Wen Ho Lee’s book completed, undergoing government review
By Richard Benke/AP
After enduring nine months in solitary detention, and many more months of accusations that he was a spy for China, Wen Ho Lee is expected to tell his side of the story with his autobiography that is currently under government review.
Lee’s book, My Country Versus Me, co-written by Helen Zia, “answers every question that anyone would ever have for him,” said Will Schwalbe, editor-in-chief of Hyperion Books and editor of the Lee book.
Government censors have had the book less than two weeks, according to Schwalbe.
“I’m certainly hopeful that they will pass it quickly and without requesting any changes,” the editor said.
According to Schwalbe, Lee’s legal team reviewed the manuscript before it was submitted for publication.
He believes the government is looking for any classified material, but he added: “It’s also my assumption that Wen Ho Lee doesn’t want to make any disclosures of classified material, so that’s why we hope it will be approved quickly.”
There’s a huge amount of interest in the book,” said Schwalbe. “I found it a remarkably gripping and moving story, and one that also forces the reader to examine a lot of assumptions about the government, the media and individuals.”
Of co-author Zia, who previously wrote Asian American Dreams, he said: “She’s really helped Wen Ho Lee get his voice on paper. It really is his story; what he thought, what he felt, what he did. And that’s one of the things that makes it such a moving book to read.
“It’s the story of a very patriotic man who found himself caught up in these incredible events,” Schwalbe said.
The story flashes back to Lee’s childhood in Taiwan, where he was born in 1939. He immigrated to the United States as a young man, and he is a naturalized U.S. citizen. He and his wife, Sylvia, have lived in Los Alamos since 1978. They have two grown children, Alberta and Chung.
After months of investigation and much public speculation, Lee was arrested and charged in December 1999 with 59 counts of mishandling nuclear data. Prosecutors emphasized that Lee was not accused of espionage.
“In all of this, the voice that has been absent has been Wen Ho Lee’s,” Schwalbe said. “In this book, he really does give readers a complete account of what happened; and it’s very, very disturbing as well.”
“Rights we take for granted [were] instantly taken away,” he said.
Someday, the story may be told on screen as well. A film option unconnected with Hyperion has been purchased, he said.
Last September, Lee pleaded guilty to a single count of downloading restricted data to a computer tape and was released after being sentenced to the nine months he had already served.
The government dropped the other 58 counts against him, and Lee agreed to undergo interrogation under oath over a 60-day period and to hold himself available for follow-up questions for a year.
It’s no surprise the government would want to review Lee’s book, said Steven Aftergood, head of the Project on Government Secrecy for the Federation of American Scientists.
“I would expect the government to want to review whatever he writes about classified information and Los Alamos computers,” Aftergood said. |
