Wen Ho Lee Gets API Support
Ranks of nuclear scientist’s defenders swell
By Associated Press

Wen Ho Lee, the scientist under indictment for mishandling U.S. weapons secrets, has won additional support as Asian Americans promoted his legal defense fund and accused the government of using him as a scapegoat.

“This is racial profiling at its worst. It is un-American and it is unconstitutional,” author and civil rights activist Helen Zia said Thursday.

Zia joined San Francisco Supervisor Mabel Teng at a news conference on Dec. 16 for the Wen Ho Lee Legal Defense Fund. The San Francisco-based Asian Law Caucus and Chinese for Affirmative Action groups were also there.

“The Chinese-American community feels that ... one of our members has been put on trial, put on a media trial in particular, without due process,” said Teng, who is asking fellow supervisors to approve a resolution asking the government and the media to be fair to Lee.

Government officials deny Lee was singled out because of his race, and Energy Secretary Bill Richardson sent a memo recently saying that “at this juncture it is appropriate that I reiterate emphatically my policy of zero tolerance of any form of racial profiling within the DOE workplace.” The memo did not mention Lee.

The Taiwan-born Lee, 59, is charged with illegally downloading secret data from computers at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. He pleaded innocent in federal court in Albuquerque and is being held without bail in the Santa Fe County jail.

Lee acknowledged transferring “legacy codes” that provide a history of nuclear weapons development from a highly secure Los Alamos’ computer system to his less-secure personal office computer.

Lee said he was creating a backup in case of a computer crash.

He was the focus of a lengthy probe into whether nuclear secrets were leaked to China, but the U.S. government has not charged him with spying.

Also Thursday, prosecutors said evidence will go through a court-appointed security officer before it can be used in the case against Lee.

U.S. Attorney John Kelly, whose office in Albuquerque, N.M., requested the protective order, said U.S. Magistrate Don Svet has invoked the Classified Information Procedures Act of 1980 to ensure that U.S. nuclear weapons secrets aren’t accidentally released in open court or in public documents.

A defense against the complex charges Lee faces will take money that Lee, who was fired in March, doesn’t have, said longtime friend Cecilia Chang, one of the lead organizers of the defense fund. Supporters have raised about $20,000.