Foreign Scientist Ban at Labs To End

["Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@earthlink.net>]

Foreign Scientist Ban at Labs To End

WASHINGTON (AP) - Scientists from ``sensitive'' countries such as 
China, Russia and Iran are expected soon to resume normal ties with 
the Energy Department's three nuclear weapons research labs, ending a 
10-month ban on virtually all such contact. 

Concerned about safeguarding nuclear secrets, Congress last November 
barred scientists from 25 ``sensitive'' countries from visiting the 
labs, having contact with lab scientists or access to any computer 
systems at the facilities, even unclassified ones. 

While a small number of waivers to this policy have been allowed, the 
moratorium has severely disrupted normal contact - and research 
unrelated to nuclear weapons - between the U.S. lab scientists and 
their foreign counterparts. 

The law said the moratorium could be lifted only after directors of 
the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Central Intelligence 
Agency determined that the foreign visitors program had safeguards to 
prevent the loss of nuclear secrets. 

FBI Director Louis Freeh and CIA Director George Tenet on Tuesday 
informed key members of Congress they had concluded that the system 
meets those security needs. 

``I am satisfied that the department has in place a system that, if 
properly followed and funded, will provide an acceptable safeguard 
for the national security interests reposed in the national labs,'' 
wrote Freeh. 

Tenant wrote that he also was ``satisfied'' with the security 
measures as long as the Energy Department closely monitors the labs 
with periodic inspections of the visitors program. 

Under the law, the labs may again resume their contacts with 
scientists from the ``sensitive'' countries 45 days after the FBI and 
CIA chiefs' certification. 

The three national research labs subject to the foreign visitors' ban 
were Los Alamos and Sandia, both in New Mexico, and Lawrence 
Livermore in California. 

An Energy Department spokesperson, Natalie Weimer, confirmed the 
letters had been delivered Tuesday and said ``we fully anticipate the 
moratorium will be lifted in 45 days.'' 

Copies of the letters were provided by Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., 
who said the interaction of lab scientists with their counterparts in 
other countries was essential if the labs are to keep their top-notch 
scientists and attract others. 

``This is a major step toward getting the laboratories back to a more 
normal circumstance where scientists and engineers at the labs can be 
confident they can interact with their counterparts in other 
countries,'' said Bingaman. 

The Los Alamos lab has been the focus of security and alleged 
espionage controversies for two years involving its top-secret 
nuclear weapons division. 

First, one of its nuclear scientists, Wen Ho Lee, was fired and later 
arrested because of allegations that he mishandled nuclear secrets, 
including illegally copying computer tapes containing nuclear weapons 
codes. Lee, who is awaiting trial, has denied he ever provided 
secrets to anyone. 

Then earlier this year, two computer hard drives, also containing 
nuclear weapons secrets, disappeared from a Los Alamos vault, the 
reappeared weeks later behind a copying machine not from where they 
went missing. The FBI is continuing its investigation of that 
security breach. 

The security problems - and some lawmakers' concerns that nuclear 
secrets from Los Alamos may have ended up in China - prompted renewed 
scrutiny of the labs' foreign visitors program, although there has 
been no evidence linking any foreign scientists with any security 
breach or espionage. 

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Sandy Perle					Tel:(714) 545-0100 / (800) 548-5100   				    	
Director, Technical				Extension 2306 				     	
ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Division		Fax:(714) 668-3149 	                   		    
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