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China nuclear ties vex U.S.
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March 9, 1999: 9:53 p.m. ET
Technology exchanges grow; Richardson defends engagement
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LOS ALAMOS, N.M. (CNNfn) - Officials at the Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Chinese government have had a close relationship since at least the mid-1990s that included meetings designed to increase science and technology exchanges, according to U.S. documents obtained by CNNfn Tuesday.
On one occasion, Dr. Siegfried Hecker, then director of Los Alamos, led a delegation of officials to Beijing in 1994 for just such meetings. The Chinese government even offered to pay the group's expenses, an offer lab officials say was declined.
In fact, documents show, Los Alamos officials took 11 trips to China in 1995 and 1996. Several took place at a time when then-Energy Secretary Federico Pena assured Congress that there were no ongoing discussions about nuclear weapons matters.
The exchanges between Los Alamos officials and those of governments deemed sensitive went both ways, documents show. From 1994 to 1999 some 2,700 scientists and other international officials participated in the exchange -- with only about 5 percent receiving background checks.
Richardson defends visits
Energy Secretary Bill Richardson defended those types of visits Tuesday, saying the United States should not isolate China.
"Our relationship with China is very valuable," Richardson said in an interview on the 'Moneyline News Hour With Lou Dobbs.'
"We want to engage the Chinese, we don't want to isolate them," Richardson said. "We want to talk to them about nuclear non-proliferation, about warhead safety, about cooperation on science. We're not giving them extra technology, sensitive technology, nuclear information."
Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, also appearing on "Moneyline," called for a strengthening of security at laboratories across the country.
"The Chinese have made a big technological leap with material apparently they acquired from the American laboratories. The gap between China and the United States will remain huge for another generation," he said.
In another development, a CIA-led task force is assessing the extent of the damage that may have been done by a former computer scientist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.
Republicans criticize Clinton
Senate Republicans criticized the Clinton administration for keeping mum on the apparent nuclear security breach -- traceable to the Republican administrations of the mid-1980s -- and scheduled committee hearings next week to "further illuminate" the situation.
The scientist, Wen Ho Lee, was dismissed Monday from his job at Los Alamos -- but may not face criminal prosecution -- after a three-year espionage investigation determined he may have helped the Chinese steal technology allowing them to develop much smaller nuclear warheads.
China says the allegations are unfounded and are designed to undermine improved relations between Washington and Beijing.
"This also demonstrates a present trend for some people to try to hamper the normal export of the U.S. of some high-tech products to China, and hamper the improvement and development of China-U.S. relations," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao.
The Senate hearings will be held before the Senate Intelligence Committee headed by Alabama Republican Richard Shelby, who suggested the security breach may extend beyond Los Alamos.
"I think there's probably a lot more of that going on in America than we realize," he said. "It is frightening."
The CIA-led task force also is looking into allegations of carelessness over security at other national weapons laboratories.
"It's fair to infer that going back many years, and certainly extending all the way through this administration, precious little has been done when a great deal was required," charged Rep. Chris Cox, R-Calif.
Said Shelby: "It leads you to ask the question: Was it politically expedient not to pursue information like this? Should it have been pursued in earlier years? Should it have been pursued before now? I'd say yes."
Cox is negotiating with the White House to declassify a 700-page report written by his special committee on technology transfers to China. The report reveals security problems at the Sandia Laboratory in New Mexico and Livermore Laboratory in California as well as Los Alamos.
A lack of evidence
A senior administration official said it is "unlikely" Lee will be charged with any criminal offense, since there is not enough evidence against him.
"The notion that this guy is another Rosenberg is sort of silly," the official said.
Two senior government officials told CNN the former Energy Department scientist is strongly suspected of relaying information to the Chinese that have helped Beijing develop miniaturized bombs that closely resemble the W-88, the United States' most advanced miniature warhead.
Lee, 59 -- whose wife, Sylvia, also had been employed for a time at Los Alamos as a secretary -- failed a recent lie detector test when questioned about possible espionage for China, sources told CNN.
State Department spokesman James Rubin Tuesday denied the Clinton administration had been lax in protecting national security interests.
"We have no illusions about China's desire to acquire sensitive information and technology for military uses by many different means. It is absolutely not true that we downplayed any evidence of this. We took the issue seriously, as our actions demonstrate," said Rubin.
In an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer for CNN's "Late Edition Primetime" program, Vice President Al Gore stressed the same theme.
"This happened in the previous administration, and the law enforcement agencies have pressed it, and pursued it aggressively with our full support," he said. "And in the course of this what developed was a brand new presidential directive that fixed problems that we had inherited and changed and vastly improved the procedures in the national laboratory system."
The vice president said that despite the new allegations, the administration is committed to its policy of "constructive engagement" with China.
"China is the most populous country in the world. Its economy is growing and its role in the world is going to continue to grow whether we want that or not," he said.
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