Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Strategies & Market Trends : Asia Forum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Liatris Spicata who wrote (8534)	5/1/1999 11:53:00 AM
From: Ron Bower	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9980

Larry, Often I verbally paint myself into corners and this may be one of those times. This situation will play itself out with two possible results. Wen Ho Lee will be found guilty of a crime or he has received most unfair treatment. I can't recall his name now, but I'm sure you remember the person that was virtually convicted by the media as the Atlanta bomber. Many others have been unjustly convicted by the media because of leaks and innuendo. At the time we first posted on Wen Ho Lee, there were politicians making outrageous statements as to his guilt and prejudicial reporting by the media on these comments. There was little to no evidence against him being made public then except that the FBI had been investigating him and that he was fired by Richardson, yet most of the country began to believe him guilty. Perhaps this isn't 'McCathyism', but it is definitely irresponsible IMO. You referenced an article in the NY Times. At the same time there were many articles put out by other news sources that gave the same information but did not mention Wen Ho Lee. Those that did referenced the NY Times article. It has now developed that there are thousands of papers missing from Los Alamos, many of them never accessed by Wen Ho Lee. His co-workers, friends, and neighbors all find the charges to be ridiculous. From the evidence that has developed, I see a scientist that, like most I've encountered, has a tendency to ignore security. Accessing and working with secret documents from a central computer can be very time consuming. I can easily see him transferring the information he was working on to an area where it was more accessible and never considering that it would be available to others and forgetting to delete the files when he finished. Again, this is not a defense of Wen Ho Lee, but a reservation of judgement until more is known. Should the evidence be sufficient to convict him of purposely supplying China with Top Secret information, then I agree that his penalty should be severe. On racism. Using of that word in this situation may be too harsh. I ask myself, "Would Wen Ho Lee be suspected of leaking secrets to Israel? Would another scientist named Jacob Rabinowitz (fictional) be suspected of spying for China?" To my knowledge they have yet to release any evidence that China has received information, yet the news media has built a scenario of truth out of circumstantial fragments. China apparently has obtained the Super Computer technology to interpret the information because it was released to them by President Clinton over the objections of Defense, State, FBI, and others. China having this technology is much more critical than the information referred to in the Times article. You say, "Do you think investigators are telling everything they know to the press? It seems to me if matters were left to those of your persuasion, serious charges of espionage would not be investigated, at least if they involved ethnic minorities." Those of my persuasion would ask you - Has there been anything written in the press that proves him guilty of a crime? I support the investigations and court verdicts, but oppose convictions by politicians and the media. Apologies for the length. JMHO, Ron