JOINT PRESS STATEMENT BY ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN ORGANIZATIONS

For Release: 5:00pm, EST, December 16, 1999.  Contact: (see below)

This is a joint statement on behalf of the undersigned Asian Pacific American organizations in response to the December 10 indictment of Dr. Wen Ho Lee and the position of the Department of Justice in relation to Dr. Lee's case.

We are deeply disturbed about the Justice Department's manner in investigating and prosecuting Dr. Wen Ho Lee, a Chinese American scientist formerly employed at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, and the negative effects of this case upon the Asian Pacific American community in the United States. Our concerns are the following:

First, the government's investigation that led to Dr. Lee's indictment was flawed by negative ethnic stereotypes and fueled by anti-Chinese hysteria.

Second, Dr. Lee has been unfairly singled out in an unusual, if not unprecedented, criminal prosecution for conduct when it appears non-Chinese American government employees who have mishandled classified information have not been similarly charged.

Third, there is an apparent lack of due process and abuse of discretion in the government's decision to oppose Dr. Lee's release on bail during the pretrial phase of this case.

Fourth, there is persistent and misleading media coverage which continues to portray this case as one of "Chinese espionage," involving an alleged "Chinese spy" when, by its selection of charges in the indictment, the government has not charged that Dr. Lee disclosed U.S. classified information to any other person, much less to anyone connected to China.

Robert Vrooman, former security chief at the Los Alamos National Laboratory and a central figure in the Lee investigation, has publicly acknowledged that Dr. Lee was selected as the target of the investigation because of his ethnicity. We condemn racial profiling in such government investigations.

The Justice Department's decision to prosecute Dr. Lee under 42 U.S.C. 2276, 42 U.S.C. 2275 and 18 U.S.C. 793(c) and (e), is highly unusual, if not unprecedented. Dr. Lee has not been charged with disclosing classified information to a third person. To our knowledge, no other person in U.S. history has ever been charged with these felonies (several of which carry a potential life sentence as the maximum penalty) merely for mishandling classified information, without any claim that the person actually disclosed or even sought to disclose such information to a foreign government. There are also multiple reported cases of non- Chinese American government employees who have mishandled classified information and yet who have not suffered any government sanction, much less prosecution under these statutes. The government's motives and its commitment to fairness in Dr. Lee's case are questionable.

The Bill of Rights guarantees fundamental due process to all criminal defendants, and the Eighth Amendment forbids excessive bail in criminal cases. Yet Dr. Lee has been held in jail since his arrest on December 10 despite the willingness of Dr. Lee and his supporters to post reasonable bail for his pretrial release. With his wife and children, he has deep roots in the New Mexico community, where they have lived for more than 20 years. He has been in failing health. He voluntarily surrendered his U.S. passport many months ago. The isolation of Dr. Lee from his family and attorneys is thus an abuse of discretion, applying unfair tactical pressure upon Dr. Lee and his defense counsel. His continued pretrial detention compromises Dr. Lee's due process rights in defending himself against such grave criminal charges, particularly in a case where the pretrial proceedings may last more than a year.

Continued media shorthand references to this prosecution as a "Chinese spy" case distort the facts, perpetuates anti-Asian stereotypes and threatens the civil rights of all Asian Pacific Americans. According to the indictment, Dr. Lee has not been charged with "espionage" or "spying. The government does not allege that Dr. Lee acted on behalf of, or passed any classified information to, any foreign government or any unauthorized person, a key fact not made clear in some accounts of the case or in print media headlines.

In response to these four concerns, the undersigned organizations are pledged to two common objectives: (1) to ensure that Dr. Lee receives the equal protection and due process of law to which he, like any other American, is entitled under the Bill of Rights; and (2) to be vigilant in the protection of all Asian Pacific Americans-particularly those working in our national laboratories and the defense industries-against pernicious "racial profiling" or any other racially driven discrimination. Half a century ago, acting out decades of anti-Asian hysteria but also in the name of national  security, the United States government incarcerated 120,000 Japanese Americans based solely upon their racial identity and without due process of law. The Asian Pacific American community has sworn that such an egregious violation of our civil rights will never occur again, even to one Asian Pacific American, and our organizations will monitor the future handling of Dr. Lee's case in that light until his guilt or innocence is ultimately determined by the courts.

Today, 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 for the United States. Asian Pacific American scientists and engineers now form the backbone of American high technology, accounting for perhaps one-third of all technical personnel in Silicon Valley alone, and have made our nation stronger, healthier and richer. And yet, because of the manner in which the government has handled Dr. Lee's case, they are all at risk for being targeted as well.

We therefore urge the government and media to remember the invaluable contributions made by Chinese Americans and other Asian Pacific Americans.

The use or tacit approval of racial profiling in government or in private sector defense-related employment will surely deter some of the very best and brightest engineers and scientists from serving our nation and helping to protect its future. It would be the ultimate, bitter irony for America if, due to Dr. Lee's case and the current anti-Chinese hysteria in some quarters, our national security were to be damaged by the loss of these dedicated professionals to public service and to our own defense industries.

We, the undersigned organizations, are pledged to ensure that all Americans (without regard to race, color or national origin) will have the full right to serve this country to the best of their abilities.

***

CONTACTS:

Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund: Margaret Fung, 212-966-5932

Asian American Manufacturers Association: George Koo, 408-795-4688

Asian Pacific American Legal Center: Stewart Kwoh, Kathay Feng, 213-977-7500

Association of Chinese-American Engineers and Scientists of New Mexico: Chu Jong, 505-890-4435

Chinese American Citizens Alliance: Munson Kwok, 310-336-5441

Chinese Americans United for Self Empowerment: Charles Woo, 213-617-1353

Chinese-American Engineers and Scientists Association of Southern California: Wei Kao, 310- 375-9643

Committee of 100: Henry Tang, Winnie Chan, 212-371-6565

Japanese American Citizens League: John Tateishi, 415-921- 5225 x33

National Asian Pacific American Bar Association: Laura Hong, 216-479-8554; Nancy Choy, 202-974-1030

National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium: Karen Narasaki: 202- 296-2300

New Mexico Chinese American Action Committee: Y.S. Cheng

Organization of Chinese Americans: George Ong, 415-362-5150; Daphne Kwok, 202-223-5500

Overseas Chinese Physics Association: C.Y. Wong, 423-574-4582


Talking Points re: Case from Dr. Lee's Supporters - Dec. 17, 1999

A. Current Charges Against Dr. Lee

1. Dr. Lee has been unfairly detained without bail because the government is seeking life imprisonment under a statute that requires an intent to harm the United States - an allegation for which the government has no evidence. The unbiased Pretrial Services Officer recommended that Dr. Lee be released on $100,000 bail, which was rejected by the government and the Magistrate. Very recently, on December 15, 1999, we learned that the FBI has taken over supervision of Dr. Lee from the Sheriff's facility in which he is currently incarcerated. They have imposed severe restriction on his ability to communicate with the outside world. Specifically, he is not allowed collect calls to his family and will not be allowed to meet with or communicate with third parties other than his counsel. In a more outrageous move, the FBI has imposed a restriction of requiring any visit by Dr. Lee's family to be conducted in the English language and only in the presence of an FBI agent. These moves are obviously an attempt to crush Dr. Lee's spirit and to throttle his ability to communicate with the outside world.

2. The government has conceded in open court it has no evidence that Dr. lee gave any classified information to a third person.

3. There is no evidence (and the government acknowledges) that any information allegedly mishandled or downloaded by Dr. lee got into the hands of third persons.

4. There is no evidence that any information allegedly mishandled or downloaded by Dr. Lee ever left Los Alamos Nuclear Laboratories. Dr. Lee adamantly denies ever passing any classified information to any unauthorized party.

5. The government has conceded that there is not a single witness (out of more than 1000 it has interviewed) nor a single document (out of the more than 100,000 it has examined) that indicates Dr. Lee intended to harm the United States.   Nevertheless, the government charged Dr. Lee with that crime and seeks life imprisonment on that basis.

1. Dr. Lee dedicated his career to selflessly improve U.S. security - thus, an assertion that he somehow intended to harm United States is without any support.
2. Since 1982, Dr. Lee has devoted thousands of hours to writing complex computer codes essential to our national defense.
3. Dr. Lee's contributions have been instrumental in allowing U.S. atomic scientists to design the most advanced nuclear weapons in the world.
4. Dr. Lee has performed this extraordinary work in relative anonymity and with only modest financial reward.

B. Investigation of Dr. Lee.

1. Not a scintilla of evidence exists reflecting that Dr. Lee committed espionage (he is not charged with that crime) although the government has utilized more resources on this investigation than on any other espionage or national security case in history.

2. The purported reason for this investigation - the so-called secret sketch of the W-88 found in the possession of the Chinese government - establishes conclusively that Dr. Lee was not the source of the alleged leak. It is now conceded that Dr. Lee did not have access to the sketch in question and the FBI is investigating those involved in the W-88 program after it left LANL and Dr. Lee's department.

3. Numerous sources directly involved in the investigation of Dr. Lee, including Robert Vrooman, the former head of counterintelligence at LANL and Terry Craig, a counterintelligence official at LANL, have confirmed that Dr. Lee was targeted because of his ethnicity.

4. The FBI, Dept. of Energy and/or others in the government were leaking to the press that Dr. Lee was a spy, while at the same time the FBI was receiving and authoring internal memos indicating that Dr. Lee was not a spy and had nothing to do with the alleged theft of the warhead design. Note that the government has gone from characterizing Dr. Lee as a spy to someone who downloaded "massive" amounts of sensitive information - even though there is no evidence that any such information ever left LANL. The spin by the government's media/leakers is now to create hysteria over the supposed specter of the missing tapes. As discussed below, that subject is nothing more than a red herring and an attempt to drum up hysteria again similar to the spy allegations made earlier in March.

C. Selective Prosecution.

1. Dr. Lee has been charged under a statute that has never been used in similar circumstances (i.e., where, as here, there is no evidence that the information got into the hands of third parties).

2. Numerous individuals who, as reported by the press, have committed more egregious lapses of security have not been criminally prosecuted.

3. President's Report by Senator Rudman has outlined complete lack of security at labs and lax policy regarding classified information.   It is unfair to single out Dr. Lee when such laxity was institutional.

4. The FBI and DOE have a marked agenda given their public embarrassment by this scandal. High-ranking officials within the FBI apparently told reporters that they would charge Wen Ho Lee for "spitting on the sidewalk" if the case could be made against him.

 D. Alleged Missing Tapes.

1. Dr. Lee has proffered repeatedly to the government that the missing computer tapes were destroyed and were never created for any sinister or unlawful purpose. Dr. Lee has offered to submit to a polygraph on this issue and to confirm that he never gave the so-called missing tapes to any third person. To date, the government has declined Dr. Lee's offer.

E. Dr. Lee's Job Search

1. Since 1994, Dr. Lee's job search has involved jobs within the United States.