WEN HO LEE, DDCI NOMINATION & JAMES FEES. In his "Back Channels" column
in the July 5 Washington Post, Vernon Loeb writes that Wen Ho Lee's
lawyers have filed a "selective prosecution" motion, arguing that Lee is
being prosecuted because he is a Chinese American. The motion includes
a sworn declaration from Robert Vrooman, former chief of
counterintelligence at Los Alamos, which states: "I state without
reservation that racial profiling was a crucial component of the FBI's
identifying Dr Lee as a suspect." Subsequently, the government filed a
motion stating that jailed Los Alamos physicist Wen Ho Lee may have
downloaded nuclear secrets in order to impress prospective employers in
Taiwan, Australia, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Singapore or Switzerland
as well aid China's nuclear programs -- and the government may add to
that list. [This is because the prosecution is apparently uncertain who
Lee was spying for and in response to the judge's order to disclose the
country or countries.]
ALSO in the column are a discussion of DDCI nominee, John McLaughlin's
role reviewing the CIA's findings regarding the attempted assassination
of the Pope in the 1980's (which figured in the 1991 Robert Gates
confirmation hearings), and an interview with former Chief of Station
(Cairo, Geneva) James Fees, whose novel "Operation Hebron," is being
published this month under the pen name, Eric Jordan.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A47685-2000Jul4.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A59884-2000Jul6.html
VERNON LOEB ON LINE. In his on-line Q&A session yesterday, Post
reporter Loeb answered questions about a number of intelligence issues
including racial profiling vs the hiring of ethnic Americans,
intelligence literature, Wen Ho Lee, barriers to recruiting of
"unsavory" informants, and the tragic suicide of HPSCI Staff Director,
John Millis, (Loeb says he has been assured that while the HPSCI had
placed Millis on administrative leave, he was not under any type of
criminal investigation. Loeb also says that he may not know the "real
story.")
http://discuss.washingtonpost.com/zforum/00/loeb070500.htm
MORE ON JOHN MILLIS SUICIDE. In the Washington Times "Inside the Ring"
column of July 7, Bill Gertz & Rowan Scarborough report that the HPSCI's
press spokesperson, Jennifer Millerwise, abruptly resigned last week.
It had been her job to fend off press question about Millis. Gertz &
Scarborough go on to write that "senior intelligence community
officials, however, told us that the death of Millis was the result of a
'personal tragedy' and not related in any way to [former DCI] Mr Deutch
[who Millis had publicly criticized on several occasions], the CIA,
intelligence information or US national security." In that same column,
Gertz & Scarborough report that the top Washington editor of the Xinhua
News Agency goes regularly to the Chinese Embassy to read classified
intelligence reports.
http://www.washtimes.com/national/inring-20007721163.htm
LITTLE CONSENSUS FOR NIE ON BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT.
American intelligence chiefs will gather next Tuesday at CIA to try to
come to a consensus on an overdue NIE about a National Missile Defense
(NMD). Whereas debate previously was on how soon a "rogue" nation might
develop intercontinental missiles, the focus of contention now seems to
whether or not US NMD deployment would cause global instability.
Whatever the NIE says, it will be controversial given the ongoing NMD
debate and high stakes involved.
"There's a lot of pressure from the Hill driving this process," said a
longtime intelligence official involved in preparing the new report.
"You end up with realms of possibility, including what is least likely
to what is unthinkable. We are writing in worst-case language. Frankly,
from my perspective, this is nonsense." Senior administration officials
defended the process. "We don't live here to make anybody happy," a
senior intelligence official Said. Still, that official acknowledged
that people on all sides of the debate were "looking for something in
what we say to
support their own arguments."
http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/global/070500missile-defense.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A59882-2000Jul6.html
CIA FORECAST THE AFRICAN AIDS PANDEMIC IN 1991, but policymakers paid no
attention -- until this year. This is the first part of a 3 part series
about AIDS. It's also a good example of how intelligence is often
ignored by policymakers.
http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A47234-2000Jul4.html
EU, FRANCE TO INVESTIGATE "ECHELON." The European Parliament voted
Wednesday to widen a probe into a U.S.-led spy network accused of
monitoring billions of phone calls, e-mails and faxes, but denied
investigators the right to call witnesses.
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20000705/wl/eu_echelon_1.html
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2598435,00.html
http://news.excite.com/news/r/000705/17/france-usa-spying
MOSSAD OFFICER ON TRIAL IN SWITZERLAND. A member of Israel's secret
service, Mossad, admitted Monday to having participated in an illegal
phone bugging operation in a Bern suburb when his trial on spying
charges opened here. The accused, whose identity is not known for
security reasons, is charged with four others of having attempted to
place a phone tap two years ago on a man of Lebanese origin suspected by
Mossad of running Hezbollah's operations in Switzerland.
http://www.arabia.com/article/0,1690,News|24299,00.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/europe/newsid_819000/819581.stm
http://www.jpost.com/Editions/2000/07/06/News/News.9259.html
ISRAELI FIRM WILL BUILD SPY SATELLITE FOR TURKEY.
http://www.globes.co.il/cgi-bin/Serve_Arena/pages/English/1.3.1.14
BRITISH NEWSPAPERS ORDERED TO TURN OVER DOCUMENTS. The Guardian and The
Observer and a correspondent challenged an Old Bailey judge's orders
requiring them to hand over documents and e-mails relating to the former
MI5 officer David Shayler. The newspaper's lawyers argued that the
British govt may have been involved in an assassination attempt of the
Libyan leader, Col Gadaffi.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/UK/This_Britain/2000-07/spies040700.shtml
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/spying_david-shayler-uk_51309.html
COMPETITIVE INTELLIGENCE OR, CORPORATE SPYING? David Ignatius column in
the July 5 Washington Post congratulates two night cleaning crew persons
who refused to assist.
http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/opinion/columns/ignatiusdavid/A47690-2000Jul4.html
http://dowjones.wsj.com/n/SB962620063527490475-d-main-c1.html
BOOKS & OTHER SOURCES
YAHOO.COM INTELLIGENCE PAGE.
http://fullcoverage.yahoo.com/fc/World/Espionage_and_Spying/
PINKERTON PAPERS DONATED TO LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. Some 100 boxes and 195
binders containing manuscripts of Allan Pinkerton, a key Civil War
intelligence figure, have been donated to the Library of Congress to
celebrate the library's 200th anniversary, and Pinkerton's 150th. (Wash
Post 3 Jul00, p. C2) (AFIO)
John Macartney
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