Nuclear scientist stole `centuries of work’, say spy prosecu

Prosecutors said Lee stored the classified files under phony non-classified labels and transferred them to 10 portable computer tapes. Seven of those tapes are missing, they said.

US Magistrate Don Svet cited the missing tapes on Monday as he ordered Lee held without bond until trial, saying that to release him would pose "a clear and present danger to the United States."

Lee was indicted Friday on 59 counts of breaching security at the lab, though not with espionage. A trial date has notbeen set. If convicted, Lee faces life in prison.

The Taiwan-born scientist showed no reaction as Svet announced that he must remain behind bars until trial. His lawyer said he would appeal the denial of bond.

FBI agents who tracked Lee’s computer activity records said they found he downloaded many files while he was alone, on evenings and weekends, agent Robert Messemer testified at the hearing.

"From a counter-intelligence perspective, Dr Lee’s action appear to be secretive and clandestine," he said, adding, "Our computer experts were able to completely recreate the files."

After the investigation began, Lee deleted hundreds of files, Messemer said. Initially, 360 files were deleted, followed by second wave of "massive deletions of files," Messemer said.

Messemer suggested the deletions might have been motivated by fear of discovery, but the defence suggested that Lee, having lost his security clearance, no longer was entitled to those files and so deleted them.The defence attorneys also said Lee,a computer expert, had no illusions that the deletions were untraceable. They emphasised that all the files in question were part of Lee’s regular Los Alamos lab work.

As for the seven missing computer tapes, defence attorneys John Cline and Mark Holscher contended they were destroyed, but would not elaborate."There’s no evidence he has the tapes, disclosed the tapes, or attempted to disclose the tapes. Is there any evidence in this huge investigation (of attempted disclosure)? The answer is no," Cline said.

Dr Stephen Younger, director of nuclear weapons programme at Los Alamos, testified that Lee had downloaded key files that represent a complete nuclear weapons design and "centuries of work."

The downloaded codes could be used for purposes other than weapons design, but it would be "like using a Ferrari to haul cement," Younger said.

Spying charges fabricated: China
BEIJING: China on Tuesday dismissed allegations that it stole US nuclear weapon secrets as `lies.’

"Some people in theUnited States cling stubbornly to cold war mentality and fabricate lies on the so-called Chinese theft of nuclear technology from the US," foreign ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue told newsmen here.

She was commenting on reports that Taiwan-born physicist Wen Ho Lee was charged on Friday with 59 counts of mishandling us nuclear secrets, but not spying.

Zhang asserted that some people in America were trying to defame China by fabricating charges against Beijing in order to undermine Sino-US relations.She predicted that the attempts of these few Americans would not succeed.

Asked specifically on the central figure in the spying scandal, Lee, who was fired in March from Los Alamos national laboratory in New Mexico for security violations, Zhang replied that she would not comment now.

However, she said "things would become clear as days pass by."The China nuclear spy scandal has become a major irritant in Sino-US relations. China has repeatedly denied stealing classified US nuclear weapons data byengaging in a sustained spying effort on top American nuclear weapons laboratories. (PTI)