DATE=6/8/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT  REPORT
TITLE=WEN HO LEE PROTESTS (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-263308
BYLINE=MIKE O'SULLIVAN
DATELINE=LOS ANGELES
INTERNET=YES
CONTENT=


Voiced At:


Intro:  Asian-American activists staged protests 
Thursday in a number U-S cities over the treatment of 
Wen Ho Lee, a former U-S scientist charged with 
mishandling nuclear secrets.  Mr. Lee, a U-S citizen, 
was born in Taiwan.  As we hear from Mike O'Sullivan, 
his supporters call him a victim of selective 
prosecution.


Text:  Mr. Lee is a former weapons scientist at the 
Los Alamos National Laboratory who is charged with 59 
counts of mishandling nuclear secrets.  The government 
says he downloaded the secret data onto unsecured 
computers and portable tapes.  

The scientist is being held in solitary confinement 
while he awaits trail.  The government argues that 
releasing him on bail would allow him to disclose the 
location of seven computer tapes, which are now 
missing.

Representatives of 20 Asian-American organizations in 
California protested his treatment on Thursday, in one 
of at least eight demonstrations around the United 
States.  

            /// SFX - CROWD SOUNDS ///

Local organizations from Los Angeles neighborhoods of 
Koreatown, Chinatown and Little Tokyo say Mr. Lee is 
receiving harsh treatment because of his race.  
Political activist Alfred Foung (fong) believes the 
scientist is a victim of racial profiling.

            /// FOUNG ACT ///

      That's how we see it, because in our legal 
      system people are innocent until they are proven 
      guilty.  And there are many more people who have 
      committed similar or more severe code violations 
      that remain free and were not charged.


            /// END ACT ///

Protesters point out the former C-I-A director, John 
Deutch, placed classified information on an unsecure 
computer that was attached to the Internet.  He lost 
his security clearance last year, but did not face 
criminal charges.

Dan Tokaji of the American Civil Liberties Union calls 
that unfair.

            /// TOKAJI ACT ///

      Mr. Lee, on the other hand, was the subject of a 
      massive investigation involving some one-
      thousand witnesses being interviewed, some one-
      million files being reviewed.  At the end of all 
      that, they could uncover no evidence of 
      espionage on the part of Mr. Lee, and 
      essentially to save face are making these 
      charges against him.


            /// END ACT ///

Federal officials respond that the two cases are very 
different.  They say Mr. Lee first drew their 
attention in 1982, and in the 1990s he systematically 
copied thousands of pages of files.  In 1995, he came 
under investigation by the Energy Deapartment, which 
runs U-S nuclear labs.  A multi-agency probe finally 
led to his indictment in December last year.

/// OPT /// One supporter of Mr. Lee, Kathy Feng 
(fung) of the Asian Pacific American Legal Center, 
says despite its invesigation, the government has not 
found any proof of espionage, only that Mr. Lee 
mishandled sensitive data.

            /// FENG ACT ///

      They're charging him with 59 counts because they 
      couldn't find any espionage but they didn't want 
      to backpedal so they had to charge him with 
      something. 


            /// END ACT - END OPT ///

When the trial begins, the government says it will 
prove Mr. Lee jeopardized nearly every U-S nuclear 
secret through his unauthorized copying.  Most 
alarming, they say, some of the files that he copied 
are now missing.

Mr. Lee's supporters ask the U-S Department of Justice 
to reexamine the evidence, and if they still want to 
prosecute, to release Mr. Lee on bail until his trial 
date.  Federal officials contend that would pose a 
grave risk to U-S security.  The trial will begin in 
November.  (Signed)



Neb/PT 



08-Jun-2000 19:04 PM LOC (08-Jun-2000 2304 UTC)
NNNN

Source: Voice of America
.