China Spy Concerns Called "Hysteria" -- 03/22/1999

China Spy Concerns Called "Hysteria"

22 March, 1999

By Scott Hogenson
CNS Executive Editor

(CNS) - Energy Secretary Bill Richardson Sunday tried to downplay the impact of suspected Chinese spying at American nuclear research facilities, calling such concerns "hysteria" that is "unfounded."

Richardson also dismissed apparent Clinton Administration contradictions on whether the intelligence breaches at the Los Alamos nuclear laboratory compromised U.S. security. A number of administration officials have said that the suspected espionage activities of China damaged American security, but President Bill Clinton said during his news conference Friday that no such espionage had occurred.

In an exercise reminiscent of the president's federal grand jury testimony last year, in which Clinton questioned the definition of words like 'is' and 'alone,' Richardson said on NBC's Meet the Press that Clinton's remarks were not inconsistent with previous statements by members of his administration, saying that Clinton was speaking about espionage in a legal context, not a strategic one.

The energy secretary also said he hopes that a classified report on technology transfers to China will be released soon, but he also touched on some of the problems associated with the release of that report.

A select House committee led by Rep. Christopher Cox (R-CA) has prepared a lengthy, top-secret report on the transfer of sensitive technology to China, and the committee is currently negotiating with the White House on what parts of the report should be declassified and released to the public.

Officials with the committee told CNS last week that the White House was trying to block the release of "a couple hundred pages" of the 700 page report, citing potential risks to U.S. intelligence gathering assets.

Richardson repeated those concerns Sunday, and denied that there would be any political fallout for the Clinton Administration by releasing the Cox committee report. Oversight for such transfers was shifted under President Clinton to the Department of Commerce, where former Democratic Party fundraiser John Huang worked in a high level position.

Huang has been implicated in the illegal contribution of money to the Clinton/Gore 1996 reelection campaign, and Cox has previously said that Huang is mentioned in his committee's report, although he did not say in what context.

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