AG
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2000
(202) 616-2777
WWW.USDOJ.GOV
TDD (202) 514-1888
STATEMENT OF ATTORNEY GENERAL JANET RENO
ON TODAY'S GUILTY PLEA BY WEN HO LEE
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Justice Department today reached an agreement with Wen Ho Lee, in which Dr. Lee will plead guilty to a felony and agree to tell authorities what he did with the missing tapes containing our nation's nuclear secrets. Attorney General Janet Reno issued the following statement:
"Director Freeh and I shoulder the awesome responsibility of protecting the national security. It is a responsibility that both of us take very seriously.
"Last year, we charged Dr. Wen Ho Lee with downloading classified information about our nuclear arsenal from a secured computer onto 10 unsecured computer tapes. Despite repeated efforts by law enforcement, including repeated requests to Dr. Lee to tell us what he did with the tapes, the fate of 7 of those tapes has never been determined.
"Today, after denying any wrongdoing for months, Dr. Lee pleaded guilty to the indictment's charge of unlawfully collecting and keeping classified information related to the national defense - a felony offense. Specifically, he admits to deliberately downloading and willfully retaining information related to the national defense. This is contrary to his longstanding claim that he only acted negligently.
"In accepting the plea offer, we now, for the first time, have an opportunity to determine what Dr. Lee did with the tapes – something he has repeatedly refused to tell us since April 1999. And he will provide the information necessary to allow us to verify his explanation. That is an extremely important development because, in these types of cases, the need to find out what happened may require that the government forgo seeking the maximum punishment possible.
"We saw this plea agreement as the best chance to find out where those tapes are, where they have been, and who else has had access to them, if anyone. Had the case proceeded to trial, and we prevailed, Dr. Lee would have faced many years in prison. But we might never have learned what happened to the tapes. Of equal importance, the trial court's recent rulings regarding classified evidence suggested that a trial of Dr. Lee might have required the government to divulge nuclear secrets at trial. The plea agreement avoids that harm to our national security.
"Under the plea, Dr. Lee will be subjected to extensive questioning over the course of the next year about the whereabouts of the tape, as well as his other activities and contacts with foreign officials over the years. Furthermore, the government will have the means to test his veracity. He will be under oath and subject to a polygraph exam. If at any time we believe he is not being truthful, we can seek to void the agreement and prosecute the case to the full extent of the law.
"I want to extend my appreciation to the lead prosecutor George A. Stamboulidis, the U.S. Attorney Norman Bay, their team of attorneys and all the agents and government scientists who have worked on this case.
"This is an agreement that is in the best interest of our national security in that it gives us our best chance to find out what happened to the tapes."
### 00-537