[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 14]
[House]
[Pages 19811-19816]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                             NIGHTSIDE CHAT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Stearns). Under the Speaker's announced 
policy of January 6, 1999, the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. McInnis) is 
recognized for 60 minutes.
  Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, again another nightside chat. I have two 
very important subjects that I want to address with my colleagues this 
evening. The first subject is going to be Wen Ho Lee. That is a name 
that is familiar to all of you. He is the gentleman, and I can tell you 
that I stretch the words when I utilize the word ``gentleman,'' you 
will follow me a little later on, out of New Mexico who was arrested by 
the FBI at Los Alamos lab. I intend this evening to tell the other side 
of the story of Wen Ho Lee.
  The second thing, of course, is a complete shift of agenda. I want to 
talk about Social Security and the obligations all of us have to the 
future generations on saving Social Security, on doing something about 
Social Security that is going to make a difference for these 
generations, on doing something about Social Security so that Social 
Security is there for these future generations, on doing something 
about Social Security so that those young people, the generations 
behind those of us who are midlife in our working careers, so that 
those people have some kind of voluntary choice, some kind of voice in

[[Page 19812]]

how their investments are made, so that they can get a return better 
than the 1 percent return that most of us on Social Security will 
experience under today's program.
  But first of all let me begin with Wen Ho Lee. The last few days have 
been amazing to me in the press. In fact, the last month. I used to be 
a police officer. My district is in Colorado. I used to be a police 
officer out in Colorado. So I do have kind of a law enforcement slant. 
But through my years of law enforcement and also through my years in 
the practice of law, especially the areas where I did family law, I 
found out something pretty interesting in my early career. It is kind 
of like if you have a small child that comes up to you, you have two 
kids, two small children that have gotten in a fight with each other. 
The one child comes up to you and explains their side of the fight. 
They tell you what in their mind is the truth. Then the other child 
comes up to you and tells you their side of the story which is exactly 
contrary to the side of the story that you just heard but in their eyes 
that is the concept of the truth. In other words, the truth usually is 
out there and there are almost always, and I learned this time after 
time, when I would arrive at the scene of an accident or at the scene 
of a fight or at the scene of a domestic dispute, I always found that 
when I first got there, most of the time you better listen to the other 
side of the story because most of the time the facts are not as they 
appear upon first arrival. That is exactly what has happened here.
  In the last few days or the last month, I have almost been sickened 
by reading some of the national media that makes Wen Ho Lee, this 
gentleman right here, sound as if he is a martyr, makes him sound as if 
he is a hero. And these news media reports and some of the people, one 
of the things they like to jump up and they play the race card. Forget 
it. It is not going to work in this one. They play sympathy. ``Well, he 
was picked upon. The poor guy was abused.'' Forget it.
  You better listen to the second side, the other side of the story. 
How easy it is to trash the FBI and trash the Attorney General. I can 
tell you I am no fan of the Attorney General, but in this case the 
Attorney General is right. In this case the Federal Bureau of 
Investigation is right. I stood on this floor in front of you as one of 
the harshest critics of the Federal Bureau of Investigation as a former 
police officer when they goofed up at Ruby Ridge which in my opinion 
was one of the darkest black eyes that the FBI has given to law 
enforcement in law enforcement's entire career in this country.
  So I think I approach this from a fairly impartial view. I criticize 
the FBI when I think they should be criticized. I am not a fan of the 
Attorney General, Janet Reno, but on the other hand when they are 
right, we ought to stand up here and talk about it. What we are doing 
is letting the media get away with what I think is one of the most 
atrocious incidents in recent history.
  At the beginning of my remarks, I told you how I wanted to address 
today Social Security and future generations. If you want to talk about 
something that is going to have an impact on future generations, wait 
till you hear my story today about what this gentleman's contribution 
is to future generations.
  The question is here, who is the victim? That is the newest concept. 
I used to practice law as I mentioned. There are a couple of ways that 
you defend a client who is guilty, who you know is guilty. First of all 
you try and point out that the client, really the defendant, the person 
that you are defending did not intend to commit the crime. And if that 
does not work, then what you do is you attack the witnesses. You try 
and show that the prosecution witnesses are biased or somehow they are 
crooks themselves or they are not worthy of their testimony. And then 
the third approach you do in trying to defend somebody is make your 
client look like the victim. My client is the victim here, not the 
person that got raped or murdered or shot or burglarized. My client is 
the victim. Look at how abused they were in their childhood, look at 
all of the things they did out in our society and this is what caused 
him to commit that kind of crime. That is exactly what has happened in 
the last few days or in the last month. This guy is being victimized. 
This is the victim.
  Wait till you hear my story. I am going to bring you out the other 
side of the facts on this. My question, my comment is here, who is 
really the victim? Is it Wen Ho Lee? Or is it us, the United States? Is 
it us, the citizens, our future generations? I advance to you this 
evening that the victims in this particular case are not the defendant, 
the victims in this case is the United States of America and all future 
generations of the United States of America.
  Let us start with some facts. First of all, as many of you know, Wen 
Ho Lee was a scientist who had access to the most secret nuclear 
information and material we have in this Nation. He had one of the most 
trusted positions that we divvy out, so to speak, in our government. He 
had access to the basics and the fundamental scientific knowledge and 
the construction knowledge and the practical knowledge of the most 
devastating weapons known in the history of mankind. We do not just 
willy-nilly give out that kind of access. Why? That is self-
explanatory. We all know in this Chamber what will happen if that 
information gets into the wrong hands. We know, too, that if that 
information gets into the wrong hands, that is one weapon, just one 
weapon is all it takes, but you can make numerous weapons. But that 
weapon alone is a weapon that could destroy the United States of 
America. It is the only weapon in existence we know of today, nuclear 
capabilities, maybe some biological but primarily nuclear capabilities 
are about the only weapon today that could destroy the destiny of the 
United States of America. I cannot emphasize on my colleagues enough 
the importance of the secrecy of this information that we have in the 
Los Alamos lab. And this gentleman, this guy right here, Wen Ho Lee, he 
was entrusted by the American people to keep those documents secret. 
And now some of the very people who, in my opinion, he has betrayed, 
and I use that word with some caution, I do not typically stand on the 
floor of the United States House of Representatives and talk about 
betrayal by a citizen but I am telling you today, that is what has 
happened.
  Let us go into some facts, the other side of the story. As Paul 
Harvey would say, now it is time for the rest of the story. These 
quotes, by the way, are a direct testimony, given under oath, in front 
of the United States Senate by the Director of the FBI and by the 
Attorney General. Let us go over some facts about this scientist, Wen 
Ho Lee. It is critical to understand that Wen Ho Lee's conduct was not 
inadvertent. It was not careless. And it was not innocent. Over a 
period of years, Lee used an elaborate scheme to move the equivalent of 
400,000 pages of extremely sensitive nuclear weapon files from a secure 
part of the Los Alamos computer system to an unclassified, unsecure 
part of the system which could be accessed from outside of Los Alamos, 
indeed from anywhere in the world.
  Another additional fact here. At one point in time, this scientist, 
while he was overseas in Taiwan, tried to access this equipment. We 
have it on the computer. We traced it through on the computer. What are 
we talking about here? What this fellow did is that kind of information 
is highly classified obviously and on the computers there are 
indications that give you the different levels of classification. The 
classification for this material is highly top secret or whatever 
classification they use, they call it the X information, so it was 
classified as X information.
  Wen Ho Lee used a very methodical method to move the classification 
as top secret or as an X file, to remove that from the designation and 
replace it with a nonclassified designation. So, in other words, he 
made top secret material look like it was not top secret, that it was 
regular material. Then he moved it onto his computer and then he 
accessed it and made copies of that kind of thing. To move a document

[[Page 19813]]

from highly classified or top secret to nonclassified, it does not 
happen by a bump of an elbow or you push the wrong button on the 
keyboard. It takes several coordinated, sophisticated steps.
  We know that Wen Ho Lee, in fact, for a long period of time failed in 
his attempts. He had to work his way through, which he did by 
experimentation until he mastered how to take top secret classification 
heading, take it off the document and put a nonclassified documentation 
on there so then you could move the documents without suspicion. And 
400,000 pages. That is the equivalent of what he transferred out of top 
secret; 400,000 pages of the most sensitive secret nuclear weapon 
material that this government possesses. Yet some people are out there 
trying to make this guy look like some kind of martyr or that he has 
been picked upon by our government or that somehow it is abusive for us 
to go and accuse him of being a spy or make these kind of accusations.
  By the way, he is a felon. There is no mistake about it. He is not an 
accused felon. He is a felon. Keep that in mind. In order to achieve 
his ends, Wen Ho Lee had to override the default mechanism. He had to 
override them, an intentional movement that required several steps that 
were designed to prevent any accidental or inadvertent movement of 
those files. His downloading process consumed nearly 40 hours over a 
period of 70 different days.

                              {time}  1815

  So do not let anyone tell you when they arrive upon the scene of an 
accident that this transfer of material was inadvertent, or that it was 
an oversight, or that this scientist did it by pushing the wrong 
button. These systems are built for fail-safe, so that that kind of 
thing does not accidentally happen.
  Let us go on. Nor was this all. Wen Ho Lee carefully and methodically 
removed classification markings from documents. He attempted repeatedly 
to enter secure areas of the Los Alamos labs after his access had been 
revoked, including one attempt at 3:30 in the morning on Christmas Eve.
  Now, imagine, every one of you in here, what were you doing at 3:30 
in the morning on Christmas Eve? Were you trying to use a stairwell to 
get up to an office here in the Capitol? Those are what we call burglar 
hours. The only people up trying to gain access at that time in the 
morning, generally you have to be a little bit suspicious about what is 
going on. And on Christmas Eve, most people are home with their 
families on Christmas Eve.
  It would be highly unusual to see somebody trying to enter into an 
area of which their access had been revoked, of which they were denied 
access to, highly unusual to see them all of a sudden at 3:30 in the 
morning going up a stairwell trying to gain access to a top secret 
area.
  Let us continue. He deleted files in an attempt to cover his tracks 
before he was caught.
  I am going to go over that in a little more detail too. I have a 
chart here. We are going to go to this chart, and I will show you what 
happens when this fellow fails a lie detector test. I will tell you 
what happens when the FBI presents him with evidence.
  Primarily what you are going to see is once he figures out they are 
on top of him, then he tries to get back in there and coverup his 
tracks by erasing files.
  Let us go on. Wen Ho Lee created his own portable secret library of 
this Nation's nuclear weapons secrets. My gosh, do you see what I have 
just said? Look at this. A citizen creates his own library, his own 
personal library, of the Nation's most sensitive nuclear weapons 
secrets.
  Now, does that sound like an innocent bystander to you, somebody is 
out on Saturday afternoon putting together a butterfly collection? This 
is serious stuff.
  Let us go on. He stood before a Federal Court judge and admitted his 
wrongdoing and pleaded guilty to a felony. Contrary to some reports, 
there is nothing minor or insignificant about that crime.
  It amazes me that the media and some of the people that I have talked 
to think that, well, he just pleaded guilty to something totally 
insignificant, that this poor guy is being picked upon.
  The restricted data that Wen Ho Lee downloaded into 10 portable 
computer tapes included, listen to this, included the electronic 
blueprints of the exact dimensions and geometry of this Nation's 
nuclear weapons.
  Does that sound like a guy that has been picked on to you? That does 
not sound that way to me.
  There are always two sides to a story. Let us go on with this side of 
the story.
  Here are the steps that are required to download and create tapes. So 
any of you out there that think, well, this was innocently done, or, 
you know, it was a distraction, or, you know, he just wanted to 
experiment, keep in mind 400,000 pages, that is what the equivalent is. 
Let us talk about the steps to move this over, partition it from 
classified to nonclassified, download and create tapes.
  First of all you have to log into a secure computer system by 
entering a password and a Z number. You then need to access data in 
red, which means secure, partition, then hit save, and then CLU equal 
U, classification level equals unclassified. Then you need to access 
the C machine and type commands. There are numerous commands that you 
have to type in to down partition from a secure partition to an open, 
unsecure machine. You then access that machine to save the data into a 
green unsecured directory. Then you have to log on to a colleague's 
computer outside of the X division. Remember, X division is top secret. 
That is the highest secrets of the Nation. You have to then access 
outside the X division and insert a tape into the tape drive. Then you 
access the open directory and copy files on to the portable tape.
  In other words, the purpose of that chart right there simply is to 
tell you, hey, this guy knew what he was doing. This was not some 
country bumpkin in there playing games on a computer. He knew exactly 
what he was doing. Not only did he know what he was doing before he was 
caught, he built his own library. By the way, you will find out later 
in my discussion a good portion of this library is missing. It is gone.
  Now, the guy who lied to us, the guy who tried to evade the truth and 
who tried to cover his tracks, now tells us, ``There is nothing to 
worry about, I erased them. They are erased. You don't have to be 
concerned about this.''
  This gives you an idea of what intentionally was required for him to 
complete his mission.
  Let us continue. Wen Ho Lee worked for the X division, which I 
explained earlier as the top secret division at Los Alamos Laboratory. 
The X division is responsible for the research, design and development 
of thermo-nuclear weapons and requires the highest level of security at 
any division at Los Alamos.
  X division scientists most familiar with the downloaded information, 
so we went to other scientists and said you are familiar with this 
information that has been downloaded by Wen Ho Lee. Let us talk about 
it. These scientists would have testified that Wen Ho Lee took every 
significant, every, he did not miss anything, every significant piece 
of information to which a nuclear designer would want access, every key 
piece of information.
  He did not just pull up one little piece of information that looked 
cute and thought this would be kind of fun to experiment with. Every 
piece of information that was necessary for research, design and 
development of thermo-nuclear weapons, he changed classification and he 
downloaded it into his own personal library. And not only did he 
download into his own personal library, he tried to access the official 
computers from overseas, and he took copies of his library, and now he 
claims he has lost it or the files were deleted, he went ahead and 
erased them because he did not want people to get access.
  Before Wen Ho Lee created these tapes, and this is so important, this 
is so important, before Wen Ho Lee created these tapes, only two sites 
in the

[[Page 19814]]

world held this complete design portfolio. Only two sites in the entire 
world had that information; the secure computer inside the highest 
security division at Los Alamos and the secure computer system inside 
the highest security division of another one of our national 
laboratories. We only had that information in two places in this 
country.
  Now, somewhere, we have got three locations, thanks to Wen Ho Lee, 
who some people out there are calling a martyr. Some people are saying 
he has been victimized by an overzealous FBI or an overzealous Attorney 
General. You are going to get to make the decision.
  The first poster I put up had a question mark on it, because I wanted 
my colleagues at the end of my comments today, you decide, is he the 
victim, or is the United States of America the victim?
  Let us go on. It was not a simple task for Wen Ho Lee to move files 
from the closed to the open system. The CFS tracking system reveals 
that Wen Ho Lee spent hours unsuccessfully trying to move classified 
files into unclassified space, meaning he could not quite get it down. 
So he worked on it. You know, practice makes perfect.
  He practiced on it, and he practiced on it. He would get a step, and 
over time he got these steps down so he could figure out to a very 
calculating move how to move material that has been labeled classified 
to material that is now labeled unclassified.
  Wen Ho Lee eventually worked his way around what was designed to be a 
cumbersome process. By design it is complicated, so this kind of thing 
is very tough to do. Wen Ho Lee had to command the computer to 
declassify the files, when he was well aware that the files contained 
some of the most sensitive classified information at Los Alamos.
  Nuclear weapons restricted data downloaded by Wen Ho Lee into 
portable tapes. Let us go through it again very quickly.
  These weapons restricted data downloads, input deck, input file 
information, so this is some of the material that he downloaded. This 
is material that this scientist downloaded, switched from classified to 
nonclassified. The electronic blueprint of the exact dimensions and 
geometry of this nation's thermo-nuclear weapons, including our most 
sophisticated modern weapons or warheads; data files including, these 
are some of the files that he took, nuclear bomb testing protocol, 
libraries reflecting the data collected from actual tests of nuclear 
weapons. Next, data concerning nuclear weapons bomb test problems, 
yield calculations and other nuclear weapon design and detonation 
information.
  Next, information relating to the physical and radioactive properties 
of materials used to construct nuclear weapons. Source codes that he 
downloaded. Data used for determining by simulation the validity of 
nuclear weapon designs and for comparing bomb test results with 
predicted results.
  Let us move on. There is more to the story to come.
  This is a quote. Of everything I say this evening to you, this is 
probably the most important. ``And make no mistake about the scope of 
this offense and the danger it presents to our Nation's security.'' As 
an expert from Los Alamos testified in this case, ``The material 
downloaded and copied by Wen Ho Lee represented the complete nuclear 
weapons design capability at Los Alamos at that time, approximately 50 
years, approximately 50 years of nuclear development.''
  Fifty years, the most sophisticated data we have and 50 years of 
accumulated data. We had an expert to come in, his name was Dr. Yunger, 
listen very carefully. I will read it very slowly, because each word 
has its own meaning in a very substantive way.
  ``These codes,'' the codes that he downloaded, ``these codes and 
their associated databases and the input file, combined with someone 
that knew how to use them, could, in my opinion, in the wrong hands, 
change, ``change, the global strategic balance.'' Change the entire 
global strategic balance.
  That information that this so-called picked-upon scientist, that this 
scientist that people are trying to point out as a victim, the 
information he moved out of our top secret laboratories could change 
the global strategic balance.
  This is serious stuff. You talk about the next generation and future 
generations? Tell me how much you want to thank this guy for what he 
has done for our future generations in this country.
  They enabled the possessor to design the only objects, and let me 
repeat this, they enable the possessor to design the only objects that 
could result in the military defeat of America's conventional forces. 
They enable the possessor, whoever has this material, can now design 
the only weapon known that could completely destroy the American 
conventional forces.
  Let us go on. The only threat, for example, to our carrier battle 
groups. They represent the gravest possible security risk to the United 
States, what the President and most other Presidents have described as 
the supreme national interests of the United States. The gravest 
security risk to the United States of America, and we have newspapers 
in this country saying, well, this guy was picked upon.
  Let us move on, because we got more of the story. Let us talk, for 
example, about what chronological events concerning this individual 
occurred.
  Let us, for example, take a few days, significant events between 
December 23, 1998, and February 10, 1999. On December 23, two days 
before Christmas, 1998, at 2:18 in the afternoon, the Department of 
Energy polygraph of Lee is completed. They gave him a polygraph that 
day. They completed that polygraph.
  At five o'clock, he was advised by his superiors that his access to 
the secure areas of the X division, in other words, the top secret 
compartments at Los Alamos, his access was yanked to both his secure 
and open X division computer accounts. They suspended it. They said you 
cannot go in the X area any more. Your computer files, you are not to 
access them any more. Pretty plain English. Very understandable. Your 
rights to go in there are suspended. Do not go in there.
  At 9:36 that evening, mind you, he worked all day, at 9:36 he 
reappears at the lab. He makes four attempts, four attempts, to enter 
the laboratory, the secure area of X division, through stairwell number 
two. Apparently they have caught him on camera. At 9:39, three minutes 
later, he again attempts to enter the secure area of X division, but 
this time trying the south elevator. So he tries four attempts one 
direction, cannot master it there, so he comes up and now tries it 
through a different approach.
  The next day, December 24, this is Christmas Eve, at 3:30 in the 
morning on Christmas Eve, 3:30 in the morning on Christmas Eve, he 
again shows up at the laboratory. He again attempts to enter a secure 
area of the X division through the south stairwell, number two. 
December 24th through January 3rd, Thursday through Sunday of that 
week, Thursday through Sunday of that week, Los Alamos is closed for 
the holidays.

                              {time}  1830

  So the entire laboratory is closed down for the holidays. Remember, 
Christmas Eve morning, 3 o'clock in the morning, here he is trying to 
gain access to an area from which he was specifically instructed he was 
suspended. He was not allowed to enter that area. So during these few 
days that the lab is closed for the holidays, look what Dr. Lee does.
  On January 4, 1999, Monday, he succeeds in having his open computer 
account reactivated and deletes three computer files. On January 12, he 
deletes another computer file. January 17, the FBI conducts an 
interview of Lee at his residence. On January 20, from 11:00 to 12:00, 
he attempts to delete 47 computer files after the FBI interview. He 
immediately goes and deletes 47 computer files.
  On January 21, he asks the computer Help Desk why files he is 
deleting are not going away. On many computers, on those computers down 
there, they have kind of a Help Desk where they can log into and ask 
for directions how

[[Page 19815]]

to work the computer. Any who are computer literate know what I am 
talking about. It is a service there to help them work their way 
through it. So he asks the computer help desk, he is trying to delete 
these files, why they are not deleting.
  At 10:46, he attempts to enter the secure area of the X Division 
through Stairwell 3. On January 30, at 2:54 in the morning, almost 3 
o'clock in the morning, Los Alamos officials deactivate Lee's open 
computer account in the security area of X Division after discovering 
that it has been improperly reactivated. At 4:52 in the afternoon, Lee 
attempts once again to enter the secure area of the X Division through 
the south door.
  On February 2, Lee attempts to enter a secured area of the X Division 
through the south door, 9:42 in the morning. In the afternoon, he 
attempts to enter the secure area of the X Division through the south 
door. At 1:46 that afternoon, he makes four more attempts to enter the 
secure area of the X Division through the south door.
  On February 8, the FBI contacts Lee and asks him to meet with them to 
discuss conducting an interview and another polygraph. Right after 
that, Lee attempts to enter a secure area of the X Division once again. 
At 4 o'clock, the FBI meets with Lee and arranges for an interview and 
a polygraph over the next 2 days. 6:30 that evening, he attempts to 
enter the secure area of the X Division once again.
  On February 9 from 11:30 to 12:00 Lee deletes approximately 93 
computer files. At 1 o'clock, FBI interviews Lee and obtains his 
agreement to undergo another polygraph. At 5:03, Lee attempts to enter 
the secure area of the X Division once again.
  February 10, Lee undergoes the polygraph from 9:00 to 4:00. Right 
after he is done with the polygraph, he immediately goes over and 
deletes 310 computer files. He then at 5 o'clock attempts once again to 
get to the X Division through the south door.
  Does this sound like somebody who inadvertently or just kind of a 
country bumpkin walks into the highest most sensitive secrets of this 
Nation and moves them from classified Top Secret to unclassified then 
copies them on to his own computer? He lies to the FBI, by the way; and 
as soon as he is done being interviewed with the FBI, he goes up and 
starts deleting computer files.
  This guy has some history to him. And it is history that he ought not 
to be proud of.
  By the way, when he was first arrested, we should point out that 
through his lawyers he denied any knowledge. He denied that he copied 
any of these files. It was only later when the evidence was laid down 
in front of him that his lawyers thought it was best, probably, to 
advise him maybe that he ought to tell the truth.
  Let us just very quickly summarize. One other thing I guess I should 
bring up, because I read this in the media. Oh, my gosh, this guy was 
put in isolation. He was shackled. He did not get to see other people. 
That is on its face patently false.
  They built a special facility for him. They built a special facility 
for him so he could spend time privately with his lawyers. In the 90 
days or so that he was in prison there, 6 hours a day he spent in that 
special facility with his lawyers. The only time that he was shackled 
was when he was transferred from one facility to the other, the same as 
any other prisoner.
  If anything, this guy got better treatment than any other prisoner 
that we had down there. My colleagues should not let these lawyers, or 
do not let some of these fans of this Wen Ho Lee, or do not let his 
daughter who understandably has a love for her folks, just like I do, 
do not let them buffalo them. This Wen Ho Lee is not an innocent guy. 
He is a convicted felon.
  Some people say, well, the FBI filed 59 cases against him or 59 
charges against him. Why did the FBI drop 58 of the 59 charges against 
him? Well, it is pretty simple. We had a Federal judge and the Federal 
judge said, Okay, we are going to allow you to go ahead with these 59 
charges against him. But in order to do it, we are going to have to 
require you to release some of your secrets. We are going to make this 
public information.
  So the FBI did not drop these charges because they could not prove 
them. The U.S. Attorney General, Janet Reno, did not instruct the FBI 
to drop these charges because they could not prove them. The reason 
they dropped those charges is because they did not want to release 
further U.S. secrets on thermonuclear weapons.
  It is interesting what happens in an election year. As soon as the 
newspapers start editorializing about old poor Wen Ho Lee and how he 
has been victimized, and it sounds just like a defense attorney, guess 
who jumps in? The President of the United States, he makes a comment. 
He said he is discouraged by this prosecution. That is his policy. He 
cannot understand this.
  What happens this quickly, we can lose control of this quickly. The 
fact is Wen Ho Lee still has or has the knowledge of where the many, 
many secrets of the United States of America on our thermonuclear 
weapons are, and we have every right to go after this guy. He has 
jeopardized every living citizen in America. In fact he has jeopardized 
the entire world by accessing and taking out of that laboratory some of 
the highest level secrets every known to mankind.
  He has, in my opinion, put at risk every future generation of every 
country in this world. And yet he refuses to cooperate up until the 
time, and we hope we get a little cooperation now, using as his front 
these defense attorneys.
  Then they go out and put together this massive public relations 
effort. To me it is almost like having a cheer leading conference on 
the day of impeachment. They have a pep rally when this guy gets out of 
prison when the judge orders that he be released, and then the people 
cannot wait to stomp on the FBI or criticize Attorney General Janet 
Reno. Why did they prosecute this poor guy? Why are they picking on Wen 
Ho Lee? He is an innocent guy. He has been victimized. Maybe by 
accident he copied some files. It was inadvertent. He did not know what 
he was doing.
  Of course some of the other groups are playing the race card, saying 
the only reason he was arrested is because of his ethnic background, 
whatever that background was.
  We ought to take a look at what has happened to this Nation. Take a 
look at what our losses are. By the way, we cannot really calculate 
what our losses are because we do not know who has that material.
  We do know this: we do know that some of the countries in this world 
have information that was provided for them from the laboratories out 
of the United States. We know this: we know that somehow there has been 
a leak somewhere down in that laboratory.
  Mr. Speaker, I am saying to all of my colleagues tonight, I know that 
my speech has been somewhat impassioned; but I cannot imagine that any 
one of us who has a fiduciary duty to the people of this country that 
we would simply nod and turn our face the other way. Or that we would 
stand here and criticize the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Not that 
they are above criticism, as I said earlier. That Ruby Ridge was a 
disaster. Waco, Texas, was a disaster. The FBI deserves plenty of 
criticism.
  But on this case, we too will be contributing, in my opinion, to this 
huge massive misjustice to all future generations of this world by 
turning eyes the other way and thinking that this Wen Ho Lee was some 
innocent guy that we decided to victimize or pick on him to find a spy 
for the FBI Chronicles.
  Let me wrap this portion of my comments up by saying, I cannot think 
of anything in my entire political career, I cannot think of anything 
in my adult life that I consider of more serious consequence from a 
national security interest point of view than the compromise of these 
thermonuclear secrets. These secrets were compromised by one 
individual. We know who he is. We have got the facts. We have just 
heard the other side of the story.
  Now, what I would say is all my colleagues should go home tonight, 
have discussions with their families and let

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me know tomorrow who is the victim. Is the victim Wen Ho Lee, or is the 
victim the United States of America?
  Mr. Speaker, I really should have made this chart a little different. 
I should have put United States of America, the rest of the world, and 
all future generations.
  Mr. Speaker, at this point in time I would like to yield to my friend 
and colleague, the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Ehrlich).

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