Albuquerque Journal Sunday, December 12, 1999

Ex-Workers: Arrest May Hurt Labs

By S.U. Mahesh
Journal Staff Writer
The high-profile investigation and arrest of Wen Ho Lee could hurt Los Alamos National Laboratory's public image and ability to attract bright young scientists, some former lab workers said Saturday.
Lee, who was fired by the lab in March for alleged security violations, was arrested Friday at his White Rock home by FBI agents acting on a 59-count federal indictment charging Lee with illegally downloading classified information from his lab computer. The Taiwanese-born U.S. citizen has not been charged with espionage.
"As long as there continues to be reasonable doubt concerning (Lee's) guilt, it will have a chilling effect on scientists in general and foreign scientists in particular," said John Pike, a defense analyst with the Federation of American Scientists in Washington, D.C.
This episode will make national laboratories less attractive to scientists, especially foreign scientists, he said.
Pike said that, even if Lee is exonerated, scientists may still not choose to work for national laboratories.
"It suggests the possibility that simple, careless handling of classified information can be blown out in this major inquisition," Pike said.
Fred App, a retired nuclear scientist, said the work of foreign scientists is crucial to new scientific developments.
"In the long run it's going to hurt the national security more than what Wen Ho Lee is accused of doing," App said.
"Believe me, (foreign scientists) contribute a lot to the national security," he said. "Just the fact this happened tends to discourage them."
Roddy Walton, a physicist retired from the lab, said the Lee episode has also caused immense damage to LANL's public reputation.
"You know the damage has been done," Walton, 68, said. "There is so much in the press about the case even before the facts are known.
"It's difficult to restore the confidence of general public because there is no way of knowing the dedication of the people who work here," he said.
He said it is hard to gauge whether that damage to LANL's public image would extend to Congress and its control over the lab's $1.3 billion annual budget.
Walton agreed, though, that the incident might make it difficult to recruit young and bright scientists to work for national laboratories, with the talk of subjecting lab employees who work in highly classified areas to polygraph tests and other stringent security measures.
"Why would they want to subject themselves to that if they're good citizens?" Walton asked. "It's just a shame."
Walton said that LANL has unfairly taken "a bad rap" despite its hard-working labor force.
"The impression given out to the country is that the security is lax at the lab," Walton said. "That's not true. People work really hard to keep classified information secured."
Walton said that there "is a big uncertainty if (Lee) is guilty of those charges or just made a dumb mistake.
"Those of us not involved in the case don't have facts, and we're hopeful the facts will come out during the trial," he said.
App said that, to restore public confidence in LANL, politicians should "quit playing politics and think what's good for the country and the lab."
The lawmakers' ignorance about what goes on at LANL is also to be blamed for the problem, he said.
"A lot of damage has been done and it will take a long time to recover," App said.
Walton said tighter security measures might help restore public confidence in the lab.
"I just think it has to run its course," he said.