A Convenient Spy: Wen Ho Lee and the Politics of Nuclear Espionage

Rating:
Summary: Spicey Stir-fry Recipes for Media, Nukies, and G-Persons
Review: "Truth is stranger than fiction," goes the cliche'. If you don't start talking to yourself in amazement while reading this factual investigative triumph, you have guava juice dribbling through your veins. Poor, lovable, misunderstood Wen Ho Lee. A two-time career loser in higher mathematics who manages to secure a position writing codes for nuclear weapons development. To make sure he has eternal access to practically the largest collection of nuclear weapons secrets ever amassed, he finagles them from the secure computer system at Los Alamos and leaves them on a network that any hacker could access, then copies them on storage tapes that several nasty nations would love to play. Why did he do this? The G-persons were sure it must be a Chinese plot to steal "the Crown Jewels" of our nuclear weapons programs. His indiscretion gets Lee clapped in irons and he is reviled as the most damaging spy ever to have threatened our national security. But was he merely stupid, neurotic, malicious or just insecure? Lee endures insult after insult, loses weight on the jail menu, and steels himself for a long ordeal that could end in death. His excellent L.A. legal team blames racial profiling on his arrest, and brilliantly pulverizes the prosecution, thanks to its dependence on lying, bone-headed agents who describe their prevarications as "mistakes." He cops a plea, gets credit for time served and is set free. As a convicted felon, he can't vote, but he can still live in sunny New Mexico, garden, fish and cook for friends. He can also write his own self-serving version of this fiasco, sell movie rights and turn his misery into money. After being treated to a keyhole view of his deceptions and outright lies I wouldn't believe much of what Lee has to say about himself. This whole episode cost every U.S. taxpayer money and may really have made life a little more precarious if our enemies did obtain and apply the information Lee made so accessible. But this book also shows how we are only a few averted visions from turning into a police state, and a couple of political fiascos from nuclear war. If you want to stay clear of suspicion in sensitive government weapons jobs, not only do you have to avoid committing crimes, but you have to pro-actively try to appear from every perspective as though every action were innocent. It also helps if you happen to be white. As the book reveals, there just aren't enough white scientists and engineers to fill the empty office desks and lab counters in our nuclear weapons programs, and after Wen Ho Lee's experience, scarcely any brilliant Asian-background applicants are lining up for these jobs.
The real heros in this drama are Lee's friends, neighbors, family and a few co-workers who stood up for him, put their life savings and personal reputations on the line, and kept close watch as a truly disturbed security heirarchy and fouled-up judiciary sliced and diced American justice. There ain't nobody perfect, but at the end you like the diminutive, deceptive Lee a whole lot better than the Goliath that tried to stomp him into dust. You just wouldn't want to buy a used car from him.

Rating:
Summary: Objective
Review: If you want an objective look at the case then read the Stober-Hoffman account.

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful book
Review: Some one said the Authors were biased against Dr. Lee, I don't agree with that point at all.

When the first time I read it two years ago, I immediately fell in love with this book. The beautiful writing, the amazing story and the vivid people all made me think and change even today.

My thanks go to the Authors for their wonderful work.

Rating:
Summary: Some good information, some poor reasoning
Review: Stober and Hoffman are professional reporters pursuing the truth, unencumbered by political ambitions or personal vendettas. Their rich descriptions of the many players and settings paint a colorful picture and make this serious drama come alive. I was amazed at so much: from the liberal flow of visitors and information so directly related to our Nation's defense to the bumbling incompetance during the investigation.

A must read for an objective and compelling look at this not-so-proud moment in American history.

Rating:
Summary: A dissappointment - the coverage is flawed
Review: The books fails to cover the security aspects
of the Wen Ho Lee case accurately. This is
more dissappointing considering Hoffman did
covered the security aspects at the Los Alamos Labs
in his original newspaper articles but such
coverage did not make it to this book.

Hoffman and Stober incorrectly refers to Wen Ho Lee's
data as classified when infact the data was technically
not considered classifed when Wen Ho Lee was working
on them. Data security at Los Alamos is defined at
multiple levels. While Wen Ho Lee had a very high
security clearance, the software and data Wen Ho
Lee was working with was defined as "Protected As
Restricted Data"(PARD) which is not considered
classified but one step below it. Classified data
at the lab was defined as "Classified Restricted
Data" (CRD). The files that Wen Ho Lee copied onto
the infamous tapes were all PARD; however, after
the FBI found his backup tape notebook - the DOE
retroactively redefined the tapebackup data files
as CRD and "Top Secret"(TS). This allowed the
FBI to prosecute Wen Ho Lee as a felon. The
government ploy was to intimidate Wen Ho Lee
in hopes that they could get Wen Ho Lee to
disclose a spy handler or a spy ring.

Much of the data at Los Alamos is listed as PARD
because none of the researchers wants to go over
the many lines of code to determine if there were
any secrets worth protecting. In the past, efforts
by DOE intelligence to eliminate the PARD
classification has met with resistance from most
of the scientists at the atomic labs because
researchers found PARD useful in reducing the
security workload (so they could focus on their
work at advancing science and weapon technologies).
IIRC while the installation of PARD data on non
classified computers was against security
regulations - it was not a felony - one might
could lose one's security level or at worst be
dismissed. Reportedly more often than not the

mishandling of PARD data would only bring a
reprimand. Prosecution's argument for treating
the Wen Ho Lee case differently was that a
massive amount of data was involve. However,
Many of the lab scientists who normally work
with massive amounts of data felt that the
prosecution of Wen Ho Lee amounted to an
abuse of power by security. To make such
matters worst, it was disclosed that CIA Dir
John Deutch was caught editing Top Secret documents
on home computer which was not approved
as a classified computer ( FBI officials were
relucant to prosecute Deutch. Deutch's case
was a source of embarassment to the Clinton
administration. John Deutch case was
closed when he was pardon by President Clinton.
Wen Ho Lee however was unable to get a
presidential pardon. )

Hoffman and Stober's puts a great deal of effort in
describing the case against Wen Ho Lee. The book
reads rather unevenly. In general, when the book
describes possible error or problems with government
agents like Trulock and Dan Bruno, the authors
immediately provide a defenses or alibi to deny
any wrongdoing or dismissing any error. However,
in general when the book presences evidence against
Wen Ho Lee the author do not provide any immediate
defense for Wen Ho Lee but rather tries to build
up Wen Ho Lee as the mystery man; the reader has
to wait until the end of the book for Wen Ho Lee's
defense. I suppose this was for dramatic buildup?
In writing this book the authors acknowlegde
they had immediate access to the government agents.
The book's acknowlegdement seems to indicate
that the authors did not have immediate access
to Wen Ho Lee - who was writing his own book
about his experience.

Rating:
Summary: It's like watching a movie, but something is missing...
Review: The characters are so alive. It's almost like watching a movie.

In one occasion, Wen Ho¡¦s son, Chung, was questioned about any gambling loss their family had on their stops in Las Vegas, so that a connection between huge gambling loss and a motive to spy can be drawn. But only to find out yes, there was loss, about 50 dollars. And that made Wen Ho very upset and stop playing for a long time. Dud. I can imagine how this scene can be played in a movie.

Authors went through a large variety of sources to write this book. This book is well titled: ¡§¡Kand the politics of Nuclear Espionage¡¨

Due to the fact that authors were not able to interview Lee for first hand information, (probably at the advice of Lee's lawyers) there is an apparent lacking of Lee¡¦s view. But that perspective is complimented in his own book: ¡§My Country versus Me¡¨, which I just read, a wonderful book too.

However, there is a more serious aspect. Although authors examined in detail about Las Alamos Lab, FBI, DOE, DOJ, there is a unbalanced lacking of behind the scene stories on news media. Among all the mighty powers controlling the fate of Lee, New York Times, Washington Post and Times were as influential as DOE, DOJ and FBI. There is no scrutiny of any of them at all, neither media bosses nor the corresponds. Authors missed that part of the democracy system completely. Well, to be optimistic, we might expect those stories to appear in ¡§A Convenient Spy II¡¨. Just like those popular movies.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Reporting - Comprehensive and Objective
Review: This books gives an extremely lucid account of the United States V. Wen Ho Lee. I appreciated the book at several levels. Given the spotty coverage in the national media as the case and trial unfolded, the book paints a complete picture of the historic event. The veteran reports, Dan Stober and Ian Hoffman, deliver an unbiased account of all the key events and players. To a large degree, the reporters allow you to form your own opinion on Wen Ho Lee's motivations. Not until the final Epilogue does the book explore the possible motivations for why Mr. Lee placed moved numerous files onto an unclassified network and even went to the trouble of creating a huge tape library of the programs and data used for modeling nuclear explosions. (Mr. Lee eventually pleaded guilty to violating security laws regarding the treatment of these files. And to date, the federal government has been unable to trace and locate several of the tapes he created as "backup.")