Wen Ho Lee Deserves Bail

Wen Ho Lee has spent the last eight months in solitary confinement in an Albuquerque jail, denied bail and the minimal rights granted other prisoners because government lawyers and the FBI insist that the former Los Alamos National Laboratory scientist might flee the country, taking with him vital nuclear secrets. The basis for that claim is no longer plausible, if it ever was. At Lee’s most recent bail hearing, the third since his arrest last December, the FBI’s lead investigator admitted “inadvertently” misleading U.S. District Judge James A. Parker on matters crucial to the question of whether Lee is a flight risk. Without that testimony Lee in all likelihood would have been granted bail and the freedom to help prepare the defense for his trial, scheduled to start Nov. 6. The government’s latest flip-flop makes it clear that he now deserves that right.

The government itself no longer alleges that Lee was a master spy who passed or was preparing to pass secrets to China, despite all the earlier loose talk about espionage that succeeded in filching the “crown jewels” of America’s nuclear weapons programs. Instead, Lee is charged with 59 counts of downloading restricted files from the weapons lab to unsecured computers and tape. Conviction on those charges could bring a life sentence. But experts have raised doubts about the seriousness of even these lesser allegations.

John Richter, a former weapons designer and intelligence official at Los Alamos, told Judge Parker that as much as 99% of the material Lee allegedly copied is available in open literature. Harold Agnew, a former director of the lab, said the government greatly exaggerated the original presentation of its case last December because it wanted to intimidate the judge. The government itself has admitted that its investigation of nuclear leaks was not vigorously pressed once it focused on Lee as the prime suspect. Yet three years of investigation failed to uncover any evidence of espionage. What seems to have made Lee a prime suspect was, simply, racial profiling. Lee, born in Taiwan and a naturalized U.S. citizen, is ethnic Chinese. Many of his colleagues believe, not without reason, that he is a victim of scapegoating.

Lee’s family and others are prepared to post a $2-million property bond to secure his release. Bail could be granted under strict conditions to limit Lee’s movements. It will be up to a jury to decide Lee’s guilt or innocence. But it’s Judge Parker who has the power to rectify a cruel injustice by freeing Lee on bail now.