Zoltan,
It looks like some in Congress have done their homework...
and are finally taking "Year of the Rat" Seriously as proof
that Bill Clinton has sold out our national security for
money from China! senate.gov
CHINA'S THEFT OF NUCLEAR SECRETS
Senate Floor Statement
March 15, 1999
Mr. President, I want you to listen. I am going to tell you a story of espionage,
conspiracy, deception and cover-up–a story with life and death implications for
millions of Americans–a story about national security and a President and an
administration that deliberately chose to put national security at risk, while telling the
people everything was fine.
If it was written in a book, it wouldn't sell, because no one would believe it. If it
was fictionalized in a novel, few could conceive it. But it is true.
Now for the sake of my statement today, I am stating that the President withheld
information and covered up the Chinese theft of our technology. But I'm realistic
enough to know that a person with the history of deception this president has will
have provided himself with some cover in case he gets caught. So I'm sure there is a
paper trail that he can allege. The way the President probably covered himself was
to include tidbits about this theft buried in briefings on 40 or 50 others items, so the
significance of it would not be noticed. But a paper trail would be established.
Anticipating that, I talked to the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee,
Rep. Porter Goss, and the Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee at the
time of the discovery of this information, Sen. Arlen Specter. Neither chairman was
notified of the W-88 nuclear warhead technology theft. And these would have been
the first to be notified. There can be no doubt that President Clinton engaged in a
cover up scheme.
Let me read three paragraphs from last week's op-ed article by Michael Kelly in the
Washington Post, entitled “Lies About China.”
“In April 1996, Energy Department officials informed Samuel Berger,
then Clinton's deputy national security advisor, that Notra Trulock, the
department's chief of intelligence, had uncovered evidence that showed
China had learned how to miniaturize nuclear bombs, allowing for
smaller, more lethal warheads...”
“The Times reports that the House Intelligence Committee asked
Trulock for a briefing in July 1998. Trulock asked for permission from
Elizabeth Moler, then acting energy secretary. According to Trulock,
Moler told him not to brief the committee because the information might
be used against Clinton's China policy...” “The White House's secret
would have remained secret had it not been for a select investigative
committee headed by Republican Christopher Cox...”
But even using the President's fictitious paper trail, the earliest either chairman could
have known about it would have been late spring of 1997, years after the Clinton
administration learned of it and, of course, after the 1996 elections.
I start, Mr. President, by listing a few things which we now know to be true, factual,
incontrovertible...and not classified.
For years, the Clinton administration covered-up China's theft of top secret U.S.
nuclear weapons data. They never informed the Congress or American people about
what had happened or its significance to our national security.
Let me tell you what President Clinton did during this period time:
–During this period of time, the President misled the American people on numerous
occasions about the threat posed by strategic nuclear missiles in the post cold war
era.
–During this period of time, President Clinton made statements on over 130 separate
occasions, such as the following: “For the first time since the dawn of the nuclear
age, there is not a single solitary nuclear missile pointed at an American child tonight.
Not one. Not a single one.”
–During this period of time, he knew that China was targeting up to 18
intercontinental ballistic missiles at American children.
–During this period of time, President Clinton signed export control waivers which
allowed his top campaign fundraisers' aerospace company to transfer sensitive U.S.
missile guidance technology to China.
–During this period of time, he shifted the prime satellite export responsibility from
the State Department to the Commerce Department, making it easier for China and
others to get sensitive military-related U.S. technology .
–During this period of time, President Clinton hosted over 100 White House
fundraisers as part of a larger aggressive scheme to raise campaign contributions,
many from illegal foreign sources, primarily including sources in China. Among
guests permitted to attend these White House fundraisers were a convicted felon and
a Chinese arms dealer.
–During this period of time, John Huang, Charlie Trie, Johnny Chung, James Riady
and others with strong ties to China were deeply involved, with the President's
knowledge, in raising Chinese-tainted campaign cash for the Clinton campaign.
–During this period of time, John Huang, who had been given a security clearance
without a background check, was permitted to receive numerous classified CIA
briefings, both during and after his stay at the Commerce Department.
--And during this period of time, President Clinton was successfully stopping the
deployment of a national missile defense system, exposing every American life to a
missile attack, leaving us with no defense against an intercontinental ballistic missile.
Mr. President, China's theft of secret data on the so-called “W-88" nuclear warhead
may be one of the most serious breaches of national security in our
lifetimes.....More serious than Aldrich Ames. Perhaps more serious than the
Rosenbergs.
The public needs to understand that this story is true. This is not about partisanship.
This is not about some ancient history of some long gone Cold War.
This is about the real world here and now. This is about national security in its most
important aspects. This is about protecting our freedom and our existence as a
nation. This is ultimately a matter which concerns the life and death of every citizen.
The W-88 is the most advanced nuclear warhead in the U.S. arsenal and is carried
on top of Trident SLBMs (submarine-launched ballistic missiles).
This is the cornerstone weapon of our nation's nuclear deterrent. As many as eight
of them can fit atop our submarine-launched missiles. As many as ten can be put
atop our largest land-based missiles...or on China's land based missiles.
We are talking about a miniaturized warhead--Much smaller in size than the
Hiroshima atom bomb but ten times more powerful.
As you can see from the chart, which appeared in the NY Times, Mar. 6, 1999, the
Hiroshima bomb was huge and unwieldy. It was 10 and a half feet long and weighed
over 4 tons–8,900 pounds.
By contrast, the modern W-88 warhead is compact. It is only 2 and a half feet long
and weighs only 300 pounds, but is at least 10 times more powerful.
The technology on which it is built is super top secret and represents billions of
dollars and years, if not decades, of investment on the part of dedicated scientists
and engineers working in the supreme American national interest.
Some might ask why does America have this weapon? Because it is part of our
responsibility as a world superpower to have the most advanced, efficient and
credible nuclear deterrent, not only to protect our own freedom, but that of our allies
as well.
It is part of our policy of “peace through strength”. While we do not intend to ever
use nuclear weapons, it is a fact of life in a dangerous world that we must be
prepared to deter any potential adversary and any potential weapon any adversary
may have.
The W-88 allows for multiple warheads to be placed on one missile. With this
technology, China will now be able to put up to ten warheads on a single long range
missile. Each warhead targeted at a different city. Each city subject to an explosion
10 times as great as that which destroyed Hiroshima at the end of WWII.
You know, Mr. President, I'm from Oklahoma. In 1995, a 4,800 pound truck bomb
exploded outside the Murrah Federal Office Building in Oklahoma City. The
building was destroyed, 168 people were killed, and 674 were wounded. This was a
horrible event, the worst act of terrorism ever on American soil. That bomb had a
force of 1,000 pounds (one-half of one ton) of TNT.
By way of contrast, the Hiroshima atom bomb had an explosive force of 15 kilotons
(or 30,000 times as large as the Oklahoma City bomb. The W-88, while smaller in
physical size, has a force of 150 kilotons (or 300,000 times as large as the
Oklahoma City bomb) And by carrying 10 of these on one missile, 3 million times
the force for the Oklahoma City bomb.
The more compact W-88 warhead makes possible what is called MIRV (multiple
independent reentry vehicle) technology, something China was thought to be many,
many years away from developing on its own. And they stole this technology and
President Clinton covered it up.
We also used to think North Korea was many years away from building long range
multiple-stage rockets.
Listen, Mr. President: On Aug. 24 last year, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff, Gen. Henry Shelton, wrote me a letter saying he was confident we would
have 3 years warning of any new long range missile threat. Seven days later, on
Aug. 31, North Korea launched a three-stage Taepo Dong I missile, that scattered a
small payload off the coast of Alaska.
All of this only confirms what the Rumsfeld Report explained to us last year. We
remember the Rumsfeld Commission which was chaired by former Secretary of
Defense Donald Rumsfeld. This bipartisan commission, appointed jointly by
Republicans and Democrats, included nine of the nation's most distinguished,
qualified and informed experts in the field of assessing foreign missile threats. They
concluded unanimously that when it comes to advanced missiles and weapons, with
countries willing to buy, sell and steal technology, “we live in an environment of
little or no warning.” Which means we must immediately be prepared.
Last year, you may remember how it was revealed that the Clinton Administration
had changed the approval process for high technology satellite transfers–and how
waivers were granted for American companies so they could launch satellites in
China. This ultimately resulted in China acquiring advanced US missile guidance
technology, making their missiles more accurate and more reliable. President Clinton
personally signed the waiver allowing China to acquire this missile technology. Let
me repeat, President Clinton personally signed the waiver allowing China to acquire
this missile technology.
Executives of these two corpora |
