Lee Case: Bias Charges Are a Red Herring

Re “Los Alamos Tunnel Vision,” editorial, Aug. 15: One would think The Times might be a bit more concerned about the transfer of our nuclear warhead design secrets to a foreign power than whether an airtight legal case was brought against a nuclear scientist in the employ of the Los Alamos National Laboratory. A scientist, by the way, who is known to have spent years surreptitiously copying nuclear secrets from classified computer tapes onto unclassified media and who was willing to spend 279 days in solitary confinement rather than reveal what he subsequently did with the copied media.

But the editors are evidently more concerned about supporting a trumped-up racial bias charge first brought forth about a year ago than to present the truth on the compromise of our most critical compact-nuclear-weapon design secrets.

Daniel Eliason

Santa Barbara

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Thomas W. Joo (Commentary, Aug. 15) assumes that FBI racism was behind the flawed investigation of Wen Ho Lee. There is a fatal flaw in Joo’s theory: If race is the de facto reason behind the investigation of Lee, what explains the thousands of white people persecuted for their views by the FBI during the Cold War? What explains the persecution of all-American heroes like Gen. George Marshall? Indeed, what explains the current case of the Chinese American professor being held by the Chinese as a U.S. spy? Are the Chinese being “racist” against other Chinese?

Just because Lee is Asian doesn’t mean that his prosecution was racist. China has taken the place of Russia as our new international competitor. Lee merely got a taste of what Russian Americans have had to deal with for over 70 years. (Not to mention the many non-espionage-related persecutions of individuals like Richard Jewell, whose life was ruined when he was falsely accused of being the Atlanta Olympic bomber.)

I would suggest that Lee’s race actually worked to his benefit, as he was able to rally Asian American support and pressure to end an investigation that might have dragged on for years longer had he been white.

David J. Tamarov

Los Angeles