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Are American subs vulnerable to Chinese detection, thanks to a Chinese spy?

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  • Are American subs vulnerable to Chinese detection, thanks to a Chinese spy?

    Here's the relevant case information from the 1990's:

    Dr. Peter Lee is a naturalized U.S. citizen who worked for TRW Inc., a contractor to Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, from 1973 to 1976. Dr. Lee worked at Lawrence Livermore from 1976 to 1984, and at Los Alamos National Laboratory from 1984 to 1991. He returned to TRW from 1991 until December 1997, when he was dismissed in the wake of his plea agreement for passing classified information to the Chinese.\12\

    According to his October 1997 confession to the FBI, Dr. Lee traveled to China from 22 December 1984 to 19 January 1985 (while he was employed by Los Alamos National Laboratory).\13\ On 9 January 1985, Dr. Lee met with Chen Nengkuan, a PRC scientist employed by the China Academy of Engineering Physics (CAEP), in a hotel room in Beijing. Chen told Dr. Lee that he had classified questions to ask, and that Dr. Lee could answer just by nodding his head yes or no.\14\ Chen drew a diagram of a hohlraum (a device in which lasers are fired at a glass globe to "create a small nuclear detonation which is then studied and used in the design of nuclear weapons)," \15\ and asked the classified questions, which Dr. Lee, by his own admission, knew were classified but answered anyway.\16\

    The following day, Dr. Lee accompanied Chen to a hotel in Beijing where another group of PRC scientists was waiting. These scientists were also from the China Academy of Engineering Physics, which is "responsible for all aspects of the PRC's nuclear weapons program." \17\ Among the scientists Dr. Lee briefed was Yu Min, who has been called "the `Edward Teller' of the PRC nuclear weapons program." \18\ For two hours, Dr. Lee answered questions and drew diagrams, including several hohlraums. Dr. Lee also "discussed problems the U.S. was having in its nuclear weapons testing program." \19\ Dr. Lee further admitted discussing with the Chinese scientists at least one portion of a classified document he authored in 1982. Although the document, titled "An Explanation for the Viewing Angle Dependence of Temperature from Cairn Targets," was subsequently declassified in 1996,\20\ revealing its contents in 1985 was an illegal act that could be expected to provide substantial assistance to the Chinese from 1985 to 1996 and to harm U.S. national security.

    Dr. Lee again visited China, while he was employed by TRW, from 30 April to 22 May 1997.\21\ Although Dr. Lee claimed on his travel request form, and in a 25 June 1997 interview with FBI Agent Gilbert Cordova, that the visit to China had been a pleasure trip for which he paid all his own expenses, the truth was that Dr. Lee traveled as a guest of the Chinese Institute of Applied Physics and Computational Mathematics (IAPCM), which is part of the China Academy of Engineering Physics.\22\

    During this May 1997 trip, Dr. Lee gave a lecture at the PRC Institute of Applied Physics and Computational Mathematics in Beijing. The lecture covered his work for TRW in support of the Radar Ocean Imaging Project, and was attended by nearly 30 top PRC scientists.\23\ When asked about the applicability of his work to anti-submarine warfare, Dr. Lee showed the scientists a surface ship wake image (which he had brought from the U.S. to show them), drew a graph, explained the physics underlying his work, and told the Chinese where to filter the data within the graph to enhance the ability to locate the ocean wake of a vessel.\24\ A few days later, Dr. Lee gave the same lecture in another city, using the graphs that the Chinese had saved from his first lecture and had brought to the second lecture for his use.\25\

    Upon his return from the PRC, Dr. Lee filled out a TRW Post-Travel Questionnaire in which he denied that there "were any requests from Foreign Nationals for technical information," and denied that there were any attempts to persuade him to reveal or discuss classified information.\26\

    On 5 August and 14 August 1997, Peter Lee was interviewed by FBI agents at a Santa Barbara, California, hotel. During these interviews, Dr. Lee admitted that he had lied on his travel form about the purpose of his trip to China in May, and that he had lied about receiving requests for technical information. However, he continued to insist that he had paid for the trip to the PRC with his own money.\27\

    After the two FBI interviews, Dr. Lee contacted a Chinese official named Gou Hong by e-mail on 25 August 1997, and requested that Gou provide Lee with receipts indicating that Lee had paid for the trip to the PRC, that the receipts contain the names of Lee and his wife in English, and that they show that Lee paid cash for the trip.\28\ On 3 September 1997, Dr. Lee provided the FBI with copies of hotel and airline receipts for the May 1997 trip which stated that Lee had paid for the trip in cash. Based on a review of e- mail transmissions and telephone conversations between Lee and Gou, however, the FBI concluded that these receipts were false.\29\

    On 7 October 1997, Dr. Lee was interviewed and polygraphed by the FBI. The polygraph examiner believed that Lee showed deception when he answered "no" to the following questions: (A) Have you ever deliberately been involved in espionage against the United States? (B) Have you ever provided classified information to persons unauthorized to receive it? (C) Have you deliberately withheld any contacts with any non- U.S. intelligence service from the FBI? \30\ After being told that he had failed the polygraph on these questions, Dr. Lee made a videotaped confession in which he admitted "having passed classified national defense information to the PRC twice in 1985, and to lying on his post-travel questionnaire in 1997." \31\

    During this same interview, Dr. Lee also repeatedly confessed that he intentionally revealed classified information during his 1997 anti-submarine lectures in China. Dr. Lee was not prosecuted for these revelations, and the judge was not adequately informed of these admissions at sentencing.

    On 8 December 1997, Dr. Lee pleaded guilty to a two count information that he violated: (1) 18 USC 793(d)--Attempt to communicate national defense information to a person not entitled to receive it, and (2) 18 USC 1001--False statement to a government agency.\32\ According to the press release from the office of U.S. Attorney Nora Manella, Dr. Lee "admitted that he knew the information was classified, and that by transmitting the information he intended to help the Chinese." \33\ The offenses to which Lee pleaded guilty could have resulted in a maximum sentence of 15 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000. Under the terms of the agreement, the Government asked for a "short period of incarceration," a formulation that was negotiated by the trial attorney and approved by Mr. John Dion in the Internal Security Section, but was not approved by Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Keeney, the DoJ official with final authority, who advised the Subcommittee that he would not have approved the plea agreement had he known that it would request only a short period of incarceration as an opening position.\34\

    On 26 March 1998, Dr. Lee was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Terry Hatter to one year in a community corrections facility, three years of probation, 3,000 hours of community service, and a $20,000 fine. The sentence was based upon a sealed plea agreement from 8 December 1997.\35\ The plea agreement and other key documents in the case were unsealed at the request of the Subcommittee in late 1999.\36\

    Every DoJ official interviewed by the Subcommittee expected Dr. Lee to receive jail time, during which they planned to seek his further cooperation. When he received no jail time, all leverage was lost by the government.

  • #2
    What do you mean?
    Can't trust any chinese? And the USN is doomed?

    Comment


    • #3
      The DOD and DoN stated that the info passed in 1985 was classified "Secret" and by 1997 had been declassified. The stuff in 97 was unclassified or confidential.

      No damage done, not worth the time to take to trial.

      Comment


      • #4
        Originally posted by Francois
        What do you mean?
        Can't trust any chinese?
        Apparently no, we cannot trust this particular chinese fellow.

        He should be put up against a wall and shot in the face from short range with a shotgun on live TV. ESPECIALLY because he betrayed his country for half-assed practically useless information.

        Fukking traitor.

        Comment


        • #5
          That is the difference between living in a fascist communist country and a free one...
          In China, he would be dead long ago, and his family too.

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by M21Sniper
            Apparently no, we cannot trust this particular chinese fellow.

            He should be put up against a wall and shot in the face from short range with a shotgun on live TV. ESPECIALLY because he betrayed his country for half-assed practically useless information.

            Fukking traitor.
            If the information was useless and no threat to US, how was he a traitor then?

            Comment


            • #7
              The information was Class Protected.

              Comment


              • #8
                RE: Are American subs vulnerable to Chinese detection, thanks to a Chinese spy?

                Originally posted by M21Sniper
                pparently no, we cannot trust this particular chinese fellow.

                He should be put up against a wall and shot in the face from short range with a shotgun on live TV.
                Thank you for phrasing your answer the way you did, "this particular fellow."

                Now.... I am sorry the Rosenburgs were innocent BUT, I for one feel spies should be shot! The walker family, the FBI agent, etc.
                No ceremony or anything, just an announcement after the execution.

                NO.... the ability of US subs to move is still extremely safe. The new SSK's are getting as quiet as the Seawolf or Virginia Class subs. These two have a significant advantage of greater speed and depth.

                Adrian

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