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Reno orders review of Los Alamos probeBy Pierre Thomas/CNN
May 6, 1999 WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, May 6) -- Under pressure from congressional Republicans, Attorney General Janet Reno Thursday ordered an internal review of the Justice Department's handling of an investigation into suspected spying at a U.S. nuclear laboratory. "I want to look at the whole process, including decisions made along the way, to see if there was anything that could have been done differently," the attorney general said at her weekly news conference Thursday.
Senate Republicans were heavily critical of the Justice Department's action in the case of Wen Ho Lee, a scientist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. In 1997, the FBI wanted the Justice Department to seek a court order for a wiretap of Lee. The FBI suspected Lee of giving U.S. nuclear secrets to China. The Justice Department denied the request for lack of evidence and denied a later appeal. Now congressional Republicans are demanding answers and pointing fingers. "We've got to talk to the FBI, we've got to talk to the Justice Department and get some explanations as to why on two occasions the Justice Department refused, absolutely refused, to grant the FBI the wiretap authority," said Sen. Frank Murkowski (R-Alaska), chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee that held a hearing Wednesday on the matter.
Justice sources say the standard for requesting intrusive wiretaps is high and they still do not have direct evidence Lee actually transferred documents or computer files to China. But critics say FBI investigators could easily have gotten enough evidence to justify a wiretap. Like other scientists at Los Alamos, Lee had signed a waiver allowing officials to search his work computers at any time. Yet a search was not done until March 1999, two years after the wiretap request and three years after the Lee investigation began It was only then that investigators discovered Lee had allegedly downloaded nuclear codes into another computer which could have been illegally tapped into. "To be sitting on their hands and say 'Well we didn't get into their computer until March of '99' and this guy was a suspect back in '95 is just unacceptable ... I think heads ought to roll," said Sen. Don Nickles (R-Oklahoma).
John Browne, the director of the Los Alamos lab, told the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Wednesday that the lab did not monitor Lee's computer because the FBI and the Justice Department were unsure whether potential evidence gathered independently by the Energy Department was admissible in court. "This points out the dilemma of balancing the requirements of national security against the constraints guiding law enforcement efforts," Browne said. Lee, who was fired in March, has denied any wrongdoing. But critics say investigators were slow to act even though Lee's name had long been known to the FBI. The FBI had investigated Lee as early as 1983 in connection with another espionage case. He passed one polygraph test and the Lee file was closed, only to be re-opened a decade later. |
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MORE STORIES:Thursday, May 6, 1999
• Senators call for more support of war crimes tribunal • House passes bill to toughen bankruptcy law • Reno orders review of Los Alamos probe • Senate committee approves report reviewing technology transfer to China • Steele case goes to the jury • House managers honored with musical tribute • Campaign briefs: Lousiana House race; Gore • Senate passes bill allowing financial companies to merge • First lady to tour southwest to help save landmarks • GOP struggling to provide 2000 tax relief amid money crunch • Bush criticizes Clinton's stand against ground troops in Kosovo • Some House Republicans seek vote on campaign finance overhaul • Senators weigh $4.3 billion in emergency aid for farmers | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
