WEN HO LEE: A SCAPEGOAT
THE US GOVERNMENT is charging Mr. Wen Ho Lee with 59 separate violations of 42 USC §2275 and 2276, and 18 USC §793 (c) and (e), gathering and removing restricted data and National Defense information and unlawfully retaining it. He is alleged to have downloaded numerous tapes from the "secure" computer in his office, and put them on a "non-secure" computer in his home. The government has not charged him with delivering this information to any other government or sources, but that is certainly the implication of the allegations.
Who Is This Man?
WEN HO LEE, 60, graduated from Cheng Kung University in Taiwan in 1963, with a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering. He then emigrated to the United States and attended graduate school at Texas A&M, where he received his doctorate in 1969. In 1974, he became a naturalized citizen. For over two decades, he worked as a nuclear physicist in the weapons section of the Los Alamos Nuclear Laboratories (LANL) in New Mexico. He was employed in the "top secret" weapons design division, where he worked in applied mathematics and fluid dynamics.
His wife, Sylvia Lee, was born in Hunan, China, in 1943. She emigrated to the US in 1969 and became a citizen in 1977. She joined Los Alamos in 1980, working two years as a secretary, and 13 years as a data analyst. Both she and her husband possessed "Q" level security clearances, the highest level clearance issued by the US government. According to the FBI, Sylvia served as an FBI informant at various times during her employment.
One might ask why the National Lawyers Guild is interested in coming to the defense of Mr. Lee. The NLG has a long history of opposing the nuclear weapons industry, and those who support it. We have seen the Pentagon use the rubric of "national security" as a pretext and facade to cover up governmental misconduct; to involve our nation in unpopular attacks upon foreign nations; and to justify vast expenditures of money and resources for anti-democratic purposes. Unlike many individuals championed by the NLG, Mr. Lee is a middle class, highly-educated man, with no known history of opposition to US policies internationally or nationally. Why, therefore, is it crucial for the NLG to support him?
The answer lies in the racist nature of the nuclear weapons industry, and in the total lack of accountability of those who direct it. The funders and managers of our weapons programs consistently make decisions affecting the very safety of the entire world, and yet they are beyond the control or purview of virtually every American.
U.S. Motives
BY ACCUSING WEN HO LEE of these offenses, the US government accomplishes several objectives:
1. With the demise of the Soviet Empire, the Cold War Republicans (and their Democratic equivalents) need a new "evil empire" to take its place. Without such a threat, bloated Pentagon funding, covert operations, and the very existence of bungling agencies such as the CIA are placed in question. Their raison d'être has disappeared, and like all bureaucracies facing a new situation, they are fighting to retain their power and influence over the American people. Conservatives now have an excuse for failing to renew nuclear test ban and anti-proliferation treaties.
2. By creating a xenophobic, racist fear of "outsiders in our midst," the nuclear weapons industry hopes to return to the days when employees were exclusively white and male. Recently, many of the top scientists in the world have been drawn from China, India, and Taiwan, just as the Germans and Russians filled these positions during the last few decades. Currently, there are more than 150,000 Chinese American engineers and scientists working in industry, government, and academia, including some 15,000 in the defense sector. Chinese-American scientists have won five Nobel prizes in physics and one in chemistry. Asian-Pacific American scientists and engineers now form the backbone of American high technology, accounting for about one third of all technical personnel in Silicon Valley alone. By demonizing foreigners, the government turns Americans against each other and establishes an atmosphere of mistrust and racial antagonism among workers. It is possible that labeling Dr. Lee as a "disloyal" American could affect the career decisions made by this young generation of Asian-Pacific Americans.
3. And most importantly, and clearly at the root of this ruse, is the impact which this prosecutorial scare tactic will have on the funding of what has been widely perceived as an increasingly dangerous and superfluous industry. Without a serious enemy, why should this government continue to spend billions of dollars on weapons of mass destruction? Their answer is obvious: as a result of espionage by foreigners in our midst, we no longer maintain the ascendancy of nuclear power, and must renew funding for nuclear hardware development and research, including missile testing, to make up for the alleged breaches in our erstwhile "secure" industry.
Political Manipulation
To merely touch on the evidence of these themes, here are some facts to consider:
·The initial investigation of Dr. Lee arose within weeks after the Chinese tested their new missile system. Alarmed and surprised by the miniaturized missile system, the US immediately looked for someone to blame for its existence. Lee was the only Chinese employee at Los Alamos who could be possibly linked to the W-88. The investigation resulted in Lee's exoneration.
·The Senate recently refused to ratify the test ban and anti-proliferation treaties.
·China has been accused of everything from spying and stealing nuclear secrets to denying its citizens human rights on an unprecedented level-a rather astonishing accusation coming from the US, a nation that imprisons a larger percent of its population than has ever been imprisoned in the history of the world. It is questionable whether China has any interest whatsoever in the nuclear arms race. China spends a fraction of its national budget on military expenditures, while the US spends almost one half of its annual budget on the Pentagon and its associated agencies. In addition, the Republicans can use "the China question" to continue their investigation into Clinton's 1996 election campaign and his connections to fundraiser Johnny Chung. In response to Lee's arrest, the Chinese arrested an American researcher this past autumn and charged him with spying.
·Lawsuits have been filed by Asian-Pacific Americans and others against the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, run by the University of California at Berkeley, alleging discriminatory hiring and promotion practices, as well as alleging inadequate safety measures.
·The scientific community has acknowledged that none of the information that Dr. Lee allegedly copied is unknown to the worldwide scientific community. In fact, he has openly published much of the information that he allegedly took from the laboratory. Furthermore, it is the access to the materials of nuclear weaponry that is the stumbling block for terrorists and other nations, and not knowledge of how to build the weapons systems. The latter technology is apparently available to every nation from Israel to Pakistan, and to especially adept 16-year-old American hackers.
·The W-88, the US's current "super-weapon," is supposedly compromised, thereby demanding that we invest billions of dollars in a new, secret system which will outshine the W-88. There is overwhelming evidence that the W-88 is an outdated system, that China never had interest in this weapon at all, and that Dr. Lee never had any contact with information about the W-88, much less passed it on to anyone.
·The Departments of Energy and Justice, the Pentagon, the fiefdom of UC (which oversees this country's three nuclear labs), and the managers at the labs are all competing for funding sources, oversight of research and development, and the right to control the direction and programs of our weapons industry.
·Conservative California Republican Christopher Cox and Jesse Helms are at the forefront of the Lee attack. The Republicans clearly see an advantage in entering the 21st century by "protecting" Americans against China and its nationals. Instead of being soft on crime and commies, the Democrats will now be allegedly "soft" on China.
How to Respond
Understanding the Lee case in context shows that he is being used as a scapegoat for reasons far beyond his activities. In light of the above, the National Lawyers Guild will connect with the widespread support that Wen Ho Lee and his family have received from the Asian-Pacific community nationwide. A transparently xenophobic, chauvinist, rallying cry from Washington should not go unchallenged. As a corollary, the NLG would be performing a public service by creating a forum in which defense spending and "national security" are analyzed under current conditions. The right wing should not be allowed to substitute national defense as the shibboleth of a new Cold War where "foreigners," aka "terrorists," replace "criminals" (law and order) as the greatest threat to our peace and prosperity.
--Marti and Luke Hiken are members of the National Lawyers Guild.