DESPITE JUDGE'S ORDER, SCIENTIST REMAINS IN JAIL This week a federal judge ordered the release of Wen Ho Lee, a nuclear physicist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory until his arrest last December. Just minutes before he was to be released, however, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a stay of the judge’s order, keeping Lee in prison at least until September 6, 2000. Lee has been in detention ever since he was arrested for downloading files from the lab onto an unsecure computer at the lab. Lee, a US citizen for over 25 years, was born in Taiwan, and many suspect that his foreign birth is the primary reason the government is prosecuting him.
Supporters of Lee, who is not accused of espionage but of mishandling information, say he did no more than retired CIA Director John Deutch did. Indeed, Deutch placed top-secret files on his computer at home while it was connected to the Internet through a standard phone line. Whereas Lee has spent almost nine months in prison, in virtual solitary confinement, Deutch retains top-level security clearance; a fact supporters say clearly indicates that Lee is being treated differently because of his Asian descent.
This week sworn affidavits from two former counterintelligence officials were released that lend support to the claims of racial profiling in Lee’s case. According to Robert Vrooman, the former director of counterintelligence at Los Alamos, Lee has never been a spy, and in the absence of any credible evidence suggesting Lee was spying, racial profiling is the most plausible reason for his treatment.
Even as Lee neared release, support for his cause continued to grow. Three congressionally chartered scientific organization, the National Academy of Scientists, the National Academy of Engineering and the Institute of Medicine wrote a letter to Janet Reno in which they were highly critical of the government’s treatment of Lee. According to the letter, Lee is “a victim of unjust treatment” of the sort that the groups often criticize when dealing with authoritarian foreign governments, such as Iran, China, and the former Soviet Union. The judge has ordered the government to turn over documents that Lee’s attorneys say will prove that he is being prosecuted because of his race. The government has until September 15 to turn the documents over to the judge, who will then review them and decide whether to order the government to turn them over to the defense.
Among the documents that must be given to the judge are lists of other suspects at Los Alamos, and four FBI reports about other scientists who had access to classified data. The judge also requested all Department of Energy documents relating to mishandling of information since 1987. < Back | Next > Disclaimer: This newsletter is provided as a public service and not intended to establish an attorney client relationship. Any reliance on information contained herein is taken at your own risk. | 
