------------

Digest 100, originally sent Wed May 26 02:46:19 1999 :

There are 6 messages in this issue.

Topics in today's digest:

1. NucNews-0 Brief 5/25/99

2. NucNews-1 5/25/99 - Stimson Ctr. Op-Ed; Asia / N.Korea -Japan, -China; Pakistan (2)

3. NucNews-2 5/25/99 - NATO 3rd month; China embassy spy report; Chiapas uranium; Venezuela & Puerto Rico anti-US military; US/Uzbek Chemical Arms Plant Cleanup

4. NucNews-3 5/25/99 - US - Westerners & Nuc Waste; Ohio Nuc Plant Fine, whistleblower; Carolinas Nuc Plant Renewal; Arkansas Nuc Plant Award; Reno defends China actions

5. NucNews-4 5/25/99 - China Spying (5)

6. NucNews-5 5/25/99 - China Spying (4 more)

_______________________________________________________________________________

Message: 1 Date: Tue, 25 May 1999 13:51:02 -0400

Subject: NucNews-0 Brief 5/25/99

[Please address replies to the original publisher (with a copy to prop1@prop1.org and NucNews@onelist.com (Archives)). Your help in refuting false information appreciated!]

-------------

NucNews-1 5/25/99 - Stimson Ctr. Op-Ed; Asia / N.Korea -Japan, -China; Pakistan (2) NucNews-2 5/25/99 - NATO 3rd month; China embassy spy report; Chiapas uranium; Venezuela & Puerto Rico anti-US military; US/Uzbek Chemical Arms Plant Cleanup NucNews-3 5/25/99 - US - Westerners & Nuc Waste; Ohio Nuc Plant Fine, whistleblower; Carolinas Nuc Plant Renewal; Arkansas Nuc Plant Award; Reno defends China actions NucNews-4 5/25/99 - China Spying (5) NucNews-5 5/25/99 - China Spying (4 more)

---(1)

1. Invitation to Nuclear Disaster By Michael Krepon, president of the Henry L. Stimson Center Tuesday, May 25, 1999; Page A15 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-05/25/138l-052599-idx.html ... the current U.S. nuclear posture exacerbates current dangers by requiring the deployment of 6,000 nuclear weapons, approximately half of which are on hair-trigger alert.... Sen. Bob Kerrey (D-Neb.) has a better idea than waiting for the Duma. He would strike the legislative requirement to remain at 6,000 deployed weapons and proceed instead with parallel, reciprocal, verifiable reductions. Without accelerated reductions and new initiatives, such as a stand-down of alert nuclear forces, we invite tragedies on a massive scale.

2. US Envoy To Talk Arms With N.Korea May 25, 1999 Associated Press http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/i/AP-NKorea-US.html TOKYO (AP) -- U.S. envoy William Perry arrived in North Korea today for talks meant to persuade the communist country to abandon its suspected nuclear arms and missile development program.

3. Japan Approves Expanded Military Alliance With U.S. By Mary Jordan Washington Post Foreign Service Tuesday, May 25, 1999; Page A10 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-05/25/059l-052599-idx.html TOKYO, May 24-The Japanese parliament gave final approval today to legislation that significantly expands the country's military partnership with the United States. The legislation was passed just as an American delegation was scheduled to begin a delicate visit to North Korea, East Asia's greatest immediate security threat....

4. North Korea Official To Visit China By The Associated Press, May 24, 1999 http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/i/AP-China-North-Korea.html BEIJING (AP) -- North Korea's No. 2 leader will travel to China next week for the highest level visit since Beijing angered its once-close communist ally by opening relations with rival South Korea seven years ago, diplomats said Monday.

5. Pakistan ramps up hype on nuclear test anniversary 02:06 a.m. May 25, 1999 Eastern, By Scott McDonald (Reuters) http://www.dogpile.com (search newswires "nuclear OR plutonium OR uranium OR radioactiv???") ISLAMABAD - Chess competitions, boxing tournaments, blood donor drives and billboards praising ``nuclear heroes'' are among the diverse ways in which Pakistan is promoting the first anniversary of its nuclear tests.

6. INTERVIEW-Pakistan says N-bomb making goes on 07:33 a.m. May 24, 1999 Eastern, By Raja Asghar (Reuters) http://www.dogpile.com (search newswires "nuclear OR plutonium OR uranium OR radioactiv???") ISLAMABAD, May 24 (Reuters) - The father of Pakistan's nuclear bomb says he has no regrets for making atomic weapons to equal arch-rival India and that more are still being made....

---(2)

[Clinton's 60 days have run out, haven't they? U.S. troops and hardware should be withdrawn if Congress hasn't declared war....]

7. NATO Campaign Enters Third Month May 25, 1999 Associated Press http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/i/AP-Yugoslavia-Kosovo.html

8. Spies tell China embassy attack was no accident By Bill Gertz, May 24, 1999 Washington Times http://www.washtimes.com/news/news1.html China's intelligence service month that the bombing of Beijing's embassy in Belgrade was a deliberate attack aimed at dragging China into the Balkans conflict, according to Pentagon intelligence officials. A classified report based on National Security Agency (NSA) intelligence data was sent to senior Pentagon officials last week and revealed that Chinese intelligence viewed the attack as part of a NATO "conspiracy" to involve China in the war.

[Did you know Chiapas has uranium and oil?]

9. Mexico Rebels' Masked Chief Defiant By Michelle Ray Ortiz Associated Press Writer Monday, May 24, 1999; 2:19 a.m. EDT http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WAPO/19990524/V000494-052499-idx.html

10. Venezuela To Deny US Flight Request By The Associated Press, May 24, 1999 http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/i/AP-Venezuela-US-Drugs.html CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- President Hugo Chavez said Monday that he will deny a request by the United States to use Venezuela's airspace for anti-narcotics flights ... from three new staging centers being set up in Ecuador and the islands of Curacao and Aruba, which are located off Venezuela's western coast. The new centers are expected to compensate for the U.S. withdrawal from Howard Air Force Base in the Panama Canal Zone, which until May 1 had been used for such reconnaissance flights....

11. Puerto Rico Deplores U.S. Bombings May 25, 1999 Associated Press http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/i/AP-Puerto-Rico-Bomb-Damage.html VIEQUES, Puerto Rico (AP) -- Puerto Rican politicians were united in their condemnation after flying over beaches devastated by U.S. Navy bombings. Their conclusion: The live bombing exercises must end....

12. U.S. and Uzbeks Agree on Chemical Arms Plant Cleanup http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/global/052599uzbek-germ-warfare.html May 25, 1999 New York Times, By JUDITH MILLER The United States and Uzbekistan have quietly negotiated and are expected to sign a bilateral agreement Tuesday to provide American aid in dismantling and decontaminating one of the former Soviet Union's largest chemical weapons testing facilities, according to Defense Department and Uzbek officials.

---(3) US

13. Westerners need to hang together By Winston Weeks and Steve Erickson, Deseret News, May 24, 1999 http://www.dogpile.com (search newswires "nuclear OR plutonium OR uranium OR radioactiv???") Benjamin Franklin said during the Revolutionary War that "We must all hang together or most assuredly we will all hang separately." As the failed nuclear power industry and the nuclear weapons establishment seek to dump their nuclear waste in Utah, Nevada, Idaho and New Mexico, old Ben's statement is surely true today for those of us who live in the West....

14. FirstEnergy faces $110,000 discrimination fine May 24, 1999, Ohio Beacon Journal http://www.ohio.com:80/bj/news/ohio/docs/005363.htm AKRON, Ohio (AP) -- The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission proposed a $110,000 fine Monday against FirstEnergy Corp. on charges that the utility discriminated against an employee ... at its Perry Nuclear Plant in 1997 for testifying in a U.S. Department of Labor hearing involving possible discrimination against another employee....

15. CP&L Announces Intention to Renew Robinson Nuclear Plant's Operating License 02:12 p.m May 24, 1999 Eastern, /PRNewswire/ http://www.dogpile.com (search newswires "nuclear OR plutonium OR uranium OR radioactiv???") HARTSVILLE, S.C.-- Carolina Power and Light (NYSE: CPL) has announced that it will apply to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to renew the Robinson Nuclear Plant's operating license for 20 additional years, through July 2030....

16. Arkansas Nuclear One Wins Prestigious Industry Award 03:06 p.m May 24, 1999 Eastern, /PRNewswire/ http://www.dogpile.com (search newswires "nuclear OR plutonium OR uranium OR radioactiv???")

17. Reno Defends Decisions In China Spying Case 08:09 p.m May 24, 1999 Eastern (Reuters) http://www.dogpile.com (search newswires "nuclear OR plutonium OR uranium OR radioactiv???") WASHINGTON - Attorney General Janet Reno, under pressure to resign over handling of alleged nuclear spying by China, Monday defended the Justice Department's refusal to approve FBI requests for a wiretap of a suspect at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.... ALSO: Reno to Stay Despite Criticism By Michael J. Sniffen Associated Press Writer Monday, May 24, 1999; 6:44 p.m. EDT http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WAPO/19990524/V000067-052499-idx.html

---(4)

18. No warheads secret after China spying By Bill Gertz THE WASHINGTON TIMES http://www.washtimes.com/news/news1.html#link A newly declassified House committee report says China stole secrets on every deployed U.S. nuclear missile warhead in recent years and now has 20 long-range missiles aimed at the United States.

19. China Rejects Allegations of Spying By John Leicester Associated Press Writer Tuesday, May 25, 1999; 2:14 a.m. EDT http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WAPO/19990525/V000306-052599-idx.html BEIJING (AP) -- China today rejected allegations that it bolstered its nuclear arsenal by pilfering U.S. military secrets, saying Beijing has never stolen classified material from any foreign country.

20. Beijing Calls U.S. Report A Ploy To Demonize China Updated 5:05 AM ET May 25, 1999, By Matt Pottinger (Reuters) http://webcrawler-news.excite.com/news/r/990525/05/news-china-usa China Tuesday denounced a congressional report accusing it of stealing U.S. nuclear secrets as a ploy to demonize China and divert attention from the NATO bombing of Beijing's embassy in Belgrade. "We think some people in the United States insist on clinging to the Cold War mentality," Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao told reporters....

21. Excerpts From China Report By The Associated Press Monday, May 24, 1999; 11:04 p.m. EDT http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WAPO/19990524/V000225-052499-idx.html http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/w/AP-China-Quotes.html --- Full Text of the Cox Report http://www.washtimes.com/investiga/investigacox.html

22. Report: China Controls U.S. [Companies] By H. Josef Hebert Associated Press Writer Monday, May 24, 1999; 7:03 p.m. EDT http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WAPO/19990524/V000082-052499-idx.html WASHINGTON (AP) -- In a blurring of commerce and intelligence-gathering, China clandestinely controls several thousand U.S. ``front companies'' to obtain American technology for military purposes, a congressional report says....

---(5)

23. Panel Says Chinese Arms Used U.S. Data House Committee To Release Report On Spying's Effects By Juliet Eilperin and Vernon Loeb, Washington Post, May 25, 1999; Page A01 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-05/25/072l-052599-idx.html A House select committee concludes in a long-awaited report that China has stolen design secrets on the United States' most advanced thermonuclear weapons and used them to help develop miniaturized warheads and a new mobile intercontinental ballistic missile that could be tested this year....

24. Hill Unites in Exposing Chinese Espionage Explosive Subject Gets an Even Look By Juliet Eilperin, Washington Post, May 25, 1999; Page A04 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-05/25/097l-052599-idx.html With the release today of a 700-page congressional report on the explosive issue of Chinese military espionage, Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Calif.) has achieved what some saw as impossible: bipartisan agreement in the era of the politics of personal destruction....

25. Report: Thefts Let China Build Nuke By H. Josef Hebert Associated Press Writer Tuesday, May 25, 1999; 2:22 a.m. EDT http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WAPO/19990525/V000308-052599-idx.html WASHINGTON (AP) -- China's two-decade effort to steal U.S. weapons technology continued well into the Clinton administration, positioning Beijing to develop modern mobile nuclear warheads as good as America's, says a bipartisan congressional report.

26. Nuclear Thriller With Ending as Yet Unwritten By TIM WEINER, New York Times, May 25, 1999 http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/asia/052599china-nuke.html WASHINGTON -- Inside the congressional report on Chinese espionage due out on Tuesday is a first-rate spy story. Trouble is, no one is sure what it means....

_____________________________

A fast way to keep up to date: Subscribe to NucNews !! To subscribe: prop1@prop1.org Say "Subscribe NucNews"

NucNews Archive: http://prop1.org/nucnews/nucnews.htm The Conversion Project at http://prop1.org "A-Z Antinuclear Weblinks" at http://prop1.org/prop1/azantink.htm



_______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________

Message: 2 Date: Tue, 25 May 1999 13:39:45 -0400

Subject: NucNews-1 5/25/99 - Stimson Ctr. Op-Ed; Asia / N.Korea -Japan, -China; Pakistan (2)

1. Invitation to Nuclear Disaster

By Michael Krepon, president of the Henry L. Stimson Center Tuesday, May 25, 1999; Page A15 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-05/25/138l-052599-idx.html

Unless concerted action is taken soon to reduce nuclear dangers, conditions will be coming into place for a dreadful accident, incident or even a nuclear detonation of Russian origin. The problems posed by Chinese nuclear espionage pale in comparison with the dangers inherent in Russia's domestic plight, its aging arsenal, stressed-out command and control and lax export controls. Moreover, the current U.S. nuclear posture exacerbates current dangers by requiring the deployment of 6,000 nuclear weapons, approximately half of which are on hair-trigger alert.

Russia, whose GNP is now the size of Belgium's (and falling), cannot match U.S. nuclear force levels. Over the next decade, deployed Russian nuclear weapons on strategic forces may well dip below 1,000 -- six times below the number allowed by the START II treaty, which has been held hostage by the Russian Duma since January 1993.

At present the Kremlin retains as many of its nuclear forces on hair-trigger alert as possible. This is done to compensate for weaknesses in Russia's conventional forces, for gaping holes in the old Soviet early warning network and for the vast launch readiness of U.S. nuclear forces. Independent estimates suggest that Russia maintains in excess of 3,000 nuclear warheads in very high states of launch readiness.

This is a recipe for disaster. The CIA's unclassified assessment of the "fail-safeness" of Russian command and control is not reassuring. Although the CIA says nuclear safety is not a concern as long as current security procedures and systems are in place, stresses in the Russian command and control system are growing, and are aggravated by the high launch readiness of U.S. nuclear forces.

In January 1995 Russian forces mistook a scientific rocket launched from Norway for a U.S. attack, thus activating President Boris Yeltsin's nuclear "suitcase." In September 1998 a deranged Russian sailor killed seven of his shipmates and barricaded himself inside the torpedo bay of his nuclear attack submarine. Security forces recaptured the boat, which may or may not have had nuclear weapons on board. In September 1998, a guard at a facility holding 30 tons of plutonium shot other guards and then escaped, heavily armed. The list of incidents of this kind in Russia that we know about is chilling.

How does the U.S. maintenance of 6,000 deployed nuclear weapons, half on hair-trigger alert, help this country deal with such dangers? With Russian forces projected to decline dramatically over the next decade, what useful purpose is served by maintaining bloated nuclear arsenals at such high states of launch readiness?

While U.S. nuclear forces have been downsized with the end of the Cold War, U.S. nuclear doctrine and targeting requirements have changed relatively little. We still maintain massive attack options, with the potential for many hundreds of nuclear detonations. We still place Russia's crumbling industrial capacity "at risk," even though these factories have become liabilities rather than assets for the Kremlin. We still maintain forces at very high launch readiness, even though there is no longer a doctrinal requirement to launch quickly in the event of a Russian nuclear attack.

Capitol Hill has barely addressed the dangers inherent in interlocking U.S. and Russian nuclear postures. Extensive targeting lists and high Russian alert rates reinforce high U.S. alert rates. This vicious circle will be extremely dangerous as strains on Russian command and control continue to grow. As long as the U.S. strategic posture involves keeping our nuclear guns out of their holsters with the triggers cocked, there is no chance whatever of persuading Russia to take its dangerous and aging nuclear missiles off hair-trigger alert.

These nuclear dangers are badly compounded by congressional insistence that the United States maintain a force level of 6,000 deployed warheads -- the maximum allowed under START I -- until the 1993 START II accord finally enters into force. In this way, national decisions on the proper size of U.S. strategic forces are determined by the most retrograde delegates of the Russian Duma, who have blocked ratification of START II.

What could the United States conceivably do with 6,000 deployed nuclear warheads in the post-Cold War era? Why is it in the national security interest of the United States to wait for action by Russia's unpredictable and erratic legislature before taking new initiatives to reduce nuclear dangers? Doesn't it make more sense to accelerate the process of deep reductions now?

Sen. Bob Kerrey (D-Neb.) has a better idea than waiting for the Duma. He would strike the legislative requirement to remain at 6,000 deployed weapons and proceed instead with parallel, reciprocal, verifiable reductions.

Without accelerated reductions and new initiatives, such as a stand-down of alert nuclear forces, we invite tragedies on a massive scale.

---------------------

2. US Envoy To Talk Arms With N.Korea

May 25, 1999 Associated Press http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/i/AP-NKorea-US.html

TOKYO (AP) -- U.S. envoy William Perry arrived in North Korea today for talks meant to persuade the communist country to abandon its suspected nuclear arms and missile development program.

He was met at the Pyongyang airport by Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan, the North's official Korean Central News Agency said in a brief dispatch monitored in Seoul, South Korea.

In meetings Monday, Perry and officials from Japan and South Korea agreed on a joint message to send to Pyongyang, but refused to reveal its contents.

Perry will carry a separate message from President Clinton to senior North Korean officials, and Washington hopes he will be able to meet the country's enigmatic leader, Kim Jong Il, a U.S. spokesman said.

Perry heads the highest-level U.S. delegation to travel to the secretive country during the rule of Kim Jong Il, the son of longtime ruler Kim Il Sung, who died in 1994.

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and congressional delegations have visited North Korea, but no one before Perry has made an official visit representing the U.S. president.

Perry is not likely to meet with the U.S. nuclear inspection team now in the North to take a look at an underground facility outside Pyongyang.

State Department spokesman James P. Rubin said in Washington on Monday that the team received ``good cooperation'' from North Korean officials.

Their findings will not be revealed until they have returned to the United States and briefed senior U.S. officials, Rubin said.

---------------------

3. Japan Approves Expanded Military Alliance With U.S.

By Mary Jordan Washington Post Foreign Service Tuesday, May 25, 1999; Page A10 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-05/25/059l-052599-idx.html

TOKYO, May 24-The Japanese parliament gave final approval today to legislation that significantly expands the country's military partnership with the United States. The legislation was passed just as an American delegation was scheduled to begin a delicate visit to North Korea, East Asia's greatest immediate security threat.

Approval of the agreement by the upper house of parliament had been virtually guaranteed since the more powerful lower house passed the bills last month. Still, final passage, more than 18 months after Washington and Tokyo agreed to the arrangement in principle, was seen as a major victory for Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi and for relations between the two partners in Asia's most potent military alliance.

Under the bills, Japan would assume its most active military role since it renounced all but defensive force at the end of World War II. In the event of military action in the vaguely defined "area around Japan," Japan would allow U.S. forces to use Japanese hospitals and airstrips, Japanese ships would help with search and rescue operations in noncombat areas and Japan would help with spare parts and other logistics for the U.S. military and with some evacuations from trouble spots.

Japanese troops would still be barred from combat outside Japan. Most Japanese believe that a constitutional change would be required to alter this policy, a step the United States has not sought. Although the action taken today may seem mild, it was controversial to many Japanese, who still are repulsed by war because of the atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II.

The arrangement is also controversial in China, which sees the U.S.-Japan alliance as a potential rival, especially in any conflict over Taiwan, which China regards as a renegade province. Washington and Japan have been studiously vague about whether a conflict in the Taiwan Strait would be covered under the new guidelines.

Public support for the bills increased dramatically last August, when North Korea test-fired a ballistic missile that flew over Japan. Many Japanese were alarmed by Pyongyang's provocative move, and it gave rise to calls for Tokyo to take a more active role in its own defense. Japan's defense is largely the responsibility of the United States and the 47,000 U.S. troops stationed here.

Today, Obuchi and South Korean national security adviser Lim Dong Won met in Tokyo with former U.S. defense secretary William J. Perry, who is leading the highest level U.S. delegation in decades to Pyongyang this week to discuss the results of his six-month review of U.S. policy toward North Korea.

Details of Perry's report have not been disclosed, although sources close to him have said it will lay out a comprehensive plan of incentives for North Korea to end its threatening behavior, and consequences if it does not. U.S. officials are concerned about North Korea's production and sales of increasingly sophisticated ballistic missiles and say North Korea may be attempting to build nuclear weapons.

Criticism of Clinton administration policy toward Pyongyang, particularly from members of Congress, grew dramatically last summer after satellite photos showed a huge underground construction site in North Korea that many analysts concluded was being used to hide nuclear weapons. After months of negotiations, North Korea agreed to allow U.S. officials to inspect the site. That was done last week by a team of 14 specialists, but their findings have not been made publ

---

US, Japan Share Message for N.Korea

Monday, May 24, 1999; 10:31 a.m. EDT http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WAPO/19990524/V000701-052499-idx.html

TOKYO (AP) -- The United States, Japan and South Korea will work closely together to send the same message to North Korea during U.S. envoy William Perry's visit there this week.

The three-nation statement was issued today after Japanese Foreign Ministry director-general Ryozo Kato and South Korean national security adviser Lim Dong-won met with Perry ahead of his four-day trip to North Korea.

The trip, which begins Tuesday, is part of a U.S. effort to persuade the North to abandon suspected nuclear weapons and ballistic missile development programs.

The latter has been a particularly sensitive issue in Tokyo ever since a North Korean missile sailed over northern Japan last year.

``The three sides agreed that our approach should continue to be closely coordinated,'' the statement said.

The visit will also provide a good chance to assess North Korea's views, it said.

Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi told Perry in a meeting today that he supported Perry's efforts and stressed the importance of the United States, South Korea and Japan cooperating, a Foreign Ministry official said.

``This is a challenging job. But the three nations must work together,'' Obuchi was quoted as saying.

Perry met late Sunday with Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura and Lim. Perry's entourage will be the highest-level U.S. delegation to travel to North Korea during the rule of Kim Jong Il, the son of longtime ruler Kim Il Sung, who died in 1994.

Former President Carter and congressional delegations have visited North Korea, but no one before Perry has made an official visit representing an American president.

---

4. North Korea Official To Visit China

By The Associated Press, May 24, 1999 http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/i/AP-China-North-Korea.html

BEIJING (AP) -- North Korea's No. 2 leader will travel to China next week for the highest level visit since Beijing angered its once-close communist ally by opening relations with rival South Korea seven years ago, diplomats said Monday.

Kim Yong Nam, head of North Korea's Supreme People's Assembly and second in the ruling Workers' Party only to reclusive leader Kim Jong Il, is expected to bring a large delegation to Beijing for three days starting June 3, the Asian and Western diplomats said on condition of anonymity.

China's Foreign Ministry confirmed that Kim would be coming, but would not divulge the dates. It customarily announces the visits of foreign dignitaries only a week before their arrival.

Kim's trip follows months of negotiations between Chinese and North Korean officials to arrange an important visit that would symbolize improving relations. Much of that work was geared to getting Kim Jong Il to come to Beijing.

But North Korean officials changed tack in the last two months and offered Kim Yong Nam as a substitute, the diplomats said.

Diplomats have speculated that with North Korea ruined by four years of famine and the collapse of its centrally planned economy, Kim may also be worried about being ousted by disaffected members of the party and military while abroad.

Traveling with him will almost certainly be Foreign Minister Paek Nam Sun, while senior military and foreign trade officials are likely to be included as well, the diplomats said.

They are expected to seek higher commitments for the fuel oil, fertilizer and food Beijing has given as aid to Pyongyang since chronic food shortages started in 1995, the diplomats said.

The visit's main message, however, will be symbolic, a sign that relations between the communist neighbors are solid, the diplomats said.

---------------------

5. Pakistan ramps up hype on nuclear test anniversary

02:06 a.m. May 25, 1999 Eastern, By Scott McDonald (Reuters) http://www.dogpile.com (search newswires "nuclear OR plutonium OR uranium OR radioactiv???")

ISLAMABAD - Chess competitions, boxing tournaments, blood donor drives and billboards praising ``nuclear heroes'' are among the diverse ways in which Pakistan is promoting the first anniversary of its nuclear tests.

Dubbed ``Yaum-e-Takbeer'' -- roughly translated as ``The Day to Praise God'' -- the May 28 anniversary has resulted in an outpouring of official events and memorials.

Prominent in several places in the capital Islamabad are giant billboards with pictures of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Pakistan's top nuclear scientist, Abdul Qadeer Khan.

``We (are) proud of our nuclear heroes,'' the signs read.

Khan designed the nuclear devices and Sharif made the decision to test them last May in response to similar tests by rival India two weeks earlier.

Banners showing mushroom clouds and reading ``Congratulations to Sharif and Khan'' have been hung from overpasses in the city and the finishing touches are being put on a permanent replica of the Chagai nuclear test site in Baluchistan province.

The marble-based replica sits beside a highway just outside Islamabad. Sharif will inaugurate it on Friday.

On Friday, in addition to speeches, a fireworks display will be put on in Islamabad to mark ``Yaum-e-Takbeer,'' which was the winner of a name-the-day contest.

There are also May 28 art shows that will ``highlight self-reliance,'' the official APP news agency said.

In addition to a poster competition and a radio quiz show for college students on nuclear technology, government agencies are also putting on a Yaum-e-Takbeer basketball championship, a bicycle race and a table tennis championship.

``Talk about going overboard,'' said one Western diplomat.

Sharif has repeatedly said May 28 was the most important day in Pakistan's history after August 14, the country's independence day. Pakistan has dismissed Western criticism of its celebrations, saying they were being held to honour the country's scientific achievements and show its self-reliance.''

``We are not celebrating any military victory as many countries do every year, but we are celebrating self-reliance, security and techonologicial advancement of our scientists,'' Information Minister Mushahid Hussain said at the weekend.

The United States criticised Pakistan's May 28 plans last week.

``Let me say that we don't think there's anything to celebrate about the nuclear tests in India and Pakistan,'' State Department spokesman James Rubin said.

``These tests have harmed the standing of these two countries in the world and have harmed their ability to get international support for their necessary economic growth, so there is nothing good about it,'' Rubin said.

---------------------

6. INTERVIEW-Pakistan says N-bomb making goes on

07:33 a.m. May 24, 1999 Eastern, By Raja Asghar (Reuters) http://www.dogpile.com (search newswires "nuclear OR plutonium OR uranium OR radioactiv???")

ISLAMABAD, May 24 (Reuters) - The father of Pakistan's nuclear bomb says he has no regrets for making atomic weapons to equal arch-rival India and that more are still being made.

``I never regretted (it), because I believe that the bomb I made is for peaceful purposes. It has served the purpose, it has saved us from war,'' Pakistan's top nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer said in a weekend interview with Reuters Television.

Pakistan has begun a week-long first anniversary celebration of its first nuclear tests, which sparked an international outcry and economic sanctions. The sanctions triggered an economic crisis from which the country is still reeling.

But Khan, 63, who also created the 2,000-km (1,250-mile) Ghauri missile that can carry nuclear warheads, said the price was worth paying, considering the security threat Pakistan saw from India, with which it has fought three wars since 1947.

``You have to pay a price for your independence and sovereignty, so this was part of the game,'' he said, referring to Pakistan's economic crisis. ``I think we have done a good job and it has been quite useful for the country.''

Khan said the six nuclear detonations -- five on May 28 last year and one two days later -- had not depleted Pakistan's stockpile as some critics had suggested.

``We have been making the nuclear material for a long period, and exploding a few devices doesn't mean that the stock has been finished or depleted,'' he said. ``We have enough stock for our security and for deterrence, more than enough.''

Asked whether his Khan Research Laboratories had made any more bombs after last year's tests, he said: ``Sure, because as long as you don't sign NPT (Non-Proliferation Treaty) the process will be carried on.

``The Indians are doing the same and we are doing the same. When the plant is working, is operational, the production cannot be stopped.''

He said Pakistan was better off after the nuclear tests.

``If you had not exploded the nuclear devices, the Indians would have called our bluff,'' Khan said, referring to what Pakistan saw as threatening statements by Indian leaders after New Delhi's nuclear tests earlier last May. India has cited nuclear-armed China as a major security concern.

``They might have indulged into an adventure...and it would have been too late.

``The cost would have been tremendous. Probably neither they could pay nor we could pay. If they had attacked us, we would have retaliated. If they had been under any misconception that we were not ready for it, it would have been catastrophic.''

Khan said his organisation was constantly trying to improve the efficiency and its nuclear warheads and delivery missiles, and that the process would not be slowed even if Pakistan signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).

``We are always thinking what can help us to improve upon this. So the work is going on constantly how to improve efficiency, how to make them more reliable, how to make them more deliverable. This process is going on.''

Pakistan has pledged to sign CTBT in an atmosphere free of what it calls ``coercion'' of sanctions.

Referring to the treaty, Khan said: ``It only stops you from exploding a real nuclear device, a hot test. So that doesn't make any difference, you can carry on cold tests and can perfect designs. It won't harm in any way.''

But he said the Indian and Pakistani nuclear and missile tests over the past one year had almost ended their arms race.

``They have got the instruments of destruction which can destroy Pakistan and...we can destroy India. So now it's just academic, we will keep on doing work on perfection...but the arms race is more or less finished.''

______________________

- First of five messages - _____________________

_______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________

Message: 3 Date: Tue, 25 May 1999 13:39:59 -0400

Subject: NucNews-2 5/25/99 - NATO 3rd month; China embassy spy report; Chiapas uranium; Venezuela & Puerto Rico anti-US military; US/Uzbek Chemical Arms Plant Cleanup

[Clinton's 60 days have run out, haven't they? U.S. troops and hardware should be withdrawn if Congress hasn't declared war....]

7. NATO Campaign Enters Third Month

May 25, 1999 Associated Press http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/i/AP-Yugoslavia-Kosovo.html

BELGRADE, Yugoslavia (AP) -- NATO's bombing campaign entered its third month today with missiles striking the abandoned Serb police headquarters in Belgrade. In western Kosovo, fierce fighting was reported between rebels and the Yugoslav army.

Belgrade, the Yugoslav capital, was down to its last 8 percent of water reserves today because of damaged pumping stations and a power outage, Serbian media reported.

Poor weather still hampered NATO's military operation, but jets struck several artillery emplacements, military vehicles, a radar site and a logistics support base.

Many strikes focused on command and control facilities, including Milosevic's villa at Dobanovci, 12 miles west of Belgrade, NATO said.

The English-language V.I.P. newsletter reported fierce fighting in much of Kosovo and said the most intense clashes were in the west, where Serbian forces were trying to regain positions lost to the rebel Kosovo Liberation Army in the past few weeks.

Kosovo is a province in Serbia, the main republic in Yugoslavia. The NATO bombing campaign aims to force President Slobodan Milosevic to accept a peace deal for the troubled province that would include withdrawing his forces and allowing NATO-led peacekeepers to police the accord.

In other NATO strikes, jets fired at Mount Cer, 60 miles west of Belgrade, where a key communication transmitter is located, Serb media said. It also reported strikes at the Batajnica military airport, northwest of Belgrade, and in the suburb of Rakovica, the site of a large underground military complex.

Also reportedly hit today was a power transmission line near Obrenovac, 20 miles southwest of Belgrade, and a television transmitter near Uzice, central Serbia.

On Monday, 10 strong explosions rocked Novi Sad, the second-largest Yugoslav city, near a refinery and power station.

The private Beta news agency reported an attack late Monday on Nis, the third-largest Yugoslav city. Attacks were also reported on villages around the towns of Prizren and Istok in Kosovo.

Despite the destruction, Yugoslav leaders remained defiant, with the country's U.N. envoy rejecting a key NATO demand that NATO troops police any peace deal for Kosovo.

The United States insists that NATO troops form the ``core'' of an international security presence in Kosovo that would ensure the return of more than 800,000 ethnic Albanian refugees from Kosovo who fled to neighboring Albania and Macedonia.

``It would be really unthinkable for one sovereign country to allow its own destroyers to play the role of peacemakers or peacekeepers,'' envoy Vladislav Jovanovic said.

If NATO troops enter Yugoslavia, he warned that ``nobody could guarantee the safety of those people because of the outrage of the population.''

While British officials have recommended that NATO prepare to send ground troops into Kosovo -- whether a diplomatic solution has been reached or not -- NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana said Monday that NATO should stick with its air campaign.

``We want to maintain the strategy at this very moment, which is producing results rapidly,'' Solana told Associated Press Television News at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.

Solana added that Milosevic's resolve ``is cracking. No question about it.''

In a sign that Milosevic has lost some support, up to 2,000 people rallied Monday in the Serbian towns of Krusevac and Aleksandrovac, protesting the call-up of men for military service in Kosovo.

A U.N. fact-finding mission returned from Kosovo and reported that conditions in the province were ``a lot worse than we feared.''

Sergio de Mello, head of the U.N. mission, said visits to more than seven Kosovo towns over three days gave a ``picture of what went on.''

``Everything indicates that there is an attempt to displace, ethnically cleanse Kosovo,'' he said, calling the scale of the crisis ``gigantic.''

In Macedonia, thousands more refugees flooded across the border -- 20,000 in the last four days. Many said they had tried to hang on in Kosovo but finally gave up under the combined weight of NATO bombing and Serb police repression.

---------------------

8. Spies tell China embassy attack was no accident

By Bill Gertz, May 24, 1999 Washington Times http://www.washtimes.com/news/news1.html

China's intelligence service month that the bombing of Beijing's embassy in Belgrade was a deliberate attack aimed at dragging China into the Balkans conflict, according to Pentagon intelligence officials.

A classified report based on National Security Agency (NSA) intelligence data was sent to senior Pentagon officials last week and revealed that Chinese intelligence viewed the attack as part of a NATO "conspiracy" to involve China in the war.

The Chinese spy agency based its judgment on the damage caused by the bombs. The three U.S. Joint Direct Attack Munitions, satellite-guided bombs known as JDAMs, caused the most damage to the embassy's security communications room and the defense attache's office, said officials familiar with the NSA report.

"They are convinced it was intentional," one official said of the Chinese.

According to U.S. defense and intelligence officials, the NATO bombing May 7 by U.S. bombers was a mistake based on faulty intelligence. The embassy was misidentified as a Serbian military building based on map and satellite photographs. Several military and intelligence agencies that reviewed plans for the attack caught the error.

Officials said intelligence reports on the internal Chinese reaction to the bombing help explain why Beijing has not accepted U.S. explanations that the bombing was a tragic error. Three Chinese nationals died in the attack and 20 others were wounded.

President Clinton has apologized to the Chinese government and leaders on several occasions and recently discussed restitution for the damages caused by the errant bombing strike, said Pentagon officials.

Asked about the Chinese view of the embassy bombing, Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon declined to comment.

China has reacted to the bombing by canceling all military exchanges with the United States and by organizing anti-American activities against the United States, the officials said.

Beijing also has demanded an official investigation into the attack and threatened publicly that China could retaliate in unspecified ways.

According to the Pentagon officials, China instructed embassy people to search the bombed-out building for fragments of the missiles that hit the building. The JDAM is one of the most advanced U.S. munitions that is guided to its target by data fed from the constellation of Global Positioning System navigational satellites.

China is known to be developing advanced long-range cruise missiles that will use the GPS satellite data for targeting and midcourse correction of the missiles.

The Chinese embassy personnel were to send any JDAM fragments to Beijing as soon as possible, the officials said.

Meanwhile, separate Pentagon intelligence reports have revealed that China's government has directed its state-run media to single out the United States for blame. Other NATO countries have not come under fire from the Chinese government over the errant attack because of growing anti-American sentiment among Chinese leaders, the officials said.

Officials said a Chinese government news organization instructed all Chinese media and reporters around the country not to report that NATO's bombing was the result of an accident.

In addition, Beijing ordered news organizations to focus their criticism on the U.S. government, American citizens and U.S. corporations and investors in China, the officials said.

Chinese reporters were prohibited by the Beijing government from reporting on protest demonstrations in China directed at any NATO countries other than the United States, the officials said.

The bombing triggered days of protests outside the U.S. Embassy in Beijing that were approved and supported by the Chinese government. Protesters hurled rocks and chanted slogans and prevented outgoing U.S. Ambassador James Sasser from leaving the compound.

A survey conducted by China's Beijing Youth Daily found that 40 percent of the Chinese people believed the embassy bombing was intentional and designed to test China's reaction. Another 16 percent stated that the bombing was intended to silence China's criticism of the NATO bombing campaign, according to findings of the poll reported by China's official Xinhua news agency on Thursday.

The nighttime bombing raid was carried out by a single B-2 stealth bomber that fired three JDAMs at the Belgrade embassy. The 2,000-pound high-explosive bombs are "near-precision" weapons that are less accurate than the laser-guided bombs used in a large portion of the bombing strikes in Yugoslavia.

The laser-guided bombs require pointing and holding a laser beam "designator" from an aircraft or soldier on the ground that is used by the bombing's guidance package to home in on the target.

By contrast, the JDAM is a "standoff" weapon that is fired miles from the target and guided to the target by use of a GPS guidance system.

State Department spokesman James P. Rubin said on Friday that the U.S. government's investigation of the bombing that China had requested is nearly complete. "We will be presenting the findings of our investigation into the accidental bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade to the People's Republic of China," he said.

---------------------

[Did you know Chiapas has uranium and oil?]

9. Mexico Rebels' Masked Chief Defiant

By Michelle Ray Ortiz Associated Press Writer Monday, May 24, 1999; 2:19 a.m. EDT http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WAPO/19990524/V000494-052499-idx.html

LA REALIDAD, Mexico (AP) -- More than five years have passed since he blazed into view, leading a band of Indian rebels armed more with anger than with weapons but who still unsettled all of Mexico.

Subcomandante Marcos demanded the government give greater respect to the peoples who originally inhabited the land. Then he agreed to a truce, and stepped back as peace talks took shape, sputtered and finally stalled in 1996....

The government must also give Indians an active role in shaping policy, especially matters affecting them, he said. For example, he said, each community should decide how to run their local economy.

But Marcos contends the government would just as soon destroy the Indians because their homes ``are seated on top of petroleum and uranium deposits.'' ...

---------------------

10. Venezuela To Deny US Flight Request

By The Associated Press, May 24, 1999 http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/i/AP-Venezuela-US-Drugs.html

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- President Hugo Chavez said Monday that he will deny a request by the United States to use Venezuela's airspace for anti-narcotics flights in the region.

The United States wants to use Venezuela's airspace for flights from three new staging centers being set up in Ecuador and the islands of Curacao and Aruba, which are located off Venezuela's western coast.

The new centers are expected to compensate for the U.S. withdrawal from Howard Air Force Base in the Panama Canal Zone, which until May 1 had been used for such reconnaissance flights.

Chavez, speaking Monday night during a nationally broadcast speech, said: ``We cannot accept (the flights) because Venezuela is a sovereign country.''

He added that Venezuela is willing to otherwise cooperate with the United States in the anti-drug fight, and has its own fleet of airplanes that could assist U.S. authorities.

U.S. officials say they have offered to allow Venezuelan air force personnel in Aruba and Curacao to ride in any U.S. aircraft that pass over Venezuelan territory. Information gathered on narcotics trafficking also would be shared.

Chavez also named five new Cabinet members Monday night. Six cabinet members have resigned recently to run for seats in a constituent assembly that will rewrite Venezuela's constitution.

---------------------

11. Puerto Rico Deplores U.S. Bombings

May 25, 1999 Associated Press http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/i/AP-Puerto-Rico-Bomb-Damage.html

VIEQUES, Puerto Rico (AP) -- Puerto Rican politicians were united in their condemnation after flying over beaches devastated by U.S. Navy bombings. Their conclusion: The live bombing exercises must end.

The nine-person panel included members of three parties deeply divided over the territory's ties to the United States -- but after their flight Monday, all criticized the Navy's use of Vieques, just east of the main island of Puerto Rico.

``Never before have I seen such a deficiency in land use as has been perpetrated for decades in Vieques,'' said Puerto Rican Secretary of State Norma Burgos, who heads the commission and whose New Progressive Party supports making Puerto Rico the 51st state.

``It is sad to see how it affects the ecosystems, the flora, fauna and earth'' he said.

The Navy took over two-thirds of the 22-mile-long island in 1940 and displaced more than 3,000 people, about half the population then. Today, the population of 9,300 is sandwiched in a 6-mile-long strip the Navy does not occupy.

The commission was formed in response to a public outcry after guard David Sanes Rodriguez, 35, was killed inside the firing range when two 500-pound bombs were dropped April 19 by a Navy FA-18 that missed its target by 1 1/2 miles.

Gov. Pedro Rossello and other top officials have already demanded that the Navy stop using the island for live bombing. Some want the Navy out altogether.

The Navy says it needs the range because it is the only Atlantic training ground where U.S. military forces can simultaneously bomb, shell and stage amphibious landings. Vieques has been the site for training in every major military U.S. engagement since World War II, including the Kosovo bombings.

On Monday, the officials appointed to study the issue toured Camp Garcia and its vast munitions warehouses. They crammed into a helicopter and flew over the battered observation post where the accident took place, as well as over beaches littered with unexploded bombs and an almost dried-up lagoon.

``These lands have literally been massacred. Really, the moment has arrived when they have to stop (bombing) once and for all,'' said San Juan Mayor Sila Maria Calderon, whose Popular Democratic Party supports Puerto Rico's current commonwealth status.

Archbishop Roberto Gonzalez Nieves said the bombings were unsafe and immoral in the way they affected residents.

Carlos Ventura, a representative of Vieques fishermen, said he hoped that after the tour ``there will be many voices that cry out united with ours in one voice to liberate our people.''

---------------------

12. U.S. and Uzbeks Agree on Chemical Arms Plant Cleanup

http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/global/052599uzbek-germ-warfare.html May 25, 1999 New York Times, By JUDITH MILLER

The United States and Uzbekistan have quietly negotiated and are expected to sign a bilateral agreement Tuesday to provide American aid in dismantling and decontaminating one of the former Soviet Union's largest chemical weapons testing facilities, according to Defense Department and Uzbek officials.

Earlier this year, the Pentagon informed Congress that it intends to spend up to $6 million under its Cooperative Threat Reduction program to demilitarize the so-called Chemical Research Institute, in Nukus, Uzbekistan. Soviet defectors and American officials say that the Nukus plant was the major research testing site for a new class of secret, highly lethal chemical weapons called "Novichok," which in Russian means "new guy."

The agreement to help Uzbekistan clean up the plant is part of wide-ranging cooperation between Uzbekistan and Washington since the former Soviet republic became independent in 1991. On Monday, American and Uzbek officials opened a series of meetings in Tashkent, the Uzbek capital.

Uzbek officials said in interviews earlier this year that, only after their country became independent, did they come to understand the legacy of pollution that had resulted from their designated role as the Soviet Union's major testing ground for chemical and biological weapons. "We were shocked when we first learned the real picture," said Isan Mustafoev, Uzbekistan's deputy foreign minister, in an interview in Tashkent last March.

Alarmed by the health and environmental impact of the Soviets' use of Uzbekistan for the production and large-scale testing of illegal chemical and germ weapons, Islam Karimov, Uzbekistan's president, renounced weapons of mass destruction. Since then, his government has worked closely with American defense officials, granting them access to sites whose counterparts in Russia are still off limits.

The Chemical Research Institute, which is in a closed military complex in Nukus in the semi-autonomous republic of Karakalpakstan, is a case in point. Uzbek officials said they were still uncertain what kind of chemical agents, or how many, were made and tested here and elsewhere on Uzbek soil.

Russia has refused to disclose the information, Uzbek officials complain, and some international arms inspectors have said there is no proof that the Nukus plant was used to produce chemical weapons, now banned.

After touring the plant last year, inspectors from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, the agency based in the Hague, Netherlands, that oversees the 1993 treaty banning chemical weapons, concluded that the institute may have tested weapons but was not a production site.

Mustafoev, of the Uzbek Foreign Ministry, scoffed at the finding, arguing that there was plenty of evidence of such work at the lab that the Soviets built in 1986, closed to all but the Russian scientists who worked there, and abandoned only in 1992. American officials agreed, noting that a senior defector from the Soviet chemical weapons program, Vil Mirzayanov, who worked for more than 25 years in the Soviet chemical weapons program, had told them and later said publicly that the plant was built to produce small batches, for testing, of Novichok binary weapons, designed to escape detection by international inspectors.

Col. Islamov Abushair, the commander of the Uzbek military base in Nukus, highlighted what he called evidence of the secret Soviet chemical weapons program as he escorted a reporter recently on a rare tour of the plant, now closed. As the Soviet Union was crumbling, he explained, the more than 300 scientists at the plant packed up their deadly chemicals, their most sensitive equipment, manuals and their test results, and left.

Shards of brown, glass laboratory bottles littered the plant's floors, and the icy air of an early spring rushed through broken windows. In one room stood a large test chamber into which small animals were once placed for testing.

Another room contained treadmills for dogs and dozens of testing harnesses, to cram dogs' muzzles into gas masks, leaving their bodies exposed. The device enabled scientists to expose either the dog's skin, or lungs, to lethal chemical agents, Uzbek and American experts said.

"This is the monstrous rubbish they left us,'' said Islamov, whose battalion of Uzbek soldiers now occupies the apartments in which elite Russian scientists and their families used to live.

Islamov and other Uzbek officials said that their country lacked the money to decontaminate and convert the plant and stop the pollution caused by accidents, poor safety procedures and the disposal and dumping of chemical wastes and discarded weapons. A Pentagon official said Monday that the United States would help Uzbekistan dismantle and decontaminate the complex "to prohibit the proliferation of equipment from this pilot-scale production facility."

Information is slowly emerging about the hundreds of open-air chemical tests performed not only at the Nukus plant but also on the neighboring Usyurt Plateau in the Turgay Steppe, an equally inhospitable desert several hundred miles west of the Aral Sea, which Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan share.

Uzbek and American bio-warfare experts said that in 1988 thousands of antelope dropped dead on the plateau when the wind unexpectedly shifted during one of the chemical tests. Their carcasses are still buried in a pit on the range, they said.

The Soviet-run animal research institute in Tashkent once produced snake- and spider-venom weapons for the KGB's assassination program, scientists said.

Abdusattor Abdukarimov, director of the Institute of Genetics and Plant Experimental Biology in Tashkent, now a civilian plant, said that in Soviet times it produced wheat pathogens and other microbes to attack plants.

______________________

- Second of five messages - _____________________

_______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________

Message: 4 Date: Tue, 25 May 1999 13:40:11 -0400

Subject: NucNews-3 5/25/99 - US - Westerners & Nuc Waste; Ohio Nuc Plant Fine, whistleblower; Carolinas Nuc Plant Renewal; Arkansas Nuc Plant Award; Reno defends China actions

13. Westerners need to hang together

By Winston Weeks and Steve Erickson, Deseret News, May 24, 1999 http://www.dogpile.com (search newswires "nuclear OR plutonium OR uranium OR radioactiv???")

Benjamin Franklin said during the Revolutionary War that "We must all hang together or most assuredly we will all hang separately." As the failed nuclear power industry and the nuclear weapons establishment seek to dump their nuclear waste in Utah, Nevada, Idaho and New Mexico, old Ben's statement is surely true today for those of us who live in the West.

Aiding and abetting this effort is the rogue offspring of the old Atomic Energy Commission, an independent governmental agency called the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).

On March 1 the NRC issued a proposed rule that would allow the commission to circumvent open-meeting laws. The rule, if adopted, would permit meetings in secret by three or more of the commission's five members. As it stands now, only two members of the commission can discuss business privately that is not open to the public. Sen. Richard Bryan, D-Nev., adamantly opposes the plan. "With the NRC having control over some of the most dangerous and volatile substances known to mankind, the argument could be made that no federal agency should pay more attention to open-meeting requirements," Bryan said. (Las Vegas Sun, April 30, 1999.)

In Utah, the NRC arrogantly rubber-stamps the incredibly dangerous plans of International Uranium Corp. in Blanding to "reprocess" the deadly wastes of the Manhattan Project and approves a misguided and unscientific plan to "cap" the radioactive tailings in Moab that pollute the Colorado River system. Now the NRC tells us that "we the people" of the West don't need to know the financial details of the high-level nuke dump planned for the Goshute reservation.

It is next to impossible for the public to get standing for hearings before the NRC. Even people living next to a site or proposed site are not worthy of standing as far as the NRC is concerned. The White Mesa Utes, environmentalist Ken Sleight and others have failed repeatedly to gain standing with the NRC concerning the activities of International Uranium. NRC policies make it impossible for anyone without the money to hire legal experts from even trying to navigate the labyrinth of bureaucratic jargon and legalese that comprise their rules and regulations.

Without strong congressional pressure, the nuclear cabal's plan to dump radioactive waste in the West is virtually assured since the NRC, being an independent government agency, acts on its own as judge, jury and executioner. Bryan is so upset by what he sees as the NRC's lack of responsiveness to citizens that he wrote the White House threatening to withhold future support for any new nominee to the commission, including the chairman, whose term expires June 30.

We call on Utah Sens. Orrin Hatch and Bob Bennett, as well as our entire congressional delegation, to join Bryan in defending our interests as Westerners. As the West is under attack once again by the radioactive menace, it is time that we "hang together" lest we "hang separately.

---------------------

14. FirstEnergy faces $110,000 discrimination fine

May 24, 1999, Ohio Beacon Journal http://www.ohio.com:80/bj/news/ohio/docs/005363.htm

AKRON, Ohio (AP) -- The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission proposed a $110,000 fine Monday against FirstEnergy Corp. on charges that the utility discriminated against an employee.

NRC said FirstEnergy discriminated against a supervisor at its Perry Nuclear Plant in 1997 for testifying in a U.S. Department of Labor hearing involving possible discrimination against another employee.

NRC prohibits utilities from discriminating against employees for raising safety issues or other protected activities such as providing testimony to the labor department.

FirstEnergy, which has not decided whether to protest the fine, said the penalty was unfair.

``We're very concerned about this decision,'' said FirstEnergy spokesman Todd Schneider. ``Our manager did not discriminate against an employee.''

The discrimination against the supervisor in the plant's radiation protection department consisted of ``verbal counseling'' by his manager and the placement of a memorandum in his personnel file documenting the counseling, the NRC said.

``Discrimination committed at this level has the potential to create a chilling effect throughout the radiation protection department and could influence individuals in other plant departments,'' said NRC spokesman James Dyer.

Schneider disagreed, saying that the information placed in the employee's personnel file was not disciplinary.

``Our argument is that the decision doesn't reflect what really occurred,'' he said.

---------------------

15. CP&L Announces Intention to Renew Robinson Nuclear Plant's Operating License

02:12 p.m May 24, 1999 Eastern, /PRNewswire/ http://www.dogpile.com (search newswires "nuclear OR plutonium OR uranium OR radioactiv???")

HARTSVILLE, S.C.-- Carolina Power and Light (NYSE: CPL) has announced that it will apply to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to renew the Robinson Nuclear Plant's operating license for 20 additional years, through July 2030.

Robinson was the first commercial nuclear plant built in the Southeast. It began commercial operation in 1971.

"This decision to move forward with the license-renewal process is based on the economic value of operating the plant for another 20 years," said Scotty Hinnant, senior vice president and chief nuclear officer at CP&L. "However, maintaining the plant's focus on ensuring the health and safety of the public and protecting the environment is, and will remain, our most important consideration as we prepare to operate the plant well into the next century.

"The Robinson Plant has an excellent 28-year record of safely and efficiently delivering energy to our customers," Hinnant said. "And in our culture of continuous vigilance and improvement at CP&L, we recognize the need to demonstrate high performance every hour of every day. Given our commitment to ongoing high performance and safety, seeking license renewal for Robinson makes good sense for us and our customers."

CP&L plans to submit the application for NRC review in late 2003. Doing so will give the NRC sufficient time to complete a detailed environmental and technical review of CP&L's request. The early application also will accommodate the corresponding public hearing process.

A stringent regulatory review of the application will be performed by the NRC to ensure that Robinson will continue to maintain adequate levels of safety for all plant structures, systems and components.

"In many cases, in fact, safety levels have been enhanced over the years through appropriate technical innovations and improved industry practices," Hinnant said.

While the process has not yet been completed on behalf of an operating nuclear reactor, the following are some key facts regarding nuclear plant licenses and the renewal process:

-- Nuclear power plants in the U.S. are licensed by the NRC to operate for 40 years, and can be renewed for an additional 20 years. The 40-year license term reflects the amortization period generally used by electric utility companies for large capital investments. It was not based on safety, technical or environmental issues.

-- There are significant economic, environmental and energy reliability benefits of license renewal. Nuclear energy is increasingly being recognized as the low-cost, clean-air energy source that will help the U.S. achieve its energy and environmental goals. This is especially important as the need for additional electricity generation, using a good mix of energy sources, increases in the United States.

-- A relicensed nuclear plant will continue to be monitored regularly by the NRC. The NRC, which is charged with protecting public health and safety and the environment, has at least one inspector in residence at every nuclear energy plant site in the country.

Over the last few years, the Robinson Nuclear Plant has been recognized for its excellent performance with regard to plant and personnel safety, efficiency and cost. Robinson was listed among the top four plants in the world in capacity factor (a measure of plant efficiency) and recently ranked among the best in the United States in production costs. In addition, Robinson employees have worked six million hours without a lost-time injury.

CP&L customers pay, on average, between 5 and 7 percent less for electricity today than they did in 1990, while the overall cost of living has increased nearly 25 percent during that time. That savings has been achieved, in large part, through the fuel-cost component in CP&L's rates, which is adjusted annually by regulators to reflect the actual cost of fuel used in electric generation. The outstanding performance of the Robinson Nuclear Plant has played a significant part in this reduction in electric rates enjoyed by customers.

CP&L's Robinson Nuclear Plant, located near Hartsville, S.C., is a 683-megawatt power plant that first received its operating license in 1970. Robinson is one of three CP&L nuclear plants. The others are the 1,657 MW, two-unit Brunswick Nuclear Plant near Southport, N.C., and the 860 MW Harris Nuclear Plant near New Hill, N.C. CP&L has not initiated the license-renewal process for those reactors, which began commercial operation later than Robinson. SOURCE Carolina Power & Light

---------------------

16. Arkansas Nuclear One Wins Prestigious Industry Award

03:06 p.m May 24, 1999 Eastern, /PRNewswire/ http://www.dogpile.com (search newswires "nuclear OR plutonium OR uranium OR radioactiv???")

RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. -- A team representing Entergy's Arkansas Nuclear One is a grand-prize winner of the Nuclear Energy Institute's 1999 Top Industry Practice Award. The announcement was made Thursday in Washington D.C. at the Nuclear Energy Assembly, the industry's annual conference. Sharing in what is one of the industry's most prestigious awards was the Comanche Peak nuclear plant owned by TXU Electric & Gas. The Texas plant was also recognized as a TIP Award grand-prize winner.

The ANO team representing Unit 2 at the plant site was recognized for an innovative, risk-informed in-service inspection program for piping welds. Introduced earlier this year during the latest Unit 2 refueling outage, the award-winning program uses risk analysis to focus inspection efforts in areas that are most important to plant safety. The program, endorsed by both the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Electric Power Research Institute, also minimizes occupational radiation exposure for plant personnel. Compared to exposure levels during previous Unit 2 outages, cumulative exposure for this activity during the unit's latest outage was reduced by over 80 percent.

The NEI TIP Awards program was established in 1994 to recognize innovations from nuclear plant personnel at all levels. Since its inception, Entergy Operations Inc., a nuclear management subsidiary of Entergy Corporation (NYSE: ETR) and operator of Entergy-owned ANO and Entergy's three other nuclear stations, has had TIP Award grand prize winning teams four out of the six years the awards have been offered. In recognition of this latest award, Entergy Operations Chief Executive Officer Jerry Yelverton said, "We're proud to have an Entergy Operations team in the winner's circle for the fourth time since we received the inaugural TIP Award in 1994. This program promotes the nuclear industry's tradition of sharing best practices that has strengthened our performance and helped ensure nuclear power's viability."

This is the second time an ANO team has been recognized as a grand-prize winner. The station's first win was in 1997. This year the ANO team was also named the recipient of a vendor award from Unit 2 designer, ABB Combustion Engineering.

Grand Gulf Nuclear Station, located in Port Gibson, Mississippi, another Entergy-owned plant operated by Entergy Operations, was the first to ever win the TIP Awards top honor claiming the grand prize in 1994. Grand Gulf also won it again in 1998.

Over the six years the TIP Awards have been offered, better than 250 entries have been received -- more than 40 were submitted for consideration this year. The judging panel is selected from outside the industry. Among the criteria considered by the judges in choosing a winner are safety, cost, productivity, innovation, and transferability, usefulness throughout the industry.

"Entergy Operations and TXU Electric & Gas are the innovators -- those who can find a new way to increase production, efficiency, and safety," said Joe Colvin, NEI president and chief executive officer. "The TIP Awards program helps maintain cutting-edge technology and business practices in the nuclear industry. Sharing this information among companies that operate today's nuclear power plants improves safety, and it improves nuclear energy's competitive position in the marketplace." SOURCE Entergy Operations, Inc.

---------------------

17. Reno Defends Decisions In China Spying Case

08:09 p.m May 24, 1999 Eastern (Reuters) http://www.dogpile.com (search newswires "nuclear OR plutonium OR uranium OR radioactiv???")

WASHINGTON - Attorney General Janet Reno, under pressure to resign over handling of alleged nuclear spying by China, Monday defended the Justice Department's refusal to approve FBI requests for a wiretap of a suspect at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.

``The Justice Department has not -- nor will it -- authorize such intrusions when, as in this case, the standards of the Constitution and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) have not been met,'' Reno said in a written statement.

A scientist from Los Alamos, Wen Ho Lee, was fired in March amid suspicions he passed classified information to China. He has not been charged with any crime.

Reno's statement also said that the FBI's 1997 request for surveillance of Lee ``did not contain a request to search any computer.''

She said career Justice Department lawyers rejected the FBI's surveillance request and that FBI Director Louis Freeh ''firmly believes that the decision in this case was based on a principled analysis of the law and the facts'' presented at the time.

China is accused of stealing U.S. information on nuclear weapons and intelligence officials have said the data could be used to upgrade its weapons arsenal. Beijing has denied the charges.

Republicans in Congress called for Reno to resign on the eve of the release of a lengthy report by a special House committee detailing China's alleged theft of nuclear and military secrets.

``I believe the Justice Department is adrift,'' said Republican Sen. Richard Shelby, of Alabama, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. ``I believe that the attorney general ought to resign and she ought to take her top lieutenants with her.''

Even one staunch Democrat has suggested Reno ought to consider stepping down. Sen. Robert Torricelli, of New Jersey said there was ``something wrong when the United States Congress on a bipartisan basis has so little confidence in the chief law enforcement officer of the United States.''

But White House spokesman Joe Lockhart said Monday President Clinton had confidence in the attorney general ``and will continue to have confidence.''

Tuesday, a special House panel chaired by Republican Representative Christopher Cox of California was to make public its report expected to detail allegations that China stole U.S. nuclear weapons secrets over the past decades.

Reno said she took ``very seriously'' the Justice Department's responsibility to protect the national security. She has ordered an investigation of the handling of the Lee case, which dates back to the early 1980s.

ALSO:

Reno to Stay Despite Criticism By Michael J. Sniffen Associated Press Writer Monday, May 24, 1999; 6:44 p.m. EDT http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WAPO/19990524/V000067-052499-idx.html

______________________

- Third of five messages - _____________________

_______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________

Message: 5 Date: Tue, 25 May 1999 13:40:27 -0400

Subject: NucNews-4 5/25/99 - China Spying (5)

18. No warheads secret after China spying

By Bill Gertz THE WASHINGTON TIMES http://www.washtimes.com/news/news1.html#link

A newly declassified House committee report says China stole secrets on every deployed U.S. nuclear missile warhead in recent years and now has 20 long-range missiles aimed at the United States.

The report, obtained yesterday by The Washington Times, is a sweeping analysis of Chinese efforts to steal U.S. military and defense secrets and technology.

"The world is a lot less safe today as a consequence of these thefts," said Rep. Christopher Cox, California Republican and chairman of the special House committee.

The release of the report this morning comes nearly six months after the committee finished its investigation. Mr. Cox said at least 30 percent has been censored by the White House, citing national security.

While the report says China stole secrets as early as the late 1970s, many occurred in the mid- and late 1990s.

"Some of the most significant thefts have occurred in the last four years" -- after the Clinton administration was informed of serious security lapses, Mr. Cox said.

"It does make one wonder how it is that others who possess this information could so readily have dismissed it or not acted upon it," he said. The report says China:

Stole design information on the United States' most advanced thermonuclear weapons that could be incorporated in the next generation of Chinese ICBMs.

Transferred ballistic missile technology to Iran, Pakistan, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Libya and other countries.

Acquired some 600 supercomputers, some of which are being used in violation of U.S. export laws to develop nuclear arms.

Stole U.S. missile guidance technology with direct applications for China's ballistic missiles, including short-range missiles and ICBMs.

Has more than 3,000 corporations in the United States, some with links to the Chinese military, its intelligence service, or with technology targeting and acquisition roles.

Stole U.S. missile guidance technology that has direct applicability to its ballistic missiles and rockets. The stolen guidance technology is used on a variety of U.S. missiles and military aircraft.

According to the report, the theft of nuclear secrets from U.S. national laboratories helped the People's Republic of China design, develop and successfully test modern strategic weapons sooner than if the the arms were developed alone by China.

"What the PRC has stolen has enabled them to jump over decades of incremental development," Mr. Cox said.

From a force of only one or two long-range missiles, China deployed a total of up to 24 inter-continental ballistic missiles in silos during the 1990s, most of which are targeted on the United States. Within 15 years, China will have increased its ICBM force from about 20 to 100 deployed strategic missiles, the report says.

The report singles out two U.S. companies, Loral Space & Communications Ltd. and Hughes Electronics, for supplying key missile-related expertise that damaged U.S. national security.

By far the most detailed view of secretive Chinese weapons programs ever made public by the government, the report also says China is developing two road-mobile intercontinental ballistic missile systems and a new submarine-launched version that will have more range.

The report is likely to prompt a new debate over the Clinton administration's conciliatory "engagement" policy toward Beijing.

China's theft and legal acquisition of military technology is aimed at pushing Beijing's international agenda and achieving long-term geopolitical goals that include taking over Taiwan and becoming the primary power in Asia, the report said.

It says spy penetrations of U.S. nuclear weapons labs, where the warhead secrets were obtained, spanned several decades and almost certainly continues today. The espionage began in the 1970s and is known to have continued at least through the mid-1990s.

China is using the stolen data to improve its strategic nuclear forces, which include two new mobile intercontinental-range missile and a new class of long-range submarine-launched nuclear missiles.

The stolen nuclear weapons data include classified details on seven U.S. advanced nuclear warheads, including every deployed thermonuclear warhead in the U.S. ballistic missile arsenal, the report says. Thermonuclear explosions are the largest and most advanced type of nuclear blast.

The report states that despite the 1998 announcement at the summit meeting in Beijing that China and the United States would no longer target each other with nuclear weapons, Chinese missiles remain targeted at U.S. cities.

China improved the reliability of those missiles and space boosters as the result of illegal technology sharing by two U.S. satellite companies, Loral Space and Hughes Electronics, whose chairmen lobbied President Clinton into relaxing export controls on militarily useful technology, the report says.

In the case of Hughes, cooperation between China and the satellite maker helped China to improve missile firings and nose cones that could be used on a future Chinese multiple-warhead missile.

Rocket guidance technology provided by Loral and Hughes in 1996 could be adapted for China's new mobile ICBMs.

Hughes deliberately acted without seeking to obtain legal export licenses. The report also said Loral and Hughes helped the Chinese without first obtaining U.S. licenses even though both corporations knew that the licenses for sensitive, militarily useful technology transfers were required, the report says.

A Loral spokesman said: "We remain convinced that our people acted in good faith and did not violate the law or convey any national security information to the Chinese. We were first to bring this matter to the attention of the government in a voluntary disclosure prior to any official inquiry, and we have fully cooperated with the government throughout."

A Hughes spokesman could not be reached.

The report is an unclassified version of a 700-page study produced by the House Select Committee on U.S. National Security and Military/Commercial Concerns With the People's Republic of China. Mr. Cox headed the panel. About 30 percent of the information was redacted, Mr. Cox has said.

Although the committee -- with five Republicans and four Democrats -- completed its work more than five months ago, the final report was withheld from public release for months as Congress and the White House battled over what could be released and what must remain secret for law enforcement or intelligence reasons.

The panel was formed to investigate reports that U.S. satellite companies improperly shared military technology that improved China's strategic missiles. But it ended up going beyond the missile technology transfers and uncovered startling information about Chinese espionage at U.S. nuclear weapons laboratories.

The report said that Beijing is determined to reduce restrictions on the export of U.S. communications satellites for launch in China in order to obtain access to information regarding U.S. satellite technology and to modernize their rockets.

The report states that Hughes' chairman C. Michael Armstrong and Loral's chief Bernard L. Schwartz advocated the transfer of export licensing authority from the stricter controls of the State Department to the Commerce Department.

Mr. Schwartz and Mr. Hughes signed a letter to President Clinton urging the relaxation of satellite export controls, which was ultimately adopted by the president.

Loral and Hughes won waivers or export licenses for their satellites to be launched in China on five projects between 1993 and 1999.

The report also states that China is not abiding by its promises to adhere to the 29-nation Missile Technology Control Regime. Beijing is providing assistance to the missile and space programs of Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and other countries.

The report also said China supplies assistance to the nuclear weapons programs of Iran and Pakistan.

That finding contradicts President Clinton's recent certification to Congress that China was not supplying nuclear weapons-related goods to rogue states.

The report identified two Chinese officials, Wang Jun and Liu Chaoying, as being directly involved in illegal activities in the United States.

Mr. Wang is the son of the late Chinese President Wang Zhen and is head of a Chinese company that tried to smuggle 2,000 AK-47 assault rifles into the United States. He also attended a White House "coffee" with Mr. Clinton in 1996 and is connected to more than $600,000 in illegal campaign contributions made by Charles Yah Lin Trie to the Democratic National Committee.

Mr. Trie, who pleaded guilty last week to federal election law violations, had a handwritten note in Chinese mentioning Hughes, U.S. government export control licenses, bribery and a government official, according to the report.

Liu Chaoying is a People's Liberation Army military officer and the daughter of former Communist Party Central Military Commission Vice Chairman Liu Huaqing, who has used numerous U.S. companies for sensitive technology acquisitions, the report said.

Former Democratic Party fund-raiser Johnny Chung told federal investigators he received $300,000 from Col. Liu. The Cox committee determined that Col. Liu's payment to Johnny Chung was an attempt to better position her in the United States to acquire computer, missile and satellite technologies.

The report noted that these well-connected Chinese officials present a unique technology transfer threat because their multiple connections enable them to move freely around the world and among the different bureaucracies in China.

---------------------

19. China Rejects Allegations of Spying

By John Leicester Associated Press Writer Tuesday, May 25, 1999; 2:14 a.m. EDT http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WAPO/19990525/V000306-052599-idx.html

BEIJING (AP) -- China today rejected allegations that it bolstered its nuclear arsenal by pilfering U.S. military secrets, saying Beijing has never stolen classified material from any foreign country.

China's Foreign Ministry had no immediate reaction to the allegations contained in a U.S. congressional report to be released later today. But a Defense Ministry official noted that Chinese leaders have repeatedly denied allegations of nuclear thefts.

``China has never stolen any other countries' secrets, including from the United States,'' said the official at the Defense Ministry's office. She refused to give her name.

The report by a select House committee on Chinese espionage chaired by Rep. Christopher Cox said China stole secrets about seven major warheads in the U.S. nuclear arsenal as well as the neutron bomb.

The thefts date to the late 1970s through the mid-1990s and ``almost certainly continue to the present,'' according to a copy of the report obtained by The Associated Press.

Chinese academics predicted today that the allegations would further irritate U.S.-Chinese relations already aggravated by disputes over human rights, Taiwan, NATO's war on Yugoslavia and months of periodic leaks from the Cox commission about aggressive Chinese spying.

Yan Xuetong, a scholar of international relations, said the Chinese public and government would regard the allegations as a U.S. attempt to divert attention from NATO's bombing of China's embassy in Yugoslavia on May 7, in which three Chinese reporters were killed.

China responded to the bombing by suspending contacts with the United States on military ties, arms control and security issues and human rights. It also banned U.S. warships from making port calls in Hong Kong, the former British colony that returned to Chinese rule in 1997.

Yan also predicted that Chinese analysts' first reaction would be to launch a counter-investigation into how U.S. intelligence agencies gathered information on China's nuclear arsenal contained in the Cox report.

``How do the Americans know that? What's their military technology spying network in China? How much nuclear technology was stolen by U.S. military spies?'' said Yan of the China Institute for Contemporary International Relations.

``If they really got everything, that means the Americans stole more than China stole from the U.S,'' he said.

Another Chinese scholar, Jin Canrong, said the allegations would make U.S.-China relations ``a little more difficult to manage'' and could tarnish China's image in the United States.

But ``espionage, it should be said, is a quite normal part of relations between countries,'' Jin added. ``Espionage is also a part of U.S. foreign policy, and is part of every country's foreign policy.''

---

20. Beijing Calls U.S. Report A Ploy To Demonize China

Updated 5:05 AM ET May 25, 1999, By Matt Pottinger (Reuters) http://webcrawler-news.excite.com/news/r/990525/05/news-china-usa

China Tuesday denounced a congressional report accusing it of stealing U.S. nuclear secrets as a ploy to demonize China and divert attention from the NATO bombing of Beijing's embassy in Belgrade.

"We think some people in the United States insist on clinging to the Cold War mentality," Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao told reporters.

"They harbor deep prejudice and hostility toward China. They have created a lot of rumors to try to disturb and destroy Sino-U.S. relations," he said.

"The goal is to stir up anti-Chinese sentiment by spreading the theory of a China threat," Zhu said.

Zhu suggested the charges were a ploy to divert attention from the NATO bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade on May 7.

"Under this situation, some Americans have intensified the creation of rumors to exaggerate that China stole U.S. nuclear technology," Zhu said.

A special House panel chaired by Cox, a California Republican, was scheduled to make public Wednesday a declassified version of a report detailing alleged Chinese espionage and illegal acquisition of U.S. technology.

It began as an investigation into whether China obtained U.S. technology through commercial ventures in which U.S. firms used Chinese rockets to launch satellites. But that led to the alleged discovery of Chinese espionage at U.S. nuclear labs.

Zhu called the Cox report "groundless."

"They have ulterior motives," Zhu said.

The report alleged China stole U.S. nuclear weapons design secrets over 20 years through espionage at government laboratories and would use the information to upgrade its own arsenal.

Republicans in Congress have called the report "scary" and said it shows a major breach of national security.

The report, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters, said China had undertaken a "sustained espionage effort" targeting U.S. nuclear weapons facilities.

"The successful penetration by (China) of our nuclear weapons laboratories has taken place over the last several decades, and almost certainly continues to the present," the report said.

Classified information on seven U.S. nuclear warheads and design information for the neutron bomb were among the stolen information, the report said.

The seven warheads were the W-88 miniaturized nuclear warhead, the W-87, W-78, W-76, W-70, W-62 and W-56, and included every currently deployed nuclear warhead in the U.S. ballistic missile arsenal. The New York Times first reported the allegations that China had stolen W-88 information.

China focused its information-gathering efforts on four U.S. nuclear research labs -- Los Alamos, Lawrence Livermore, Oak Ridge, and Sandia, according to the report.

A scientist from Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, Wen Ho Lee, was fired in March on suspicion of passing classified information to China. He has not been charged with any crime.

--

21. Excerpts From China Report

By The Associated Press Monday, May 24, 1999; 11:04 p.m. EDT http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WAPO/19990524/V000225-052499-idx.html http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/w/AP-China-Quotes.html

Excerpts from the congressional report on Chinese espionage aimed at U.S. nuclear secrets and satellite technology:

``The People's Republic of China (PRC) has stolen design information on the United States' most advanced thermonuclear weapons.

``The Select Committee judges that the PRC's next generation of thermonuclear weapons, currently under development, will exploit elements of stolen U.S. design information.

``PRC penetration of our national weapons laboratories spans at least the past several decades and almost certainly continues today.''

---

``These thefts of nuclear secrets from our national weapons laboratories enabled the PRC to design, develop and successfully test modern strategic nuclear weapons sooner than would otherwise have been possible. The stolen U.S. nuclear secrets give the PRC design information on thermonuclear weapons on a par with our own.''

---

``The stolen information includes classified information on seven U.S. thermonuclear warheads, including every currently deployed thermonuclear warhead in the U.S. ballistic missile arsenal.

``The stolen information also includes classified design information for an enhanced radiation weapon (commonly known as the `neutron bomb'), which neither the United States, nor any other nation, has yet deployed.''

---

``In addition, in the mid-1990s the PRC stole, possibly from a U.S. national weapons laboratory, classified thermonuclear weapons information that cannot be identified in this unclassified report. Because this recent espionage case is currently under investigation and involves sensitive intelligence sources and methods, the Clinton administration has determined that further information cannot be made public without affecting national security or ongoing criminal investigations.''

---

``The Select Committee has found that the primary focus of this long-term, ongoing PRC intelligence collection effort has been on the following national weapons laboratories:

--Los Alamos --Lawrence Livermore --Oak Ridge --Sandia''

---

Full Text of the Cox Report http://www.washtimes.com/investiga/investigacox.html

---------------------

22. Report: China Controls U.S. [Companies]

By H. Josef Hebert Associated Press Writer Monday, May 24, 1999; 7:03 p.m. EDT http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WAPO/19990524/V000082-052499-idx.html

WASHINGTON (AP) -- In a blurring of commerce and intelligence-gathering, China clandestinely controls several thousand U.S. ``front companies'' to obtain American technology for military purposes, a congressional report says.

The finding is included in a 700-page document to be released Tuesday by a special House committee investigating espionage and U.S. technology losses to China, officials familiar with the report said Monday.

The report, about a third of which remains classified, will characterize a voracious appetite by China for American technology -- from nuclear secrets at U.S. weapons labs to satellite and computer technology it obtained through business and academic contacts.

The report describes a ``blurring of commerce and intelligence operations'' by China that poses an unprecedented challenge to U.S. efforts to keep China from getting America's military-related secrets, said congressional sources quoting from a portion of the document.

The bipartisan panel, formally known as the House Select Committee on U.S. National Security and Military/Commercial Concerns with the People's Republic of China, has been looking into China technology gains for about a year.

Published reports in recent weeks have described the House committee's finding that China obtained significant information about U.S. nuclear warheads as a result of 20 years of espionage at the Energy Department's nuclear weapons research labs.

The report also describes problems with lax security at the weapons labs and says despite recent improvements, counterintelligence programs will not be what they should be until sometime next year.

The report contends that the espionage threat from China is much broader than the infiltration of the weapons labs, encompassing a broad array of technology-related businesses and academia.

There is evidence, the report concludes, that China has been using -- and continues to use -- an extensive network of both small and large businesses operated by Chinese nationals in the United States to penetrate civilian technology centers.

There may be more than 3,000 such American ``front companies'' -- many concentrated in high-tech centers in California and New England -- with connections to the Chinese intelligence apparatus, the report says.

In addition, the congressional panel concluded, China requires as a normal practice that many of the thousands of students, tourists and other Chinese visitors to the United States to seek out bits of information that might be used for military purposes.

Though not providing specifics, Rep. Norman Dicks of Washington, the ranking Democrat on the committee, said it is clear that China uses an array of businesses and contacts at universities to gather technology information.

``Whether it's touring groups or front companies or actual companies or scientific exchanges, they have a very diffuse system of collecting intelligence,'' Dicks said in a telephone interview.

Over the weekend, Rep. Christopher Cox, R-Calif., the committee's chairman, said Chinese espionage ``has been occurring for some decades.''

``More importantly,'' he continued, his committee's findings will say that ``it continues ... to this very day.''

On Monday, White House press secretary Joe Lockhart said the security labs' shortcomings go back through both Republican and Democratic administrations and defended the administration's response to the security problems.

The White House ``has moved quickly to try to address it,'' he told reporters.

To Republican and some Democratic demands for Attorney General Janet Reno's resignation, Lockhart said the president ``has confidence in the attorney general and will continue to have confidence in her.'' Reno made clear to reporters at the Justice Department that she does not plan to resign. ``I'm right here, going strong,'' she said.

As to China's intentions, Lockhart said, ``We're under no illusion that one of the byproducts of being technological leader in the world is that other people, other countries, who don't have the technological prowess that we do, will try to acquire them one way or another.''

The select committee -- five Republicans and four Democrats -- began its investigation nearly a year ago. Its focus was on technology transfers to China, particularly satellite and computer technology, and to what extent civilian sales were diverted to military use.

In October, according to committee members, the focus shifted dramatically when the panel learned of a major loss of nuclear secrets at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico to the problems of espionage at the weapons labs.

At the same time, the committee heard complaints from a senior Energy Department intelligence officer, Notra Trulock, that he had been stymied in his attempts to bring the espionage loss and security problems at the labs to the attention of senior Clinton administration officials.

______________________

- Fourth of five messages - _____________________

_______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________

Message: 6 Date: Tue, 25 May 1999 13:43:12 -0400

Subject: NucNews-5 5/25/99 - China Spying (4 more)

23. Panel Says Chinese Arms Used U.S. Data House Committee To Release Report On Spying's Effects

By Juliet Eilperin and Vernon Loeb, Washington Post, May 25, 1999; Page A01 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-05/25/072l-052599-idx.html

A House select committee concludes in a long-awaited report that China has stolen design secrets on the United States' most advanced thermonuclear weapons and used them to help develop miniaturized warheads and a new mobile intercontinental ballistic missile that could be tested this year.

The 700-page document, adopted unanimously by a panel of five Republicans and four Democrats headed by Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Calif.), also concludes that penetration of U.S. nuclear weapons laboratories by Chinese spies probably continues to this day as part of a massive Chinese effort to steal or purchase U.S. military technology, according to a review of the report.

The report, which is scheduled for release on Capitol Hill this morning, has been at the center of a year-long Republican-led attack on President Clinton's China policy, including charges that, in part because of security lapses, the Chinese military has obtained ultrasecret data whose loss has undercut U.S. national security.

The inquiry was undertaken originally on a suggestion from then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) that a committee investigate whether contributions to the Democrats' 1996 campaign influenced the administration's regulation of exports of sensitive military-related technology to China. The committee ultimately decided not to pursue that suspicion, focusing instead on the export controls themselves and on signs of espionage at national nuclear weapons laboratories.

The committee's findings on Chinese espionage at the weapons labs, leaked earlier this year, triggered rancorous debate over the past three months and will almost surely have important repercussions on U.S.-China relations. Renewal of China's "most favored nation" trade status is expected to come before Congress as early as next month, and congressional opposition could help delay or forestall China's admission to the World Trade Organization.

With nine congressional committees now investigating China's alleged theft of nuclear secrets, leading Republicans have blasted Clinton for playing down evidence of Chinese spying to protect his policy of engaging the Chinese and fostering trade in satellites, computers and other sensitive dual-use technology that, his critics charge, has harmed national security.

Clinton's top aides flatly deny the charge. Clinton moved to bolster security and counterintelligence at the weapons labs 15 months ago and already has agreed to implement virtually all of the committee's 38 recommendations calling for further upgrades in security and heightened export controls, administration officials said.

Many of the Cox committee's most explosive findings regarding China's theft of nuclear secrets and acquisition of sensitive U.S. military technology and supercomputers have appeared in the media since the panel finished its massive, secret report at the end of last year, triggering an extensive declassification process involving the White House, the Department of Energy and the intelligence community.

But the report, in its detail, is rich with new findings. Chief among them is the fact that a secret 1988 Chinese document obtained by the Central Intelligence Agency in 1995 that triggered the Los Alamos National Laboratory espionage investigation was provided by a double agent under the direction of Chinese intelligence.

The committee cites a CIA conclusion that nonetheless the document contained classified U.S. thermonuclear warhead design information and other technical information on U.S. nuclear weapons. The CIA, in its own review of Chinese espionage, said it was unable to determine how much of the information China stole from the United States, how much it obtained from open sources and what impact it had on Chinese warhead design advances.

The Cox committee's report also includes an intriguing reference to China's further theft of classified thermonuclear weapons information, possibly from a weapons laboratory, in the mid-1990s. But it states that the Clinton administration determined that further disclosure could hamper a criminal probe still underway.

As for stolen U.S. military technology, the committee reports that China has stolen guidance technology now being used in U.S. missiles and fighter aircraft, including the F-14, F-15, F-16 and F-117 fighter jets. The committee concludes that this guidance technology is of enormous value to China in its development of intercontinental ballistic missiles and short-range CSS-6 missiles, which China test-fired over Taiwan's main ports in 1996.

The committee, which began its probe last July by focusing on missile and satellite technology transfers, concludes that U.S. satellite manufacturers, without obtaining required U.S. government licenses, gave China missile design information that enabled Chinese engineers to improve the reliability of Chinese rockets used for commercial and military purposes.

The committee concludes that Hughes Electronics Corp. and Loral Space & Communications passed sensitive technical information to China as part of a 1996 investigation into the failure of a Chinese Long March rocket carrying a Loral-built commercial satellite without an export license, even though both companies knew they needed a license.

Hughes and Loral have denied wrongdoing through spokesmen, and neither firm has been charged with a criminal violation. A Hughes spokesman said yesterday that neither firm transferred any sensitive data to the Chinese in 1996.

Loral's chief executive officer, Bernard Schwartz, was the Democratic Party's largest single donor in 1996. C. Michael Armstrong, Hughes's chief executive from 1994 to 1997, strongly lobbied for the Clinton administration's March 1996 transfer of licensing authority over commercial satellites from the State Department, known for its focus on national security concerns, to the Commerce Department, with its emphasis on promoting U.S. exports.

Administration officials, who fought to keep highly sensitive intelligence conclusions out of the report, fault the Cox committee for consistently using worst-case scenarios in assessing the impact of Chinese espionage and technology acquisition. One senior administration official said he strongly disagreed with the committee's conclusion that stolen U.S. nuclear secrets gave China thermonuclear design information on a par with the United States.

Staff writer Walter Pincus contributed to this report.

---------------------

24. Hill Unites in Exposing Chinese Espionage Explosive Subject Gets an Even Look

By Juliet Eilperin, Washington Post, May 25, 1999; Page A04 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-05/25/097l-052599-idx.html

With the release today of a 700-page congressional report on the explosive issue of Chinese military espionage, Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Calif.) has achieved what some saw as impossible: bipartisan agreement in the era of the politics of personal destruction.

In convincing four Democrats and four Republicans to come to unanimous conclusions on the damage to U.S. security, Cox disappointed those GOP colleagues who had hoped the inquiry would provide them with ammunition to destroy the president. But the collegial approach ultimately ensured that the panel's findings -- that China stole U.S. nuclear weapons secrets -- would be taken seriously by the Clinton administration, Congress and the public at large.

"He was a gentleman throughout the entire process," said Rep. Norman D. Dicks (D-Wash.), who served as ranking minority member of the nine-person panel. "He was definitely interested in a comprehensive report which was thoroughly investigated, but he was also willing to be fair in this enterprise."

To Cox, the very mandate of the Select Committee on U.S. Security and Military/ Commercial Concerns with the People's Republic of China lent itself to collaboration between the parties. "The national security focus of our committee -- technology transfer to a specific foreign country -- made it easier for us to think of ourselves as members of the same team," he said in an interview recently. "We were on the American side."

Cox, a 46-year-old alumnus of the Reagan administration, said he hopes the declassified report allows Americans to engage in a meaningful debate over the nation's security policy. "It's very difficult to solve problems you can't talk about," he said.

The lanky, telegenic Cox is widely considered one of the brainiest members of the GOP Republican hierarchy, a consummate policy wonk who cares deeply about the budget process and boasts impeccable conservative credentials. He completed college at the University of Southern California in three years and then got his law and business degrees from Harvard in another four, making law review editor in the process. He chairs the House Republican Policy Committee, which helps shape the party's agenda in Congress.

At the same time, Cox displays little of the kind of back-slapping camaraderie necessary for rising in leadership; he ran briefly for House speaker once in the past six months and flirted with the idea a second time, only to find his candidacy falter for lack of support.

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, a fiery conservative and close friend of Cox's, calls his colleague "the great conservative hope for many years" but also freely admits "Chris doesn't necessarily have good political instincts."

"He's a very principled person but he's not a passionate person. I think that's something that's held him back, because when he's communicating with people, he tends to present his case as if it's a legal brief," Rohrabacher said. "The public is looking for strong conviction, which they equate with emotion. Chris is a man of very strong conviction, but not someone who shows much emotion."

Then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) tapped Cox to head up the House probe last May, after revelations that two U.S. satellite companies headed by Clinton allies may have transferred to China technology it has used to improve its nuclear missile capability. Gingrich repeatedly told colleagues in private meetings he believed the panel would uncover impeachable offenses against Clinton.

After a newspaper report claimed the committee had "evidence that may be relevant to an impeachment inquiry," Cox and Dicks quickly issued a statement denying the panel had reached any conclusions about its investigation. And Dicks confronted Gingrich personally in the House gym, telling him there were no grounds for impeachment in the report.

"They were looking for something other than Monica Lewinsky," Dicks recalled. "I certainly got the impression [Cox] was under considerable pressure from his leadership to come up with something."

Cox, an unflappable and deliberative speaker who often pauses to come up with the precise word he's seeking in a given context, sidestepped the question of whether some top Republicans were hoping his panel would find a smoking gun against Clinton. But he acknowledged that some of his colleagues chafed at being kept in the dark for more than six months: "I would be asked how the investigation was going, and I'd say, 'Fine.' "

Cox and his colleagues were under considerable restrictions: They operated in a "Sensitive Compartmentalized Information Facility" in the Longworth House Office Building, complete with a vault, constant guards, and computers that must be destroyed once the panel shuts down.

And when most of his colleagues had gone home for the evening, Cox would continue to work, occasionally at the stand-up desk in his office that he uses to compensate for back problems -- a legacy of an injury he suffered two decades ago when he was clerking for a federal judge in Hawaii. As Cox and a friend were navigating the muddy road of a remote island, the jeep they were riding in overturned, trapping him underneath. His back broken, his legs paralyzed, Cox managed to both crawl out from under the vehicle and then recover almost completely within six months.

The long hours the committee members and their staff spent on the report prompted obvious signs of strain, even for a workaholic like Cox. With three young children, he is a firm advocate for a "family-friendly" Congress.

Cox noted: "The most family-friendly thing I can think to do for the next year is not be the chairman of a select committee."

---------------------

25. Report: Thefts Let China Build Nuke

By H. Josef Hebert Associated Press Writer Tuesday, May 25, 1999; 2:22 a.m. EDT http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WAPO/19990525/V000308-052599-idx.html

WASHINGTON (AP) -- China's two-decade effort to steal U.S. weapons technology continued well into the Clinton administration, positioning Beijing to develop modern mobile nuclear warheads as good as America's, says a bipartisan congressional report.

An ``insatiable appetite'' for U.S. technology leaves China ready to leap from a 1950s nuclear weapons program to sophisticated designs ``on par with our own,'' concludes the report.

The 700-page report, being released today by a special House committee chaired by Rep. Christopher Cox, R-Calif., said that while Chinese espionage can be traced back at least to the 1970s, ``thefts almost certainly continue to the present.''

It singled out as particularly damaging the loss of design material from one of America's most sophisticated warheads in the 1980s.

``China has never stolen any other countries' secrets, including from the United States,'' an official at Defense Ministry's office in Beijing said today. The official refused to give her name.

The report describes a breadth of Chinese espionage that is so threatening to U.S. interests that some members of Congress have compared it to the theft of atomic bomb secrets by Russia in the 1940s. The fallout could have a profound impact on the operation of U.S. weapons labs and on U.S.-China relations.

The House and Senate have called for in-depth hearings on Chinese espionage and U.S. nuclear security. And Energy Secretary Bill Richardson within days is expected to announce disciplinary action against a number of Energy Department and lab employees in connection with anti-espionage lapses.

``These thefts of nuclear secrets from our national weapons laboratories enabled (China) to design, develop and successfully test modern strategic weapons sooner than would otherwise have been possible,'' the report says.

With the help of stolen secrets and other technology gains, China ``has leaped, in a handful of years, from 1950s-era strategic nuclear capabilities to the more modern thermonuclear weapons designs'' that took the United States decades to achieve, says the report.

A copy of the report was obtained late Monday by The Associated Press.

The bipartisan select committee began investigating technology transfers to China nearly a year ago. Last fall it refocused much of its attention to espionage at U.S. weapons labs. The committee and Clinton administration have been negotiating for several months on how much of the document to make public.

The committee of five Republicans and four Democrats found that the primary focus of Chinese espionage was the weapons research labs of Los Alamos and Sandia in New Mexico and Lawrence Livermore in California.

Information on a total of seven U.S. warheads, including two of America's most modern, is believed to have been obtained through Chinese espionage in the 1980s, although the losses were not discovered until the mid-1990s. The report also referred to the apparent theft of neutron bomb technology in 1995, but said details remained classified because the matter is under investigation.

The report said that in the late 1990s, China obtained ``electromagnetic weapons technology'' that could be used to attack satellites and missiles, improved detection techniques that could be used against submarines, and ``research technology that if taken to successful conclusion could be used to attack U.S. satellites and submarines.''

Administration officials have questioned how much use any of those technologies are to the Chinese. And while the report was adopted unanimously, some of the four Democrats on the panel, have suggested the report often uses ``worst case'' assumptions.

``This report raises serious security concerns,'' said Rep. John Spratt, D-S.C., a panel member. ``But some of the losses that are hypothesized in the report have yet to be established or proven.''

While China has focused intensely on the weapons labs, the report said its campaign to find technologies and secrets that may help to modernize its nuclear weapons program went far beyond traditional espionage.

``The PRC's appetite for information and technology appears to be insatiable and the energy devoted to the task enormous,'' the report said.

The report described widespread use of the U.S. business community as well as academia in its pursuit of not only secrets but unclassified technology that might be of use militarily.

Two U.S. satellite manufacturers, Loral Corp. and Hughes Electronics, provided China with valuable information to improve the reliability of missiles used to launch communications satellites. However, the report said, the same know-how passed on by the U.S. companies could be used to make China's nuclear missiles more reliable.

``Loral and Hughes showed the PRC how to improve the design and reliability of the guidance system used in the PRC's newest Long March rocket,'' the report said. It said these activities went beyond the license authority given the companies.

About a third of the report remains classified, including some details about the espionage investigation at the Los Alamos lab in New Mexico where a scientist was fired in March after being under suspicion of espionage for more than three years.

The scientist, Wen Ho Lee, has not been charged and he has denied providing any secrets to China, or anyone else.

Attorney General Janet Reno made clear that she isn't resigning even though a Clinton administration loyalist, Sen. Robert Torricelli of New Jersey, suggested she consider stepping down over the handling of allegations of Chinese nuclear espionage.

``I'm right here, going strong,'' she told two reporters who encountered

her in a Justice Department hallway. The Justice Department in 1997 declined to seek a warrant for electronic surveillance of Lee.

The report also said that the U.S. sale of 600 high powered computers to China may help China in the future to develop its nuclear arsenal without actual nuclear testing. China has pledged to adhere to the nuclear test-ban treaty.

``Without the nuclear secrets stolen from the United States, it would have been virtually impossible for the PRC to fabricate and test successfully small nuclear warheads'' prior to its 1996 pledge to comply with the treaty, said the report.

---------------------

26. Nuclear Thriller With Ending as Yet Unwritten

By TIM WEINER, New York Times, May 25, 1999 http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/asia/052599china-nuke.html

WASHINGTON -- Inside the congressional report on Chinese espionage due out on Tuesday is a first-rate spy story. Trouble is, no one is sure what it means.

In the winter of 1995, a Chinese spy walked into the CIA's arms in Taiwan, carrying a suitcase crammed with secret documents. But the CIA eventually decided that the man was under the control of Chinese intelligence, sent to deliver a message whose meaning no one has been able to translate.

The only valuable paper in his suitcase contained evidence that China had obtained secret information on American nuclear weapons. Earlier that year, three scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory, analyzing three years' worth of data from Chinese nuclear tests, voiced similar suspicions. Their fears and the Chinese documents are the seeds from which the new report grew.

The report's conclusions are blunt, say those who have read them: China has stolen data on every significant American nuclear warhead, the stolen secrets helped China design and test modern nuclear weapons, and Chinese espionage at the biggest government weapons labs is long-standing and continuing.

But some of its underlying facts, like China's delivery of documents to the CIA, are so complicated that they may be argued over for years, intelligence officials said Monday.

Not everyone agrees with the conclusion that the Chinese stole nuclear weapons data. "There is no information that we have to say, 'This information is in their hands,' " the Energy Department's new counterintelligence chief, Edward Curran, a respected FBI veteran, told a Senate committee four days ago.

Indeed, some Energy Department officials argue to this day that "no espionage occurred, and if it did occur, it did not occur at Los Alamos," said Notra Trulock, the department's intelligence chief from 1994 to 1998, who strongly disagrees with that argument.

On Tuesday it will be four years to the day since Trulock, the leading whistle-blower in the case, first got wind of suspicions of Chinese espionage at Los Alamos. And despite countless hours of investigation and analysis since that day -- and damage assessments by the CIA, an outside review board and the forthcoming congressional report -- much work lies ahead, he said.

"We still need to do a true damage assessment," he said. "We need to think harder about what all this means."

At the White House, President Clinton's spokesman, Joe Lockhart, repeated official assertions that there was no proof of Chinese espionage under the Clinton administration. "During this presidency," he said, "I can't point to a case where we know something was stolen, we know who did it, and we know where it went to and we know where it came from. That's the bottom line."

Underscoring that bottom line are facts fraught with ambiguity and complexity.

The congressional report concludes that Chinese leaders deliberately sent the messenger of the crucial document to the CIA to tell the United States that China had obtained secret information about the American nuclear arsenal, officials said.

That "makes the case much more complicated than we knew originally," said James Lilley, who was U.S. ambassador in Beijing from 1989 to 1991 and CIA station chief there in the mid-1970s. "It just throws a pall over this thing."

Why would China would want the United States to know that it had stolen nuclear secrets?

Perhaps it was to advertise Chinese nuclear advances, to prove that the Chinese could penetrate American security systems, or to confuse American intelligence.

On the last point, it may have succeeded. That may in part explain the low-key response by law enforcement to the ticking time bomb of espionage allegations in the case.

The report says the crucial document in the Chinese briefcase contained stolen information on six nuclear weapons -- the crown jewels of the American nuclear arsenal, officials said. The theft of information is believed to have occurred in 1988.

Yet a decade later, long after the investigation was under way, key intelligence and law enforcement officials focused only on one weapon system, the W-88, not all six, the report said. They did not mount an all-out investigation into what some politicians and officials are calling one of the biggest spy cases in American history. The only suspect in the case, a Los Alamos scientist named Wen Ho Lee, has not been charged with a crime, apparently for lack of evidence.

Such details from the forthcoming report of the bipartisan committee, headed by Rep. Christopher Cox, R-Calif., have led to calls from key members of Congress for heads to roll, including that of Attorney General Janet Reno. They blame her for a lax response to charges of Chinese espionage.

The Cox report concludes that there is no doubt that thefts of American secrets accelerated Chinese weapons development, officials said. It says espionage aimed at American secrets played a central role in China's acquisition of key nuclear designs.

Yet it also says there is no way to tell how much information was stolen, or what effect stolen secrets may have had on the speed of China's drive toward a modern arsenal, officials said. They said that without hard answers -- and without a suspect under arrest -- the case was like a thriller missing its final pages.