CIA Expands China Spy Probe
The CIA said Monday it will launch a damage assessment to find out how much sensitive nuclear weapons information, if any, was lost to China through a suspected spy working at the Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Amid mounting criticism that the Clinton administration took no decisive action when it first learned of the possible security compromise, CIA Director George Tenet said retired Adm. David Jeremiah will provide an independent review of the work being done now by a multi-agency intelligence team.
It is the second such assessment Jeremiah has been asked to do. Last year, he led a review that found weaknesses in intelligence community procedures that contributed to the CIA's failure to provide adequate warning that India was about to test a nuclear weapon.
"Admiral Jeremiah is the perfect person to lead such a review," Tenet said. "His credentials are impeccable, and his credibility is unquestioned."
Jeremiah's review team will examine work begun in mid-February within the intelligence community about whether a Taiwanese-born scientist who worked at Los Alamos leaked classified nuclear weapons design information to China. The Chinese have yet to field such a weapon, but documents obtained by U.S. intelligence in 1995 indicate that China was working on a prototype containing technology to the W-88, a U.S. warhead.
Computer scientist, Wen Ho Lee, was fired from his job at Los Alamos a week ago amid suspicions that he leaked secrets to the Chinese in the 1980s. Lee has not been charged with any crime, and Newsweek magazine reports the FBI now believes it has virtually no chance of making a case against him. The FBI began its investigation in 1996, and Republicans have accused the administration of dragging its feet in acting against Lee in the interest of maintaining U.S.-China relations.
Meanwhile, several members of Congress are pressing for greater disclosure and a closer look at high-tech relations between the United States and China.
The Senate is holding hearings this week on an alleged 1980s case of Chinese spying at the Energy Department's nuclear weapons laboratory in Los Alamos, N.M., which only recently came to light. In the House of Representatives, members are demanding that nearly all of a classified 700-page report on technology transfers to China be made public.
Two senators on Monday voiced disapproval for Chinese entry into the World Trade Organization, saying they planned to introduce legislation requiring congressional approval before the United States signed any deal allowing China to join. "For some time, we have been troubled by many aspects of the U.S.-China relationship," Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jesse Helms, a North Carolina Republican, and Democratic Sen. Ernest Hollings of South Carolina, said in a letter to their colleagues.
Also on Monday, Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji denied the espionage allegations, saying that U.S.-China ties were being sacificed to partisan struggles in Washington.
Despite the scandal, Zhu said he still planned to travel to the United States in April. He acknowledged, however, that the visit would be tough, given the allegations and disputes on trade, human rights and Taiwan. "There has emerged an anti-China wave in the United States. This makes us feel uneasy," Zhu said at a news conference. "I don't think my visit to the United States will bring me into a minefield but I do expect to encounter some hostile or some unfriendly atmosphere there."
In Washington, White House spokesman Joe Lockhart said Monday that the allegations are certain to come up during Zhu's visit. "All of these issues will be on the table," Lockhart said. "This is an important issue and it's important we have addressed it the way we have."
On the nuclear scandal, Zhu dismissed claims that China stole U.S. military secrets as "fallacy." He noted that China built its first atomic weapon on its own. "China is fully capable of developing any military technology. It's only a matter of time," he said. "Why should China have taken such big political and moral risks to steal military secrets from others?"