Why media houses had to pay former US nuclear scientist Lee

Wen Ho Lee, the American nuclear scientist once identified in news reports as the target of a government spying investigation, has been awar...

Wen Ho Lee, the American nuclear scientist once identified in news reports as the target of a government spying investigation, has been awarded more than $1.6 million from the US government and five media organisations to settle allegations that government leaks violated his privacy.

The media payments, which were the result of a court-ordered mediation, are the only money Lee will pocket personally. The government’s settlement payment of $895,000 is conditioned on it being devoted only to his lawyer’s fees and the taxes on the media’s payment.

Government lawyers said that the government would not pay anything that would be perceived as damages to the former scientist.

Who

A naturalized US citizen from Taiwan, Lee became the target of a spying probe at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, a weapons research facility, in New Mexico. He was fired in 1999 and held in solitary confinement for nine months. News reports said that he was suspected of leaking nuclear secrets to China.

When his case came to trial, the charges were dropped, and a judge apologised to him for his treatment at the hands of the government. He was released in 2000 although he pleaded guilty to mishandling computer files.

What

Lee then sued the US Energy Department, the Justice Department and the FBI, not for defaming him with false charges, but for having leaked information from his private files in violation of a federal statute that prohibits the government from releasing protected information from their employees’ personnel files.

How

In his lawsuit, Lee sought the names of the anonymous officials who revealed information about him to reporters. His case was strengthened after two federal courts held that reporters could be held in contempt if they refused to disclose their sources. District of Columbia Circuit Court Judge Rosemary Kollyer had threatened stiff sanctions against reporters who refused to name their sources, starting with fines that the reporters would have to pay out of their own pockets.

Why

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Lee’s attorney, Betsy Miller, said: “Our aim was never to target or punish journalists. It was to vindicate the injury suffered by Dr Lee because of the unlawful leak by government officials against him.”

None of the media outlets — which included The Washington Post, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, ABC News and the Associated Press — had been sued by Lee and none of their reporting was directly challenged. But all five agreed to the payment out of concern that their reporters would have to give Lee the names of their government sources as courts had already ordered.

The 6th What Next

The unusual agreement heads off a Supreme Court confrontation over whether reporters can be fined and jailed for refusing to reveal their sources to lawyers who are pursuing a civil suit. Experts fear that the news organisations were in an “untenable position” and that the court-ordered settlement will set a precedent that will encourage more lawsuits.