Rating: 
Summary: should be required reading for the FBI
Review: ... to remind them that when politics drives criminal investigations, the first thing sacrificed is the truth. This book has a plot worthy of a John Grisham novel, with a host of powerful villains, starting with politicians on both sides of the aisle. Republicans from Christopher Cox to the appallingly ill-informed Bob Smith (who couldn't even distinguish between Wen Ho Lee and Bill Lann Lee) chose Lee as a scapegoat in order to bring down the Democratic presidency; the Democratic administration complied with the persecution so it wouldn't look soft on Chinese espionage. Other villains included Robert Messemer, the FBI agent whose repeated lying in court should have had him thrown in jail for perjury, Notra Trulock, whose mysterious hand in the investigation was never clearly defined (and who was later revealed to be a rightwing shill), and Bill Richardson, whose political aspirations are, quite rightfully, dead as dirt thanks to his performance in this matter. One must also add the combined forces of the FBI, DOE, and DOJ, all of them so intent on proving that Lee was their man that they were blind to the truth: that Lee was never a spy, and that his worst infraction was the downloading of files that he was actively working on. The reason for those downloads are explained and strike one as completely logical to anyone who has lost precious computer files during a crash, something that had happened to Lee during a previous computer fiasco at Los Alamos. (One should also add that while the FBI was spending millions of dollars pursuing Lee, September 11 was being planned right under their noses.)But as culpable as the politicians and FBI villains are in this piece, they were, in truth, simply doing what they always do: bending the truth to get their way. The real villain, in my opinion, was the media, which was complicit in this witch burning. Journalists have a responsibility to seek and print the truth. In this case, they were shockingly negligent. In particular, the New York Times's Risen and Gerth come across as so egregiously shoddy and dishonest that they seem barely qualified to write for the high school newspaper. If the NY Times did not immediately fire them after this sorry episode, then shame on the gray lady of newspapers. As in any Grisham novel, there are also heroes. The hero in this book is not Wen Ho Lee, who comes across as a naive and clueless victim. Rather, the heroes were his attorneys, who worked largely pro bono, against the powers of the U.S. government, to defend a man everyone had already labeled a traitor. Just as heroic was Judge Parker, whose clear vision and intelligence allowed him to see straight to the truth of the case. Thanks to these heroes, my faith in the U.S. court system was -- somewhat -- restored. The moral of the story? If the FBI comes knocking at your door and wants to ask you a "few questions", shut the door, pick up the phone and CALL A LAWYER.
Rating:
Summary: Beware of Misleading "Spotlight Review" !!!
Review: ...In "My Country Versus Me", Dr. Lee had repeatedly admitted to the security infraction that he committed, and he was even man enough to say that he deserved some kind of punishment for the "mishandling" of data. But the WHOLE point of the book, and the most important lesson one could learn from the entire affair, was the cruel and unusual torture he suffered as a result of rampant anti-Chinese racism, fed by paranoia as well as ingrained prejudices in those who persecuted him and aided in his persecution...look at the first paragraph on p.178 of the book just to get a sense of what some of the main revelations and their context in this whole saga were about. The book tells a lot more, and the messages and lessons are very powerful...For the record, Dr. Lee committed a trivial mishandling of "PARD" data which was NOT "Classified", and it was THREE levels below "TOP SECRET". This is not a minor detail, because for this small security infraction, Dr. Lee was thrown in jail without either a charge or a trial, chained and shackled and treated worse than some of the most dangerous criminals in America. Compare this treatment to the way former CIA director John Deutch, who actually mishandled "TOP SECRET" files, not only got away unpunished but was also promoted to active duties on governmental commissions and then pardoned by Bill Clinton. Or compare Dr. Lee's ordeal to the way LANL lab managers were given a week of vacation after a computer hard drive containing the real crown jewels of America's nuclear weaponry went missing for three weeks! The list of security violations goes on and on...But of course, they were committed by Caucasians, and Dr. Lee was a Chinese who didn't stand a chinaman's chance of fighting the entrapment of the FBI, DOJ, DOE, Congress, and the White House. The media consistently printed false information that humiliated him and his family, violated privacy laws, ruined his reputation, and further fanned the flames of anti-Chinese paranoia in the halls of Capitol Hill. Almost all of this transpired when the persecutors did not even charge him with a crime, because they could not produce a shred of evidence linking him to the accusations...
Rating:
Summary: A Classic Case of Miscarriage of Justice - American Style
Review: America usually complains with much fervor whenever what happened to Dr. Wen Ho Lee happens in another country, because it was truly unjust. Dr. Lee was singled out and persecuted first as a spy, but then for minor charges, simply because he is a Chinese American, and not a 'real American.' His ethnicity played the determining part in the government's pursuit of him, because there were others such as John Deutch, a former Director of Central Intelligence under President Clinton, who had committed more serious infrations than Dr. Lee. Fiftyeight of the 59 charges against him were eventually dropped, and he pled guilty to illegally downloading some PARD (which stands for 'protect as restricted data', assigned to information a level below 'confidential' and two levels below 'secret')files of old legacy codes to protect against another computer crash.
He was released after 278 days of incarceration in a New Mexico jail under the severest of conditions which even serial killers aren't normally subjected to. On the day of his release, Judge James Parker, chief judge for the circuit, apologized to Dr. Lee, saying, "I was misled by my govenment." He almost admitted to being tricked by the FBI and the local U.S. attorney into holding Dr. Lee pretrial under the most demanding solitary-confinement rules. 'A government official' who wished to remain anonymous, later admitted that the prison conditions were tightened to make 'his life so miserable that he would admit to something.' Thankfully, the government didn't succeed!
Throughout the study of this case, the reader will learn that Carol Covert, Robert Messemer, and other FBI agents, tried their best to break him. FBI representatives told lies and 'reinterpreted' lie-detector test results which showed Dr. Lee had passed, with the intent to badger him into admitting that he was a spy for the PRC (mainland China.)
There is also a lesson to be learned here: if the FBI or anyone else bearing a badge comes calling, be nice to them, go with them, but tell the bastards nothing - they already know more about you then anyone without your permission is entitled to.
Rating:
Summary: Captures the corruption at DOE, FBI, and national labs
Review: Believe me, this account of the state of our governmental institutions and national laboratories is right on the mark...maybe more gracious and forgiving than I would have been. As a white American (with a Chinese-American wife and Chinese university students) working for Sandia National Laboratories, I was also racially profiled in this "investigation" even though I do not work on weapons. White Americans who think they will never be targeted for bizarre political and racially motivated reasons should think again and read this book to see what it is like firsthand! A well written account.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointed With Dr. Lee
Review: First of all, I am also Chinese American and have encountered blatant racism throughout my life in America. Like Dr. Lee, I have also worked in the defense industry so I'm familiar with guidelines pertaining to top secret security clearances. My Country Versus Me is an important literary work. Wen Ho and Helen Zia succeed in retaining Dr. Lee's voice as they detail the abuses he endured. I'm sure many minorities in this country can relate to his experiences. Unfortunately, after finishing the book, I didn't have much empathy for Dr. Lee. First of all, there are strict regulations that holders of top secret clearance must comply with. Although other individuals may have been breaching security at his lab, it doesn't excuse Dr. Lee's actions. Individuals cleared for security are instructed and reminded about their vulnerability. Omitting reports regarding the contact with Chinese scientists at the conference and not documenting his duplication of tapes invited trouble. Dr. Lee was so naive and careless that I'm relieved his security clearance has been revoked. Dr. Lee described himself as someone who didn't get involved in other people's problems. As such, he was amazed at all the support he received from strangers during the crisis. But in the end, he doesn't mention any plans to give back and help others. As a convicted felon, Dr. Lee can no longer vote. Then again, he admitted that he never voted in his 24 years as a citizen. That bothered me. Overall, Wen Ho came across as self-centered and pompous. The repeated references to his diet of fresh fish, organic fruits and vegetables got old.
Rating:
Summary: A must read for every one - literally
Review: First of all, this is a great book. Reading this book is like chating with an old uncle talking about his life. He is not a hero by any means, but an ordinary hard-working family man, who is politically naive like most of us. Yet his two-year ordeal involve extraordinary heros (e.g Judge Parker) and shameless villains. The Wen Ho Lee case is a classical example of power-abuse by those individuals who work in the government. The government prosecuted Dr Lee in the name of "national security". However, the national security was badly damaged during this long and painful trial, by those people with power. Millions of dollars of tax-payers money was wasted. Credibility of FBI and the counter-intelligence officers was damaged. Real spies like Robert Hanson escaped or have been overlooked for 20+ years. And most of all, the terrorists had successfully launched their deadly attack against the nation on Sept 11th right under FBI's nose. To me, it's those government officials that we need to be careful for the potential damage of our national security, as well as the civil rights of each individual citizen.
Rating:
Summary: Horror non-fiction
Review: Frightening! There's no better word to describe what happened to Wen Ho Lee. Clearly, this is a case of racial profiling, but the Chinese--and Asian--community can now relax. The new enemies are Middle-Easterners, with hundreds now imprisoned in Guantanamo. And, one day we'll be reading yet another book by the Moslem prison chaplain who has just recently been arrested and held incommunicado for---who knows what? Under our present system of "justice," what happened to Wen Ho could happen to anyone. If you don't believe it, read this book. It's truly an eye opener.
Rating:
Summary: Seven months in solitary confinement
Review: Frightening! There's no better word to describe what happened to Wen Ho Lee. Clearly, this is a case of racial profiling, but the Chinese--and Asian--community can now relax. The new enemies are Middle-Easterners, with hundreds now imprisoned in Guantanamo. And, one day we'll be reading yet another book by the Moslem prison chaplain who has just recently been arrested and held incommunicado for---who knows what? Under our present system of "justice," what happened to Wen Ho could happen to anyone. If you don't believe it, read this book. It's truly an eye opener.
Rating:
Summary: An end to all skeptics about Doctor Lee
Review: I have read two books in which the authors have been attacked by two ominous powers, so they have written the books to tell their account of the stories. One is "Black And White On Wall Street" by Joseph Jett, and the other is "My Country vs. Me" by Wen Ho Lee. In the first book, one of the powers is the Big Corporation; in the second, it's the Government. But in both books, the second power is the same: the news media. For both of these men, their reputations were ruined by a two-pronged attack, first by the people who wanted to bring them down, then aided by a news reporting machine that didn't bother to check the facts but merely reported rumor leaked by the Powerful Ones. And in both books, the final judgments from the authoritative sources (the SEC for Jett, the court for Lee), revealed that all the claims of criminal wrongdoing had no substance, and that indeed these were witch hunts. (Both got slapped with minimal charges, but in both cases, after all the major efforts of the Powerful Ones, this was all they could get, which shows how weak their charges really were.) Trouble is, by the time these results appear, the public already has it in their minds that the people are evil. And in both cases, it becomes clear after awhile that the motive for choosing these individuals was their race. I subscribed to Brill's Content magazine, a journalist watchdog publication, in its beginning days, and I learned from that how the news media take rumors and leaked information, then report it without verifying it; then other news outlets pick up the story, and soon all the news media are reporting the same thing...and not a one has substantiated the story themselves. So everybody thinks it's true because it's all over the news. These two books show how such lazy "reporting" can ruin someone's life. In the Wen Ho Lee book, even when some journalists did investigate, it's shocking how lame their "investigation" was. One reporter thought it notable that Wen Ho Lee grew *Chinese* vegetables in his garden. Oh boy! What irrefutable evidence that he is a spy! Listen, fellow Americans, you'd better watch what you grow in your gardens--it may determine your loyalty to your country! Another reported that Wen Ho Lee worked at a Chinese restaurant. Oh no! How could he! Certainly this must indicate that he is likely to be a spy! As ridiculous as that is, the journalist didn't even get it right--Lee had worked at a restaurant, but it wasn't a Chinese one, or even an Asian food restaurant. The journalist apparently just assumed that because Lee was ethnically Chinese, he must have worked at a Chinese restaurant. After reading these two books and seeing the way journalists report things (as well as my personal experience), I no longer assume that just because it's all over the news media that it's true--and may be not even remotely true. As for the Powerful Ones with the intent to destroy, each needed a scapegoat and did all they could to pin the blame on their chosen victim. For Joseph Jett, Kidder Peabody and General Electric needed to pin the blame on someone for the downfall of that financial enterprise. For Wen Ho Lee, the government needed to find a Chinese spy to prove they were not soft on China. The difference here, though, is that the government is supposed to be our protector of our civil rights. For Wen Ho Lee, the government was a humongous enemy that lied and cheated and used every form of harrassment possible to try to get him to confess to something he didn't do. One important lesson I learned from this, which other reviewers have mentioned, is NEVER TALK TO THE FBI!! Get a lawyer immediately. I see that two new books are coming out on this subject. One is written by Turlock, one of the leaders in this awful witch hunt. Apparently, he is attempting to exonerate himself through this book. I don't see how he possibly can, which makes me want to read it. The other is an investigation from...shall we say, a journalist? ("In Search of an Enemy: Wen Ho Lee and the Revival of the Yellow Peril") Except, in book form, there is generally more care given than in the rush to have the latest hot story before a competitor gets it. To me, Wen Ho Lee's story is totally convincing, and I highly doubt that these two forthcoming books will show that Wen Ho Lee did anything other than what he claimed to do in his book. This book was deeply disturbing. It was sickening all the things the government did to destroy someone's life when the evidence did not support their accusations.
Rating: 
Summary: Chilling
Review: I have read two books in which the authors have been attacked by two ominous powers, so they have written the books to tell their account of the stories. One is "Black And White On Wall Street" by Joseph Jett, and the other is "My Country vs. Me" by Wen Ho Lee. In the first book, one of the powers is the Big Corporation; in the second, it's the Government. But in both books, the second power is the same: the news media. For both of these men, their reputations were ruined by a two-pronged attack, first by the people who wanted to bring them down, then aided by a news reporting machine that didn't bother to check the facts but merely reported rumor leaked by the Powerful Ones. And in both books, the final judgments from the authoritative sources (the SEC for Jett, the court for Lee), revealed that all the claims of criminal wrongdoing had no substance, and that indeed these were witch hunts. (Both got slapped with minimal charges, but in both cases, after all the major efforts of the Powerful Ones, this was all they could get, which shows how weak their charges really were.) Trouble is, by the time these results appear, the public already has it in their minds that the people are evil. And in both cases, it becomes clear after awhile that the motive for choosing these individuals was their race. I subscribed to Brill's Content magazine, a journalist watchdog publication, in its beginning days, and I learned from that how the news media take rumors and leaked information, then report it without verifying it; then other news outlets pick up the story, and soon all the news media are reporting the same thing...and not a one has substantiated the story themselves. So everybody thinks it's true because it's all over the news. These two books show how such lazy "reporting" can ruin someone's life. In the Wen Ho Lee book, even when some journalists did investigate, it's shocking how lame their "investigation" was. One reporter thought it notable that Wen Ho Lee grew *Chinese* vegetables in his garden. Oh boy! What irrefutable evidence that he is a spy! Listen, fellow Americans, you'd better watch what you grow in your gardens--it may determine your loyalty to your country! Another reported that Wen Ho Lee worked at a Chinese restaurant. Oh no! How could he! Certainly this must indicate that he is likely to be a spy! As ridiculous as that is, the journalist didn't even get it right--Lee had worked at a restaurant, but it wasn't a Chinese one, or even an Asian food restaurant. The journalist apparently just assumed that because Lee was ethnically Chinese, he must have worked at a Chinese restaurant. After reading these two books and seeing the way journalists report things (as well as my personal experience), I no longer assume that just because it's all over the news media that it's true--and may be not even remotely true. As for the Powerful Ones with the intent to destroy, each needed a scapegoat and did all they could to pin the blame on their chosen victim. For Joseph Jett, Kidder Peabody and General Electric needed to pin the blame on someone for the downfall of that financial enterprise. For Wen Ho Lee, the government needed to find a Chinese spy to prove they were not soft on China. The difference here, though, is that the government is supposed to be our protector of our civil rights. For Wen Ho Lee, the government was a humongous enemy that lied and cheated and used every form of harrassment possible to try to get him to confess to something he didn't do. One important lesson I learned from this, which other reviewers have mentioned, is NEVER TALK TO THE FBI!! Get a lawyer immediately. I see that two new books are coming out on this subject. One is written by Turlock, one of the leaders in this awful witch hunt. Apparently, he is attempting to exonerate himself through this book. I don't see how he possibly can, which makes me want to read it. The other is an investigation from...shall we say, a journalist? ("In Search of an Enemy: Wen Ho Lee and the Revival of the Yellow Peril") Except, in book form, there is generally more care given than in the rush to have the latest hot story before a competitor gets it. To me, Wen Ho Lee's story is totally convincing, and I highly doubt that these two forthcoming books will show that Wen Ho Lee did anything other than what he claimed to do in his book. This book was deeply disturbing. It was sickening all the things the government did to destroy someone's life when the evidence did not support their accusations.
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