Forum Charges Racial Profiling in Lee Case
Investigator discusses flaws of Wen Ho Lee case
By Thomas Lee

On May 2, U.C. Berkeley students and community members had the opportunity to hear a first-hand account of the Wen Ho Lee case as told by the chief investigator. Robert S. Vrooman, chief of counterintelligence at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) from 1987 to1998, gave a detailed account of how he thinks the investigation is flawed and baseless. The forum, “Dr.Wen Ho Lee: Spy or Victim of Racial Profiling”, was sponsored by the Asian American Studies program of the Ethnic Studies department at U.C. Berkeley.

Vrooman, who has worked with the CIA from 1969 to 1984 and has over 30 years of experience as an intelligence officer, highlighted the main issues surrounding the case, including ethnic profiling. “This case is flawed from the very beginning. There are serious issues raised from this case,” he said.

Lee, a Chinese American nuclear scientist at LANL was indicted last December for transferring classified data between computers and possibly leaking top military secrets to China. He has been put into solitary confinement and denied bail. His trial is not set to begin until after the presidential election in November.

Vrooman believes the Lee case has a direct impact on this country’s ability to do science. He believes scientists should be able to do their research without the government ruining their reputation.

“To a scientist, his reputation is everything. In San Francisco, I’ve met some scientists whose reputations were destroyed [and their research halted],” said Vrooman.

Another point Vrooman raised at the forum was the performance of the police and FBI, stating that the FBI acted without obtaining proven evidence. “There was a loss of Lee’s presumption of innocence until proven guilty,” he said.

Vrooman also disagreed with the FBI’s decision to give Lee’s name to the press. “These cases should be taken seriously but with a respect to privacy. The reason you don’t leak names to the press is to protect reputations because [the subjects in these cases] are usually innocent. It also comprises the investigation. All sorts of techniques can’t be used once the information is out in the open,” he stated.

One of the main issues Vrooman brought up was the impact the Lee case has on the Asian American community. He believes Lee was a victim of racial profiling and was targeted because he was ethnic Chinese. “I prepared a press statement that said ethnicity played a role. My senior managers said I was understating this. This was an ethnic cleansing of a national laboratory,” he said.

The FBI, Vrooman believes, has an outdated sense of world relations and cannot distinguish the difference between Chinese and Chinese American. “The FBI’s model of how Chinese collect [spy] information excludes everyone but ethnic Chinese. They focused exclusively on ethnic Chinese when it could have just as easily [been someone of another ethnicity],” he argued. “In fact the FBI thought there was something nefarious about the number of Asians working in the laboratories and that there was something nefarious about the fact that there are five Chinese restaurants in Los Alamos.”

Vrooman was appalled at how far racial profiling had reached in the system, saying that “at one point it was said that ethnic Chinese should not be allowed to work on classified [projects]. The ethnic Chinese should be outraged,” he added.

Many shared the opinion that this case would not have happened if this were not a presidential election year. “Lee is the new Monica Lewinsky. They need something to pin on the Clinton administration,” said George Kwei, former special assistant of technology at LANL.

U.C. Berkeley Ethnic Studies professor Ling-Chi L. Wang agreed with Kwei’s assertion. “This is a political case. A political decision was made to prosecute him,” he said.

Wang’s department sponsored the forum because he believes the public should get knowledge about the case from an inside source. And he said the real story not covered in the press could be told at the forum.

“We must continue to have this kind of dialogue, to let the public know that a gross injustice has been committed against an Asian American,” he explained. “This kind of public education needs to be out there. To the general public, he’s guilty. We need to educate.”

Judging from audience reactions, Wang achieved his goal with the forum.

“Personally I thought it really showed how proper steps were not taken. It does bring into question the validity of this case. It was appalling when [Vrooman] talked about the racial profiling,” said U.C. Berkeley student Lester Koga.

The forum also encouraged others to research deeper into the case. “Now I know where to look to find out more information about the case. I’ll do my own research with the Washington Post and New York Times,” said George Ho, another student. “It would be really nice to have a follow-up forum to update this case. I want to learn more.”