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DATE=9/14/2000 TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT TITLE=CLINTON - WEN HO LEE (L) NUMBER=2-266566 BYLINE=DEBORAH TATE DATELINE=WHITE HOUSE CONTENT= VOICED AT: INTRO: President Clinton is clarifying his comments about the handling of the case of Wen Ho Lee, the scientist accused of mishandling classified data at the Los Alamos nuclear weapons laboratory. While Mr. Clinton says he still has questions about why Lee was denied bail during his nine-month imprisonment, his primary concern is over U-S national security issues. Correspondent Deborah Tate reports from the White House. Text: For a second day in a row, Mr. Clinton expressed concerns that federal prosecutors had denied bail for Wen Ho Lee, who was released from prison Wednesday after being held in solitary confinement since his arrest in December. /// Clinton Act /// The narrow thing I want to illustrate here is that when the United States, whenever we hold anyone in prison who cannot get bail, or is interned for a long period of time before being charged and convicted and sentenced, we need to hit a very high threshold. That is the specific thing we need to focus on. I think there ought to be an analysis of whether or not that threshold was crossed in light of the plea bargain. /// End Act /// Lee, a Taiwanese-born naturalized U-S citizen, admitted to one felony count of mishandling nuclear secrets under a plea bargain and agreed to work with U-S investigators. Fifty-eight other counts against him were dropped. Mr. Clinton says he will discuss handling of the case with Attorney General Janet Reno, but says there is no evidence Lee was denied bail because of this ethnicity. Still, the president says, his concerns about how the government dealt with the case should not obscure the seriousness of the crime committed. He underscored that Lee admitted to downloading nuclear secrets from a highly secure computer at Los Alamos to insecure personal files. /// Clinton Act /// The American people should not be confused here, that was a very serious offense, and we have to try to reconstitute what was on the tapes. That is the number one thing we have to do for national security now. /// End Act /// On Thursday, Attorney General Reno defended the government's handling of the case. (signed) NEB/DAT/JP 15-Sep-2000 13:05 PM LOC (15-Sep-2000 1705 UTC) NNNN Source: Voice of America .