SPY CASES - UNITED STATES

China

Fallout from the China Spy Case

To 31 March 1999

 

Materials arranged in reverse chronological order.

U. S. Department of Energy. "Press Release -- Secretary Richardson Orders Additional Measures to Strengthen Security at Department of Energy Sites: Security Report for 1997 and 1998 Sent to Congress." 30 Mar 1999. [http://www.doe.gov]

On 30 March 1999, Energy Secretary Bill Richardson sent to Congress the Department's "Annual Report on Safeguards and Security at its nuclear weapons facilities." He also "outlined a series of measures being taken to strengthen departmental security."

Pincus, Walter, and Vernon Loeb. "FBI's Spying Probe Proves No Easy Task: 'Staleness' of Case at Weapons Lab Cited." Washington Post, 28 Mar. 1999, A20. [http://www. washingtonpost.com]

FBI Director Louis J. Freeh "in recent testimony before House and Senate Appropriations subcommittees provided the first authoritative on-the-record description ... from the administration's perspective" of what has been going on with regard to accusations that China obtained weapons secrets from U.S. nuclear labs.

Thurman, James N. "Spying On America: It's A Growth Industry." Christian Science Monitor, 23 Mar. 1999, 1.

"While Washington focuses on the alleged Chinese theft of US weapons technology, experts say intelligence-gathering in the post-cold-war era is now far more sophisticated and involves a multitude of nations and motives -- economic, strategic, and political."

Eckholm, Erik. "China Says Scientist Told No Secrets About Warheads." New York Times, 23 Mar. 1999. [http://www.nytimes.com]

According to a report issued on 21 March 1999 by the New China News Agency, "Wen Ho Lee, the Taiwan-born American scientist suspected of leaking nuclear secrets, attended two scientific meetings in China in the 1980s." However, "Chinese scientists vehemently deny that Lee gave away plans for making advanced American warheads."

Seper, Jerry, and Bill Gertz. "FBI Probes New Leads." Washington Times National Weekly Edition, 22-28 Mar. 1999, 1, 23.

"An FBI investigation of Chinese nuclear espionage has widened to include additional targets and a review of new information, law enforcement forces said on March 17."

Gertz, Bill, and Nancy E. Roman. "CIA Chief Orders Study of Damage Done by Chinese Spies." Washington Times National Weekly Edition, 22-28 Mar. 1999, 18.

Adm. David E. Jeremiah has been appointed to head an independent review panel to study the damage done by Chinese nuclear espionage.

Loeb, Vernon. "Chinese Spy Methods Limit Bid to Find Truth, Officials Say." Washington Post, 21 Mar. 1999, A24. [http://www.washingtonpost.com]

"[S]enior U.S. intelligence and law enforcement officials say they may never solve the mystery of how China learned about miniaturized warheads precisely because the Chinese employ a diffuse and maddeningly patient espionage strategy far different from the Cold War paradigm of moles, agents and payoffs. China's spying, they say, more typically involves cajoling morsels of information out of visiting foreign experts and tasking thousands of Chinese abroad to bring secrets home one at a time like ants carrying grains of sand....

"Although the United States and other nations often pursue similar tactics, no one is more aggressive in today's world than the Chinese when it comes to stealing high technology and nuclear secrets, said Nicholas Eftimiades, a leading expert on Chinese intelligence."

Barry, John, and Gregory L. Vistica. "The Penetration Is Total." Newsweek, 19 Mar. 1999.

U.S. officials believe that China may have acquired considerable information over the last 20 years about U.S. nuclear weapons. "The government's damage-assessment team is now trying to figure out who could have given the secrets to Beijing. They do not believe it was a foreign visitor to the labs, or leaks through U.S. allies.... 'This was done by American citizens,' says one source close to the investigation.... [T]he close-knit nuclear community [is] wondering if a colleague could have done the unthinkable."

Cummings, Jeanne, and David Rogers. "White House Plans to Launch a Review of Security Threats at U.S. Nuclear Labs." Wall Street Journal, 19 Mar. 1999, A3.

Stout, David. "Clinton Asks Panel to Analyze Security Threats at Nuclear Labs." New York Times, 19 Mar. 1999. [http://www.nytimes.com]

On 17 March 1999, President Clinton announced that the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board (PFIAB) will "analyze security threats at the Energy Department's nuclear laboratories, after suspicions surfaced that China stole nuclear-weapons designs from the United States.... The president asked the board's chairman, Warren Rudman, a former Republican senator from New Hampshire, to report back within 60 days."

U. S. Department of Energy. "Press Release -- Richardson Announces Seven New Initiatives To Strengthen DOE's Counterintelligence Efforts." 17 Mar. 1999. [http://www.doe.gov]

On 17 March 1999, Energy Secretary Bill Richardson "formally unveiled" before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence "seven new initiatives to strengthen the Department's ability to prevent the loss of sensitive information."

Loeb, Vernon. "CIA Probe Gets Outside Review: Retired Admiral to Examine Report on China Spy Case Damage." Washington Post, 16 Mar. 1999, A16. [http://www.washingtonpost.com]

On 15 Mar. 1999, DCI George J. Tenet announced that "an outside review ... of the CIA's internal assessment of national security damage resulting from China's possible theft of nuclear weapons secrets from Los Alamos National Laboratory" will be led by retired Adm. David E. Jeremiah. The announcement "came in direct response to a recommendation of a House select committee [chaired by Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Calif.)] probing technology transfers to China. An unclassified version of the committee's 700-page report, which deals extensively with the Los Alamos case, is expected to be released by the end of the month."

Forward to China - April 1999

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