Senate To Probe Lab's Security

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

Monday March 8 9:53 AM ET 

Senate To Probe Lab's Security

WASHINGTON (AP) - Energy Secretary Bill Richardson today 
pledged the administration's full cooperation with a Senate 
committee's investigation into allegations that lax security in a 
weapons laboratory allowed China to steal technology that 
improved its nuclear weapons capability.  

``We will not tolerate the theft of our secrets,'' Richardson said on 
CNN.

Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., chairman of the Intelligence 
Committee, said Sunday that allegations of Chinese spying at New 
Mexico's Los Alamos National Laboratory ``will certainly'' bring 
more hearings.  

The panel already is investigating commercial technology transfers 
that Republican leaders contend could help the Chinese upgrade 
their missile forces.  

``We have been on top of this lax security for a number of years. 
We've been pushing, we've been prodding the administration to do 
more, to tighten up security,'' Shelby said on NBC's ``Meet the 
Press.''  

``I think they are beginning to, but ... they waited a long time,'' he 
said.

Richardson said the administration was still assessing the extent 
of the damage. But, he added, ``the message is clear. We have to 
tighten security at all of these installations. That has happened.''  

Edward Curran, director of counterintelligence at the Energy 
Department, said in a statement it was unclear how much the 
Chinese weapons programs may have been helped by 
unauthorized procurement of sensitive information.  

``The Energy Department's national laboratories are the world's pre-
eminent national security research facilities,'' Curran said. ``They 
have long been, and remain, attractive to foreign intelligence 
services.''  

The department, in charge of U.S. civilian and military nuclear 
programs, said the administration has created a counterintelligence 
office to combat espionage.  

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said the incident involving China could 
have been expected.  

``It doesn't surprise me at all that the Chinese are spying. You 
know, that kind of thing is fairly routine,'' McCain said on ``Fox
News Sunday.''

``What is ... incredibly disturbing is apparently the administration 
didn't take the charges seriously,'' he said. ``The Congress was not 
informed.''  

Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott predicted Shelby's committee 
will be ``very aggressive'' in dealing with the administration and 
suggested that uncooperative witnesses might be held in 
contempt.  

``I think Congress is going to have to toughen up in dealing with 
this administration, particularly when it comes to China and the 
violations that have occurred there,'' he said, also on Fox.  

The New York Times and Newsweek magazine reported over the 
weekend that China had obtained from U.S. nuclear laboratories 
knowledge of America's top-secret W-88 miniaturized warhead.  

Republicans contend the administration allows dangerous 
transactions so as not to disturb always-touchy relations with one 
of the largest U.S. trading partners.  

Lott, R-Miss., said the case is ``just another example of where the 
administration apparently is more interested in engagement (with 
China) than they are what's happening in that engagement.''  

``The administration continues to resist really getting into what 
caused the problem and solving the problem,'' Lott said. ``China is 
getting to be more and more of a problem, both in their human 
rights conduct and the way we deal with it, but also a continuation 
of their efforts to get technology improperly and then use it 
improperly.''  

Theft from U.S. nuclear labs will be the apparent focus of an 
upcoming report from a second congressional committee, 
Newsweek says in its March 15 edition, on newsstands today.  

Rep. Christopher Cox, R-Calif., chairman of a special committee on 
military and commercial deals with China, is releasing a 700-page 
report as early as this month. In a preliminary study last month, 
the committee reported China has aggressively been  
pursuing U.S. military information for more than 20 years.

------------------------
Sandy Perle
E-Mail: sandyfl@earthlink.net
Personal Website: http://www.geocities.com/capecanaveral/1205

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