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Congress hears China spy testimony today
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Though Cox's report says China has yet to deploy any weaponry incorporating the stolen technology, it warns the first of a new Chinese mobile missile system could be deployed as soon as 2002
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INTERACTIVE
RELATED VIDEOLoss of nuclear secrets called 'one of worst failures' in U.S. history
May 26, 1999
Web posted at: 8:54 a.m. EDT (1254 GMT)
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Congressional committees are turning their attention to charges that China has stolen U.S. nuclear secrets for two decades. In all, nine committees are engaged in various inquiries, including panels in both the House and Senate that were to learn details of the espionage findings at hearings Wednesday.
The hearings come one day after the release of a scathing congressional report on government failures to prevent what the study says is China's theft of U.S. nuclear weapons technology. China denies the charges.
Rep. Christopher Cox, R-California, chairman of the House select committee that wrote the three-volume, 700-page report, and Rep. Norman Dicks of Washington, the panel's ranking Democrat, were to testify before the House International Relations subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific.
The two also were to appear before the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee.
As the report on Chinese espionage was released on Tuesday, Dicks described the situation as "one of the worst (counterintelligence) failures in the nation's history."
But he did not advocate retaliation.
"I would hate to see this report create a circumstance in which we go to a Cold War setting with China. I think that would be a mistake," he said.
China's long-term effort to steal U.S. weapons technology, including thefts during the Clinton administration, probably "continues to this day" but has not resulted in Beijing's deployment of new weapons, according to the bipartisan congressional report released by the Select Committee on U.S. National Security.
The special House committee said U.S. know-how accumulated by China -- legally and illegally -- has allowed the communist government to leap from a 1950s-style nuclear weapons program to sophisticated designs "on par with our own."
As U.S. intelligence picked up knowledge of China's activities, top government officials were "not informed in a timely fashion," Cox said Tuesday.
He also said two U.S. defense firms ignored legal restrictions, thus allowing China to obtain information critical to its ballistic missile program.
"(China) has mounted a widespread effort to obtain U.S. military technology by any means, legal or illegal," Cox said at a news conference Tuesday after copies of the unclassified 700-page report were made public.
He said the conclusions reached in the report were supported by additional volumes of classified factual material.
But, Dicks noted, "As of today, (China) has not deployed a single, new nuclear weapon based on information they have obtained."
The White House said Tuesday it did not agree with all of the panel's conclusions, but called recommendations for improved security "constructive" and said it was in the process of implementing them.
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| Members of the committee report China has stolen secret data from the United States for decades | |
Energy Secretary Bill Richardson said his department has already completed 85 percent of the key reforms in the Cox report.
"We've instituted more extensive security reviews, including polygraph tests; expanded financial disclosure programs; and forensic financial investigations for employees working in sensitive programs," Richardson said.
He also said funding for counterintelligence has increased, from $2.6 million in 1996 to $39.2 million for 2000.
And Richardson said he shut down computers at nuclear development laboratories for two weeks to accelerate identifying and correcting weaknesses in cybersecurity, including:
China has all along denied conducting any espionage against the United States.
In an interview with CNN, Liu Xiaoming, deputy chief of the Chinese mission in Washington, said the report was "full of groundless allegations."
"I think this report is really a reflection of the thinking of those people who still cling to the Cold War mentality. They are not comfortable with a world without an enemy after the Soviet Union is no more, and they are looking for a new enemy," he said.
The Clinton administration says it first learned of the extent of the alleged espionage in 1995 when a Chinese citizen -- who, it was later learned, worked for Chinese intelligence -- gave the CIA a classified document from Beijing that demonstrated China had obtained information on U.S. nuclear technology
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The report originally claimed that President Clinton was made aware of the allegations in early 1998.
But National Security Adviser Samuel Berger said an earlier presidential briefing took place in 1997 so the Cox report was amended to reflect that.
Although the administration has taken steps to boost security at nuclear labs, the report says, security will "not be satisfactory until at least sometime in the year 2000."
"Despite repeated (Chinese) thefts of the most sophisticated U.S. nuclear weapons technology, security at our national nuclear weapons laboratories does not meet even minimal standards," it says.
Criticism of Clinton administration
The bipartisan committee began investigating technology transfers to China nearly a year ago. Last fall it refocused much of its attention to espionage at U.S. weapons labs.
The committee of five Republicans and four Democrats found that the primary focus of Chinese espionage was the weapons research labs of Los Alamos and Sandia in New Mexico and Lawrence Livermore in California.
While the report criticizes the Clinton administration and how slowly it reacted when word of the espionage surfaced, it also credits Richardson with making long-needed improvements to the nation's vulnerable nuclear labs, which are run by his department.
Richardson said Tuesday that "individuals will be held accountable" for the lapses at Los Alamos and he said a report naming names should be released by next week.
He also said the Energy Department was looking at 11 candidates for a "security czar."
Richardson said he wants a three- or four-star general with a history of active duty and strong management and security background.
U.S. firms provided technical know-how
The Cox report described China's widespread use of the U.S. business community in its pursuit of both secrets and unclassified technology that might be of use militarily.
A year ago, accusations surfaced that campaign contributions might have influenced the Clinton administration to give favorable treatment to U.S. companies granted permission from Washington to launch satellites on Chinese rockets.
Following three launch failures, the report says, U.S. satellite manufacturers Loral Corp. and Hughes Electronics gave China unauthorized information to improve the reliability of missiles used to launch communications satellites.
The same know-how could be used to make China's nuclear missiles more reliable, the report says.
Correspondents Bob Franken and Wolf Blitzer contributed to this report.
RELATED STORIES:
Loss of nuclear secrets called 'one of worst failures' in U.S. history
May 25, 1999
Report: Stolen data gives China advanced nuclear know-how
May 24, 1999
Shelby: Reno should resign over China espionage probe
May 23, 1999
Report: China benefited from stolen nuclear secrets
May 20, 1999
Congressman calls alleged Chinese spying 'grave'
May 16, 1999
Sources: Report finds China stole 'sensitive' nuclear data
May 14, 1999
Reno defends computer-search caution in Los Alamos case
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Senate spotlights nuclear security lapses
May 12, 1999
U.S. State Department issues travel warning for China
May 10, 1999
RELATED SITES:
Representative Christopher Cox's Internet Home Page
Hughes Electronics
Office of the Director of Central Intelligence
Loral Space & Communications.
Chinese Embassy to the U.S.
Office of the Director of Central Intelligence
Consulate General of the People's Republic of China
China Today
Department of Energy
Department of Justice
• Attorney General Janet Reno
The White House
• National Security Council
• Biography of Samuel Berger
Los Alamos National Laboratory
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