Group Warns Against Prosecution of Fired Scientist

Criminal prosecution of fired nuclear weapon scientist Wen Ho Lee could incite public hysteria over national security fears and “unleash a virulent anti-Chinese frenzy in this country,” an organization of prominent Chinese Americans warned Wednesday in a letter to Atty. Gen. Janet Reno and Energy Secretary Bill Richardson.

Lee, a nuclear physicist dismissed in March from his high-security job after 17 years at Los Alamos National Laboratory, has been the target of a three-year federal investigation into whether he passed U.S. nuclear warhead designs to the Chinese government.

He has denied the allegations, and federal sources have acknowledged that no evidence linking Lee to any lost nuclear secrets has been developed. Papers submitted to the Justice Department by Lee’s attorneys show that the scientist faces possible indictment for allegedly mishandling classified documents.

The New York-based Committee of 100, a nonpartisan public policy group of Chinese American professionals from business and the arts, said in the letter signed by Chairman Henry S. Tang that it is concerned about indications the Taiwan-born Lee was “being pursued vindictively,” possibly as a result of personal “or racial animus.”

The letter also raised questions about whether “the racial prejudice and popular hysteria” that sent 100,000 Japanese Americans to internment camps during World War II might lead to “yet another miscarriage of justice” in the Lee case.

“Dr. Lee and the nation deserve a case made on the merits of a thorough and professional investigation, not a racist witch hunt,” the letter said.

The letter specifically cites three areas that Tang and the Committee of 100 say raise questions about possible “selective prosecution” in the Lee case:

* “Alleged flaws in the investigation” that failed to examine other potential sources of security leaks or likely targets of investigation.

* “Institutional laxity” and a “culture of carelessness” at the weapon labs for which Lee should not be held singularly responsible.

* “Problems of ethnicity” that may have made Lee a more likely target of suspicion because of his heritage.

The letter avoids taking a stand on Lee’s guilt or innocence, acknowledging that the Committee of 100 lacks sufficient information to make such a finding.

In a telephone interview Wednesday, Tang said that the letter was intended to raise Justice Department awareness of how the case affects Chinese Americans.

In the letter, Tang wrote that the ultimate Justice Department decision will have “profound effects upon thousands of Chinese Americans” working in the U.S. defense establishment.

Already some Asian American scientists have been denied jobs, Tang said in the interview. He cited an unnamed middle manager at a Fortune 25 company who told Tang that he was ordered not to hire a Chinese American recruited for a marketing job. The manager said his boss told him: “I don’t want to have any spy problems in my department.”

Tang also recounted that one member of the committee told him that her 10-year-old son asked if she was a spy for China.

Tang said such lingering suspicions about the loyalty of Asian Americans is one “silent, invisible impact” of the so-called Chinese spy controversy.

“And if he is a spy, we will be there standing shoulder to shoulder with Janet Reno,” supporting any prosecution, Tang said.

Tang is doubtful, however. He said Lee has “all the makings of an Asian Richard Jewell,” a reference to the Atlanta security guard who was identified early and erroneously as a suspect in the Centennial Olympic Park bombing.

A Justice Department representative would not comment on the letter and could not confirm late Wednesday if Reno had received it.