an independent investigation.”

With a television documentary and TV network mini-series currently in the making, the federal government is expected to face scrutiny for their role. There are also at least three books on Lee, including his autobiography, which Helen Zia helped pen and is currently being reviewed by government officials. Newspaper reporters Dan Stober of The Mercury News and Ian Hoffman of the Albuquerque Journal, have also written a book about the scientist.

Lee is suing the FBI and the departments of Energy and Justice for allegedly leaking information to the media that made it appear he had spied. In addition, Notra Trulock, the former chief investigator for the Energy Department who led the Lee probe, is suing Lee, Vrooman and Washington for accusing him of racism in the investigation.

Meanwhile, Steven Aftergood, a government secrecy expert for the Federation of American Scientists, which has supported Lee, said Bellows’ report does not end the question of whether Lee was targeted because of his race.

“Racial prejudice is a very subtle matter and it does not always leave telltale signs that can be documented,” he said. “It’s safe to say … that this will not be the last word.”