Senator: More To Come In
China Nuclear Case
03:26 p.m May 02, 1999 Eastern
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The
United States should brace for
more ''revelations'' on the China
nuclear scandal, a senior U.S.
lawmaker said Sunday.
''The damage was bad, a lot worse
than people ever imagined,'' said
Senate Intelligence Committee
Chairman Richard Shelby on
allegations China penetrated the
Los Alamos National Laboratory in
New Mexico and obtained U.S.
nuclear secrets. ''I think there will
be more revelations that will come
out week after week.''
Shelby told ''Fox News Sunday''
he hoped that China did not have
''it all,'' but ''I'm afraid they have a
lot more than we ever dreamed
they would have.''
The FBI and others are
investigating allegations that nuclear
weapons secrets were stolen from
Los Alamos, which fired scientist
Wen Ho Lee last month on
suspicions he made top secret data
available to the Chinese.
Shelby said his committee would
soon focus on how the Justice
Department and the FBI handled
Lee, who reportedly came to the
attention of investigators in 1994.
''There is a lot of blame to go
around and I think it's serious,'' he
said.
Shelby, and others, want to know
why it took so long to zero in on
Lee's alleged activities, which
included assertions he manipulated
sensitive computer files.
''It looks to me like this is a
botched investigation by the FBI,
and I think there is some culpability
with the Justice Department,''
Shelby said. ''I think the Justice
Department treated this as an
ordinary case when it should have
been an extraordinary case.''
Shelby questioned why Justice
investigators at one point did not
approve a request from the FBI to
secretly monitor Lee's computer
and telephone. ''They had a
wake-up call. Maybe they didn't
hear it,'' he said.
Shelby said last week after a
briefing by FBI Director Louis
Freeh that the espionage case had
become the bureau's top priority.
But Shelby said Sunday that Freeh
told lawmakers building a spy case
is extremely difficult, but he
(Shelby) thought one would be
made. ''My gut feeling is there will
be charges. Hopefully they will be
good ones,'' Shelby said.
Separately, the New York Times
reported Sunday that a secret
report to top Clinton administration
officials last November warned that
China posed an ''acute intelligence
threat'' to the government's nuclear
weapons labs and that computer
systems at the labs were being
constantly penetrated by outsiders.
Shelby said China, which denies the
spy assertions, is ''so aggressive
and so well connected all over
America'' on U.S. nuclear
technology matters. ''I assume and
I bet as we sit here, espionage or
attempted espionage is going on.''
Asked if other nations, like Russia
and India, had obtained U.S.
nuclear secrets, Shelby said they
were ''trying.''
A U.S. National Security Council
spokesman said the report cited by
the Times was ordered by the
president in 1998 and included a
''comprehensive action plan'' to
address security at national
laboratories.
''The Energy Department has taken
a number of steps to increase
security at the labs and we will
continue to be vigilant as we deal
with the threat from China and
other countries trying to acquire our
nuclear technology,'' the
spokesman, David Leavy, said.
Shelby said it would take a long
time to put meaningful security
measures in place, and that he
thought the FBI would eventually
have to take over security at U.S.
labs.
Copyright 1999 Reuters Limited.
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