China's nuke spy war
May 20, 2001--The Chinese espionage uproar took a new turn when the Washington Post disclosed that the Pentagon and the CIA were blocking publication of a U.S. nuclear scientist's memoirs of his visits to Chinese nuclear arms facilities.

Danny B. Stillman, a retired Los Alamos scientist and intelligence analyst, made many visits to the Chinese nuclear program between 1990 and 1999 and simply asked fellow scientists what they were doing, wrote the Post's Steve Coll. Stillman felt that the Chinese were able to make strides in nuclear arms not because of espionage but because computers aided their task.

Rep. Curt Weldon, a member of the Cox committee which probed U.S. nuclear security issues, targeted Clinton's decision to permit sale of some 700 supercomputers to the Chinese. Weldon demanded a copy of Stillman's book from federal officials, along with supporting materials.You can read the Post story or Weldon's statement by hitting ConantNews features and then hitting the links 'Scientist fights gag order' or 'Clinton faulted on supercomputers.' This report might have gone online sooner had not the Washington Post's email news alert system been down when the Stillman and Weldon stories emerged.

Computer problems prevented me from adding a page with links to those stories and, rather than waste more time playing games, I leave you the addresses: Stillman story: www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A29474-2001May15.html Weldon story: www.fas.org/sgp/congress/2001/h051601.html

PRESIDENT'S MEN CITE NUKE SPY WAR
The Associated Press's online articles about reported Chinese espionage and Los Alamos security woes includes links to the congressional Cox report but not to a key White House report. The report of the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board on nuclear security at Los Alamos portrays decades of incredible security negligence at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, where nuclear weapons are designed. This negligence continued in the face of repeated warnings from a variety of investigations, the report says.

The report, with the input of the FBI, CIA and other security arms, asserts that China has mounted a massive and highly successful spy war against our nuclear secrets.The report's appendix contains an eyebrow-raising chronology and damage assessment.

The New York Times, in its Feb. 4 and 5 editions, made good on its pledge to take a thorough look at the Wen Ho Lee affair. Times reporters noted that U.S. policy promoted fraternization of Chinese and American nuclear scientists, including those involved in the weapons program. In this climate, disinterest in security was rampant, it seems. Knowing the aggressiveness of Chinese intelligence, America would be foolish not to assume that the Chinese took full advantage of such neglect. Now the unpleasant question arises as to how many agents the communists have insuated in to America's weapons establishment. The Times did not address that question.