This is a very long Congressional Record, only a few exhibits have been reproduced below, emphasis have been added.
Declaration of Robert Vrooman
I, Robert Vrooman, do hereby declare and state:
1. I have reviewed the government's response to Wen Ho
Lee's Motion for Discovery of Materials Related to Selective
Prosecution, including the attached Declaration of Special
Agent Robert Messemer. As set out below, Agent Messsemer's
declaration contains numerous false statements. Based on my
experiences with Agent Messemer and the information I have
received from other FBI agents, I believe that the regularly
distorts information.
2. I did not tell Agent Messemer that Lee probably assisted
the Chinese by helping fix Chinese hydrocodes during his
travel in 1986 and 1988. His allegation that I did so is
false. Our April 28, 1999 meeting focused on [approx, one
line deleted] and Agent Messemer's theory that there was
something inappropriate going on [words deleted]. I attended
that interview solely as a favor to John Browne, the director
of Los Alamos National Laboratory. When it was over, I told
Browne that I considered the interview strange, because it
had nothing to do with the Lee case. I later learned from
officials at the CIA that Agent Messemer was falsely
informing CIA officials that I had been critical [word(s)
deleted]. At the time, Agent Messemer was attempting to shift
blame to the CIA for possible fallout [words deleted]. I
sought to obtain a copy of Agency Messemer's memoranda of my
interview and to have it corrected. See Attachment one. The
FBI refused to provide me a copy of this memorandum, which I
expect contains false information.
3. Agent Messemer's statement that the individuals selected
for investigation was chosen because they fit "matrix''
based on access to W-88 information and travel to the PRC is
false. Dozens of individuals who share those characteristics
were not chosen for investigation. As I explained in my prior
declaration, it is my firm belief that the actual reason Dr.
Lee was selected for investigation was because he made a call
to another person who was under investigation in spite of the
fact that he assisted the FBI in this case. It is my opinion
that the failure to look at the rest of the population is
because Lee is ethnic Chinese.
4. Mr. Moore's contention that the Chinese target
ethnically Chinese individuals to the exclusion of others,
therefore making it rational to focus investigations on such
individuals was not borne out by our experience at Los
Alamos, which was the critical context for this
investigation. It was our experience that Chinese
intelligence officials contacted everyone from the
laboratories with a nuclear weapons background who visited
China for information, regardless of their ethnicity. I am
unaware of any empirical data that would support any
inference that an American citizen born in Taiwan would be
more likely than any other American citizen [deletion].
5. Of the twelve people ultimately chosen for the short
list on which the investigation focused, some had no access
at all to W-88 information, and one did not have a security
clearance, but this individuals is ethnically Chinese. I do
not believe this was a coincidence. Further, this ethnically
Chinese individual did not fall within the "matrix'' which
Agent Messemer claims was used by the DOE and FBI. In
addition, although there were other names on the HI list, Mr.
Trulock made clear that Dr. Lee was his primary suspect.
6. Agent Messemer deliberately mischaracterizes the nature
of my comments to him regarding my concerns about Dr. Lee's
travel to the PRC. I did consider it unusual that Dr. Lee had
not reported any contact by Chinese agents when I debriefed
him following his return from the PRC. I did not believe then
and I do not believe now that Dr. Lee engaged in espionage,
and I made no such intimation to Agent Messemer. Dr. Lee and
his wife Sylvia were both cooperating with FBI
investigations, and I considered them loyal Americans.
Nonetheless, I considered Dr. Lee naive, and therefore a
potential security risk. It was to keep Dr. Lee out of harm's
way, not because I had any fear that he might knowingly
engage in improper conduct, that I recommended against
further unescorted trips out of the country for Dr. Lee.
7. My concerns about the real motivation behind the
investigation were exacerbated when I received a classified
intelligence briefing from Dr. Thomas Cook, an intelligence
analysis at LANL, in September 1999. This briefing put to
rest any concerns that I may have had that Dr. Lee helped the
Chinese in any substantial manner.
8. In my capacity as a counterintelligence investigator at
LANL, I was brief on the existence of an investigation code-
named "Buffalo Slaughter'' some time in the late 1980s
involving a non-Chinese individual working at DOE laboratory
who transferred classified information to a foreign country.
That individual was granted full immunity in return for
agreeing to a full debriefing on the information that he
passed. [Approx. six lines deleted].
9. The statements contained in my Declaration dated June
22, 2000 are true and correct and I so attest.
I declare under penalty of perjury of the laws of the
United States that the foregoing
[[Page H9891]]
is true and correct. Executed August 10, 2000, at Gallatin
Gateway, Montana.
[signed]
Robert Vrooman.
Amnesty International Protests Solitary Confinement, Shackling of Dr. Wen Ho Lee
Washington, DC, Aug. 16, 2000.--Amnesty International, the
world's largest human rights organization, has written to
Attorney General Janet Reno to protest the conditions under
which Dr. Wen Ho Lee has been held in pre-trial federal
detention since December 1999.
In the Aug. 4 letter, released as Judge James A. Parker
hears a renewed application for Dr. Lee's release on bail,
Amnesty International expressed concern at reports that Dr.
Lee has been held in particularly harsh conditions of
solitary confinement, and has been confined to his cell for
23 hours each day. According to reports, Dr. Lee has also
been shackled at the wrists, waist, and ankles while taking
exercise once or twice a week in a federal enclosure. Amnesty
International is insisting that the use of shackles be
immediately discontinued.
These conditions are unnecessarily punitive and contravene
international human rights standards, said Curt Goering,
Senior Deputy Executive Director of Amnesty International
USA. The use of shackles is extremely disturbing and is
grossly inappropriate in the circumstances.
Rule 33 of the United Nations (UN) Standard Minimum Rules
for the Treatment of Prisoners provides that restraints
should be used only when strictly as a precaution against
escape during transfer, on medical grounds on the direction
of the medical officer or to prevent damage or injury. The
rules also state that restraints should never be applied as
punishment and that chains or irons shall not be used as
restraints. The rules also provide that every prisoner
(including pre-trial detainees) should have at least one hour
of suitable exercise in the open air daily.
Amnesty International believes that the overall conditions
under which Dr. Lee is detained contravene international
standards, which require that all persons deprived of their
liberty be treated humanely and with respect for their
inherent dignity. Amnesty International is urging the Justice
Department to urgently review Dr. Lee's conditions of
confinement and ensure that he is being treated in accordance
with international standards. Such steps should include
provision for adequate exercise and out-of-cell time and
reasonable contact with the outside world.
American Bar Association, Washington, DC, August 18, 1999.
Hon. Janet Reno,
Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, DC.
Dear Ms. Reno: We are writing to express our deep concern
about recent accounts that race may have played a significant
factor in pursuing the investigation of Dr. Wen Ho Lee for
alleged espionage. While we do not condone acts of espionage
or any other illegal activity by any individual, we ask that
you ensure that race is not now a factor as you make
decisions regarding this and other investigations and
prosecutions involving security violations at Los Alamos and
other national laboratories.
According to Senators Fred Thompson and Joseph Lieberman in
a statement issued on August 5, 1999, the Department of
Energy and the Federal Bureau of Investigation had multiple
suspects for leaks of nuclear warhead information and yet
only two--Dr. Lee and his wife--were investigated. Because
the DOE and FBI investigators failed to look into the other
suspects "--that is, to assess whether these others were not
for some reason equally suspicious--meant that it was
impossible to be sure that the Lees really did stand out as
the prime suspects.'' (Thompson/Lieberman Report p. 18.) This
account is further buttressed by recent statements made by
Robert S. Vrooman, former chief of Counter-Intelligence at
the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Mr. Vrooman stated that
Dr. Lee was targeted for investigation mainly because of his
ethnicity, and that there is no evidence that Dr. Lee leaked
secrets to China. Mr. Vrooman noted that at least 13
Caucasian scientists from Los Alamos "who went to the same
[physics] institute and visited the same people'' as Dr. Lee
were left out of the investigation.
[[Page H9890]]
Furthermore, both the Thompson/Lieberman Statement and Mr.
Vrooman noted that key technical information concerning
certain weapons, whose acquisition by the Chinese government
initiated the investigation of Mr. Lee, was available to
numerous government and military entities that could have
been the source of the leaked information.
While we recognize that Mr. Vrooman's statements will be
subject to debate, we believe that it is important that you
verify that no "racial profiling'' occurred in this
investigation. Additionally, we would like to request a
meeting with you to discuss these issues. In the meantime, we
ask that as you continue your investigation of security leaks
at our national laboratories, you do so with a heightened
consideration for fairness.
Sincerely,
Nancy Choy,
Executive Director, National Asian Pacific American Bar Association.
Daphne Kwok,
Executive Director, Organization of Chinese Americans.
Jin Sook Lee,
Executive Director, Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, AFL-CIO.
Jon Melegrito,
Executive Director, National Federation of Filipino American Associations.
Debasish Mishra,
Executive Director, India Abroad Center for Political Awareness.
Karen Narasaki,
Executive Director, National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium.
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