Columnist wins suit for Chinagate files
Commerce Department ordered to turn over all documents
FRIDAY
FEBRUARY 19
1999
By Stephan Archer
© 1999 WorldNetDaily.com
The Clinton administration suffered a blow yesterday as a federal district court judge ordered the U.S. Commerce Department to turn over documents that could incriminate members of the White House in the Chinagate scandal.
Charles Smith, a WorldNetDaily columnist well known for investigative work in the area of military technology, along with his company, Softwar, filed a Freedom of Information Act request to the Commerce Department for materials on COSTIND -- the Chinese Commission of Science, Technology, and Industry for National Defense -- in an effort to uncover the illegal trading of military secrets between the United States and China.
The Commerce Department initially turned down his request stating the documents didn't exist and that even if they did, they would be labeled as "top secret" due to national security reasons. Smith, however, had already received some of the documents from the Commerce Department and knew they existed. Thus, he appealed his turned down request.
When the Commerce Department again turned him down, he filed a lawsuit.
At the pre-trial hearings yesterday, Judge Robert Payne immediately ruled against the Commerce Department saying that Assistant United States Attorney Joan Evans failed to show a reasonable cause to withhold Commerce's documents.
"He (the judge) immediately wagged his finger at Commerce's lawyer for even trying to withhold the documents for 'national security' reasons," Smith said.
"I want you to open this up all the way," Payne ordered Evans. "I want it full bore, double barrel, 12-gauge, shotgun open. I want everything."
Payne ordered the Commerce Department to comply with his orders within 60 days if they wanted to avoid trouble from him.
"I will come down on you like a ton of bricks," Payne warned if Commerce doesn't comply with his orders. "I don't want any fooling around."
Smith originally filed an FOIA request with the Commerce Department for materials on COSTIND because he had received information from Commerce that former Commerce secretary Ron Brown, along with Bernard Schwartz, CEO of Loral Space and Communications, met with General Shen Rongjun of COSTIND. Bernard Schwartz, in June 1994, made a $100,000 contribution to the Democratic National Committee and then joined Ron Brown on a trip to China that ultimately led to a deal worth $250 million for Loral whose telecommunication satellites were launched by Chinese rockets.
"The bottom line is that I've identified the Chinese unit that penetrated the White House," said Smith, who referred to COSTIND as an espionage unit.
Once Smith obtains the documents from the Commerce Department, he says that his goal is to identify, in detail, the specific technologies and the meetings between Clinton administration officials and members of the Chinese military to arrange illegal military equipment transfers under the guise of commercial transfers.
Referring to the Commerce Department's attempt to hide the evidence of White House dealings with China by implying that the documents don't exist, Smith said, "These people may be dressed in green, but they're no leprechauns. Their business is killing people."
Smith said that Payne agreed with his assessment of the situation and believed that it was for events such as this that FOIA requests were created -- to enable people like Smith to keep the nation's government in check.
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