[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 67 (Tuesday, May 11, 1999)]
[House]
[Pages H2931-H2932]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            SECURITY FAILURE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 19, 1999, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Stearns) is 
recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. STEARNS. Mr. Speaker, in a press conference in March of this 
year, the President was asked, ``Can you assure the American people 
that under your watch no valuable nuclear secrets were lost?'' The 
President answered, ``Can I tell you that there has been no espionage 
at the lab since I have been President? I can tell you that no one has 
reported to me that they suspect such a thing has occurred.''
  Mr. Speaker, on May 3, The New York Times reported a secret report 
was given to top Clinton administration officials, including the 
National Security Adviser Samuel Berger, in November of 1998 that 
warned, ``China posed an acute intelligence threat to our government's 
nuclear weapons laboratory and that computer systems at the labs were 
being constantly penetrated by outsiders.''
  If the President stated in a press conference not more than 2 months 
ago that, ``no one has reported to me that they suspect such a thing'', 
while the top national security adviser in the Clinton administration 
received a classified report about Chinese espionage just 6 months ago, 
are we to assume that the President was never briefed upon this report?
  Energy Secretary Bill Richardson acknowledged on Meet the Press this 
past Sunday that, ``There have been damaging security leaks.'' 
Obviously, National Security Adviser Samuel Berger was aware of the 
security leaks of the intelligence report warning the administration.
  What is the truth, Mr. Speaker? The administration cannot have it 
both ways. Either Mr. Berger failed in his responsibility of notifying 
the President or the President in March misled our Nation about reports 
of espionage.
  The Times further reported that, ``In April of 1996, Energy 
Department officials briefed Mr. Berger on the case and how it related 
to China's nuclear strategy. Mr. Berger took no action and did not 
inform the President of the matter, White House officials have said.'' 
That is what we believe.
  How is Mr. Berger still on the job, Mr. Speaker? There are many 
troubling issues involved in the suspected spy case emanating from the 
Los Alamos National Laboratory, and I think one of the most troubling 
is that the suspected Chinese American spy, Wen Ho Lee, was under 
investigation by the FBI back in 1997. They wanted to monitor Lee's 
telephone conversations and to access his computer, but the Justice 
Department denied this request. Why?
  This case may be the worst espionage committed against our Nation, 
and the Justice Department quickly denied our chief policing and policy 
and domestic counterintelligence agency the tools to conduct a proper 
investigation. Why?
  Intelligence officials privately state that a denial of such a 
request is extremely rare. It hardly ever happens. Why did it occur in 
this case, when the evidence indicated that efforts were under way to 
steal our most classified information about our most deadly nuclear 
weapons?
  What is even more shocking is that the FBI told Energy Department 
officials in April of 1997 that they could transfer Mr. Lee to a less 
sensitive job. What did these officials do? They, instead, gave Mr. Lee 
the job of updating a computerized archives of nuclear secrets. Here we 
have a suspect possibly passing information about our most secure 
weapons and the Energy Department places him in charge of their 
computer upgrades.
  In addition, the Energy Department allows Mr. Lee to hire his own 
personal assistant. The person he happened to hire was a Chinese 
graduate student who has, since this story has broke, disappeared.
  The FBI has determined that in February of this year Lee tried to 
delete evidence that he had improperly transferred more than 1,000 
computer files containing nuclear secrets.
  Mr. Speaker, what is going on here? The Justice Department, the 
Energy Department, the administration all had this evidence. There have 
been no arrests, and the administration continues to drag its feet in 
the release of the Cox report.
  Have we allowed our judgment of China's conduct to be clouded by our 
desire for trade with China? Have we allowed the White House to 
compromise the security of every man, woman and child in our Nation for 
the desire for more profits? I earnestly pray that this is not true.
  Mr. Speaker, I submit for the Record the recent AP story from Sunday 
entitled Richardson Says China Stole Secrets on Clinton Watch.

                      [From Reuters, May 9, 1999]

            Richardson: China Stole Secrets on Clinton Watch

       Washington--Energy Secretary Bill Richardson said Sunday 
     the Chinese government had obtained nuclear secrets during 
     the Clinton presidency--something the administration had 
     previously denied.

[[Page H2932]]

       Speaking on NBC television's ``Meet the Press'' show, 
     Richardson admitted security breaches had occurred during the 
     Clinton presidency, despite denials by the president.
       ``There have been damaging security leaks,'' Richardson 
     said. ``The Chinese have obtained damaging information . . . 
     during past administrations and (the) present 
     administration.''
       In a March news conference, President Clinton denied the 
     Chinese had secured nuclear secrets during his presidency.
       ``To the best of my knowledge, no one has said anything to 
     me about any espionage which occurred by the Chinese against 
     the labs, during my presidency,'' Clinton said then, 
     referring to allegations of security breaches at the Los 
     Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.
       But The New York Times reported a week ago that counter-
     intelligence officials had told the Clinton administration in 
     November that China posed an ``acute intelligence threat'' to 
     nuclear arms labs.
       The Times disclosed in March that a scientist at Los 
     Alamos, Wen Ho Lee, was suspected of helping China obtain 
     arms secrets. China has repeatedly denied the charges and the 
     scientist last week rejected the accusations against him.
       The Senate intelligence committee said in a report last 
     week that China gained technical information from U.S. 
     companies during satellite launches which will improve its 
     missiles and could threaten the United States.
       The report capped a 10-month investigation by the committee 
     into the impact on U.S. national security of advanced 
     satellite technology exports to China.
       Senator Richard Shelby, chairman of the intelligence 
     committee, said Sunday, ``This is probably the most serious 
     espionage we have had in this country in modern times.''
       Shelby said his committee's investigation uncovered ``very 
     suspicious banking relationships'' which would need further 
     investigation. The Republican from Alabama said millions of 
     dollars were funneled to a small bank in the United States 
     from China, possible as political campaign donations.
       Bob Kerrey, the ranking Democrat on the intelligence 
     committee, agreed there had been leaks at the Los Alamos lab.
       ``I have no doubt there has been Chinese espionage at these 
     nuclear labs,'' the Nebraska senator said. ``I have no doubt 
     the efforts to reduce the risk of that espionage was sloppy 
     and not well coordinated and as a consequence has been 
     damaging to the people of the United States.''
       Despite the breaches, Kerrey said, the threat to Americans 
     was not on the scale suggested by Shelby.
       ``This is a very serious case of espionage, a very serious 
     breach of security at the labs, but its very important for us 
     not to overestimate the threat,'' he said.

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