AG Reno's Weekly Press Conference, Friday, September 22

WEEKLY MEDIA AVAILABILITY WITH ATTORNEY GENERAL JANET RENO

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE WASHINGTON, D.C.

9:32 A.M. EDT FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2000



Q: Issue two. (Laughter.) Speaking of visits to the White House, we
understand from the White House that you are going up to meet with the
President privately on the Wen Ho Lee case.


First, can you -- and that you've already spoken with him on the phone
about it. What can you tell us at this point about your conversation
with the President and whether the Justice Department and the White
House still have any different perspectives on how the case was
handled?


ATTY GEN. RENO: We didn't go into detail, but we had a good
conversation and I look forward to meeting with him this morning.


Q: Can you say any more about what made that conversation good? I
mean, did he explain what he had meant to say in any way?


ATTY GEN. RENO: I think we had a chance to discuss it, and he was
thoughtful and supportive.


Q: Ms. Reno, were you surprised at the President's remarks? And
secondly, in your conversation with him, did you have a chance to
clarify why the government took some of the steps it took?


ATTY GEN. RENO: I think it's important as we clarify that we do so in
detail. And I told him I'd look forward to the meeting to do that. And
I think anybody who looks at this case and doesn't know the
circumstances of it is going to say, "Why?" And I think that's what
the President kind of naturally asked.


Q:  Well, didn't he know the circumstances?



ATTY GEN. RENO: The important thing is that the President of the
United States has taken great care not to infringe in law enforcement
decisions so as to avoid a political charge that it's politically
influenced. He has been very good about that and has -- really I can't
think of any case in which he has interfered in any way that I
consider inappropriate. He was doing his job.


Q: You said he was thoughtful and supportive. He didn't sound all that
supportive last week. Is that to say his position, his concerns have
changed since talking to you? When you say he was supportive, what
does that mean?


ATTY GEN. RENO: You'd have to ask him about a shift in position. But
as I read it, he, like everybody else, said, how do you go from here
to here, and why did it happen? I think he's had a chance to -- we had
a chance to talk and I think we'll talk this morning, and I think
he'll understand.


Q: Is it your position that there's no need to review the Wen Ho Lee
case and how it was handled?


ATTY GEN. RENO: My position is that we review and review and review to
see if there's anything that we would do differently, try to learn
from it. What I want to try to do is make sure that everything is as
open as possible, that I can make available to the public as much as I
possibly can so that they can understand exactly what happened and
what the issues were.


Q: Ms. Reno, is the White House aware -- were they aware of the
Bellows report, which to a degree already examined how the allegations
of Chinese espionage were looked at?


Does that play, in terms of what the Justice Department is able to say
to the White House, "Look, we've been looking at how we address this
issue"?


ATTY. GEN. RENO: I don't want to go into that. That's part of the
effort that I'm undertaking, to try to make sure that as much as is
there is available.


Q: Are you going to be able to report to the President that it appears
-- or, does it appear that Wen Ho Lee is coming clean? Is there an
indication that that is happening?


ATTY. GEN. RENO: The debriefing has not started yet.



Q:  Oh, it has not started?



Q: (Off mike) -- bring up any concerns to the President about the way
he made his remarks in public? I mean, having any sense of, you know,
letdown from your end or concern about that?


ATTY. GEN. RENO: I wasn't let down. I understand how somebody can ask
a question, "Why?".


Q: Ms. Reno, the President's Commission is looking into why Wen Ho Lee
was kept in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day. Do you plan to
investigate why Susan McDougal was kept in solitary confinement for 23
hours a day for eight months?


ATTY. GEN. RENO: I'm not familiar with the commission that you're
talking about.


Q: Back on the Wen Ho Lee matter, Ms. Reno, next Tuesday there's a
Congressional hearing on how this matter was handled by the Justice
Department. I think it's the Senate Judiciary Committee. Are you
planning to testify? And do you have any concerns? I've heard that the
Justice Department does have concerns that that hearing is taking
place before Dr. Lee is debriefed.


ATTY. GEN. RENO: I think it would be best if we could have the
debriefing and try to make sure that we did it without premature
release of information that might in any way interfere with the
debriefing, but if Congress wants to go ahead, we will be available.


Q:  Will you be circumscribed in what you can say?



ATTY. GEN. RENO: What I want to try to do is be as open as I possibly
can, but I don't want to do anything that would interfere with the
debriefing.


Q: Ms. Reno, is there anything else you can share with the public for
why the government did take the steps it took in terms of the
conditions of his detention?


ATTY. GEN. RENO: Do you have a specific question other than what I --
(Quiet laughter.)


Q: I guess the question is, the conditions, the critics say, were
pretty harsh in terms of his limitations on communications with
outside persons, and the question would be --


ATTY. GEN. RENO: Well, I mean, the question, quite clearly, there is
what happened to the tapes? If he destroyed them, did he tell anybody?
Did he have other copies? Where was the information? Where had it --
if it had been relayed to someone, who had it been relayed to? If the
tapes were still in existence, where were they? Who might be able to
pick them up and dispose of them?


We felt that we had to limit his communication with people that might
impair our ability to locate the tapes.


Q: (Off mike) -- point in the Wen Ho Lee case, that when the FISA --
(inaudible word) -- was turned on a couple of years ago, afterwards
you expressed concern that perhaps you didn't have all the information
you should have had and needed to have, and perhaps Mr. Freeh didn't
either. Do you think that in this last go-around, at the point where
this was nearing trial, charges were brought, do you think you had all
the information you needed to decide was he a national security risk,
should he be kept in solitary, should 59 counts have been brought? Did
you have all the information this time?


ATTY GEN. RENO: Well, take specifically the issues that you raise
about the 59 counts. That, again, is based on taking each of the tapes
and perfecting a charge with respect to each of the tapes. I think we
had the information there. But what we will do is review everything to
determine just what we could have done differently.


Q:  What form will that review take?



ATTY GEN. RENO: I will continue to look at it and, as people ask
questions about it, look at it and try to respond to those questions.