WEN HO LEE: INTERNATIONAL MAN OF MYSTERY?
This article originally appeared in Lonely Planet Santa Fe & Taos 1 (2003).
His odyssey began in March 1999, when the New York Times published an article alleging that during the mid-1980s, a Chinese-American scientist at New Mexico’s Los Alamos National Laboratories (LANL) had given China information about W-88 miniaturized nuclear warheads. After the story broke, an embarrassed FBI moved quickly, taking Taiwanese-American physicist Wen Ho Lee into custody and grilling him for two days without counsel. Shortly afterward, Lee was named primary suspect in the case.
Evidence was largely circumstantial: Lee had visited China in the mid-1980s (with LANL’s blessing), worked on a prototype of the W-88 (not the model China supposedly had) and hugged a Chinese scientist (is this illegal?). Lee did, however, take top secret work home with him on weekends, storing it on his unsecured PC. Even more damning, after failing a polygraph test, he deleted classified files stored on an unclassified section of the LANL computer mainframe.
On December 30, 1999, Lee was placed in solitary confinement, his legs shackled much of the time. Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson stated firmly that “if anyone puts classified information on unclassified computers, we are going to treat them the same way.” But, when former CIA Director John M Deutch was caught doing exactly that, the Attorney General declined to prosecute.
Lee steadfastly maintained his innocence as allegations began to unravel. More than 60 agents assigned to the case found no proof of espionage, but learned that many scientists save hours of code decryption time each day by keeping classified materials in more easily accessible unclassified files – hey, they’ve got deadlines to meet, too.
The US government eventually dropped 58 of the 59 charges against Lee – who pleaded no contest to the last, improperly storing sensitive information – and he was released after 278 days, many of them alone and in chains. “I am sad that I was induced in December to order your detention,” intoned Judge James A Parker, who presided over both hearings. “I sincerely apologize to you, Dr Lee, for the unfair manner you were held in custody.” A week later, the New York Times also apologized.
As for Lee, he went home to White Rock, where friends, family and former coworkers quietly celebrated his release.
Want to learn more? For Wen Ho Lee’s side of the story, drop by Justice for New Americans or pick up a copy of My Country versus Me a readable and disturbing first-hand account of the way Lee was misled by investigators and arguably mistreated in jail, interspersed with tips on trout fishing in New Mexico. This article was reprinted from Lonely Planet Santa Fe & Taos