Report Details FBI Bungling in Espionage Probe

The Justice Department released on Wednesday a massive review of the FBI’s bungled espionage investigation of former nuclear scientist Wen Ho Lee.

The report, most of which was leaked earlier, criticizes the FBI for never considering the Lee investigation a priority; failing to allot it proper resources or properly supervise agents on the case; and moving too slowly.

It condemns a communication breakdown between the FBI and the Energy Department and chastises investigators for not immediately searching Lee’s computer files when suspicions first arose. That left critical weapon secrets unprotected, the report says.

“The Wen Ho Lee investigation involved allegations of espionage as significant as any the United States government is likely to face,” wrote Randy Bellows, a federal prosecutor who led the team that reviewed the investigation of the former scientist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.

“It required an appropriate, aggressive and effective response. It did not get such a response from any of the departments and agencies whose conduct we have examined, and the gravity of this failure may yet not be fully known,” he said.

The FBI said it learned its lesson. “This inquiry has led to a fundamentally different approach to counterintelligence,” bureau spokesman Jay Spadafore said Wednesday.

He said the report “contained over 40 recommendations and the FBI has worked through all of them. In some cases, we have gone further than what was recommended.”

Lee was held in solitary confinement for nine months and indicted on 59 felony counts alleging he transferred nuclear weapon information to portable computer tapes. He was never charged with spying and denied giving information to China.

As the government’s case crumbled, Lee pleaded guilty to a felony count of downloading sensitive material.

In May 1999, then-Atty. Gen. Janet Reno assigned Bellows and a team of investigators to report on the investigation.

The report was completed a year later but had not been released until Wednesday because of secrets it held.

The report is littered with black smears where attorneys for the Energy Department, the FBI and the CIA have deleted portions for secrecy or privacy.

Lee has sued the government for defamation, and the Energy Department’s former chief intelligence officer chief has sued Lee for defamation after supporters of Lee claimed he was singled out because he was born on Taiwan.