infobeat.com
06:33 PM ET 07/23/99
U.S. Buys Back Supercomputer
U.S. Buys Back Supercomputer
WASHINGTON (AP) _ The Energy Department's Sandia National
Laboratory last week bought back a supercomputer it had sold as
surplus to Korber Jiang, a Chinese citizen who is the principle of
EHI Group USA and exports American goods to his home country.
Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., called Friday for Energy Secretary Bill
Richardson's resignation, saying that the computer could have been
used ''to design nuclear weapons.''
''He's going around the country saying there are no problems in
the Department of Energy, that everything is under control,''
Weldon said in a telephone interview. ''If there are no problems,
then how can this happen?''
Neal Singer, a spokeswoman for Sandia National Laboratories,
said that the New Mexico facility sold the Intel Paragon XPS to
Korber's one-man company for $30,000 in October. After discovering
Korber's nationality, Singer said, the department bought back the
computer for $88,000 last week and stored it under guard at Sandia.
The spokesman said the difference in cost may have been due to
shipping costs incurred by Korber.
''Secretary Richardson has instituted a moratorium on any sales
of surplus material that incorporates export control technology
until there has been a thorough review of what happened,'' said
Energy Department spokeswoman Brooke Anderson.
The transaction was first reported by Insight Magazine.
|
