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Intelligence official who sparked Los Alamos probe resignsFrom staff and wire reports
August 24, 1999 WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Only weeks ago, Notra Trulock was championed as the Energy Department intelligence official who brought to light allegations of Chinese espionage at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.
In the latest twist to the case, Trulock, acting deputy chief of intelligence for the department, has resigned. The allegations touched off a federal investigation centering on a Chinese-American scientist at Los Alamos, Wen Ho Lee, identified by Trulock as the prime espionage suspect. A recent report by the Energy Department's inspector general, however, found no evidence to support Trulock's claims.
Trulock told CNN on Tuesday that the inspector general's report was a "whitewash." He is now pointing fingers at the White House, charging that key political appointees of President Clinton blocked him from briefing Congress about allegations of espionage. "Only disciplining laboratory officials and doing nothing to political officials is pretty shabby," Trulock said. Energy officials, however, are standing by the inspector general's report.
"The I.G.'s report, in our opinion, was very thorough, very professional," said Ernest Moniz, undersecretary of the Department of Energy. "In fact, the I.G. has done a number of reports on this issue and all of them have been of very high quality." Several government studies, including one headed by Rep. Christopher Cox (R-California),found that the Chinese government had stolen secrets from the U.S. nuclear weapons program. But some officials said it is unclear how the Chinese may have gotten the information and the alleged leaks could have come from a variety of sources. Lee, a Taiwanese-born nuclear physicist and U.S. citizen, was fired from the Los Alamos lab in March. He has denied the allegations of espionage and has not been charged with any crime. One former senior official at the lab has suggested that Trulock and FBI agents too narrowly focused their investigation on Lee because of his ethnicity. Trulock has denied unfairly targeting Lee or any other ethnic group. At least three other Energy Department employees have filed grievances against Trulock for alleged discrimination. Trulock, who submitted his resignation on Monday, was demoted to deputy director last year after serving as the Energy Department's intelligence director for four years. Correspondent Pierre Thomas and The Associated Press contributed to this report. |
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