FBI cleared of racism in spy case

Dr Lee's supporters claimed racism

The FBI seriously mishandled allegations of spying against the Taiwan-born scientist Wen Ho Lee, a report by the US Justice Department into the affair has concluded.

But in newly released extracts from the report, the FBI and the Energy Department are cleared of allegations that Dr Lee, who is a naturalised US citizen, was pursued for racist reasons.

The report attacks the FBI for accepting uncritically an initial inquiry by the Energy Department, which singled out Dr Lee as a suspected nuclear weapons spy for China, and put the scientist behind bars for nearly a year.

The agency's reputation has been badly battered in recent months with revelations of spies in its midst, misplaced top-secret equipment and organisational blunders.

Top secret

Dr Lee, who worked at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, became the FBI's prime suspect for espionage after assertions by a top Energy Department official that an insider was providing China with nuclear secrets.

The nuclear scientist lost his job in March 1999, was arrested the following December, and until September last year faced 59 charges relating to the mishandling of secret nuclear information.

The consequences for the investigation caused by the inaccurate representations were profound

Justice Department

He was accused of transferring the material to unsecured computer tapes.

The scientist, who agreed to plea guilty to one charge in exchange for his release, had been held in solitary confinement for nine months and denied bail.

Kept in solitary confinement

By the time he was released the FBI was under fire from the presiding judge, Asian American leaders and even then president Bill Clinton, who said Lee's imprisonment "just can't be justified".

In the two chapters of the report released, the Justice Department acknowledged that an investigation of Dr Lee had been appropriate.

Wen Ho Lee's daughter fought for her father

But the Energy Department's initial inquiry was "a deeply flawed product whose shortcomings were unrecognised and unaddressed due to the FBI's own inadequate investigation".

"The consequences for the investigation caused by the inaccurate representations were profound," the report said, but while the inquiry had "many serious problems, racism was not among them".

A judge ordered the release of these new chapters in relation to a defamation lawsuit filed by former Energy Department official Notra Trulock, who says he was wrongly accused of racism.