Tiger Trap

by David Wise

  [>]the agents also found three other documents: RT, pp. 12–13.

  [>]At this initial interview, however, he did not reveal his own affair with Leung: Ibid., p. 18.

  [>]Not until a second meeting ... did Cleveland confess to his own long-term sexual relationship with PARLOR MAID: Ibid.

  [>]"The FBI must now re-assess all of its actions and intelligence analyses based on her reporting": RT2, p. 24.

  [>]conducting a surveillance ... for a corporate client of the Emerald Group, a private security firm: Thomas R. Parker interview, June 10, 2003.

  15. ROYAL TOURIST

  [>]a miniature bug, a microphone that had been disguised to pick up conversations in the room: Interviews with former FBI counterintelligence agents and statement of Jonathan S. Shapiro, assistant US attorney, Los Angeles, United States v. Peter Hoong-Yee Lee, US District Court, Central District of California, Western Division, 97-CR-118 TJH, March 26, 1998, p. 23: "The defendant's wife found the bug which somewhat compromised its value to law enforcement."

  [>]"at breakfast he tells a colleague that the strangest thing happened": Paul Moore interview, August 19, 2008.

  [>]the Joint UK/US Radar Ocean Imaging Program ... to detect submarines moving underwater: Arlen Specter, US Senate, Report on the Investigation of Peter Lee, prepared for the Senate Subcommittee on Department of Justice Oversight, December 20, 2001, p. 1, http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2001_rpt/peterlee.html.

  [>]he said the technology could also be used to detect submarines moving below the surface: The Peter Lee Case: Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Administrative Oversight and the Courts of the Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. Senate, 106th Congress (March 29, April 5, and April 12, 2000), pp. 51, 252.

  [>]he erased the graph and tore the photograph into small pieces: Ibid., p. 252.

  [>]Cordova interviewed Lee, who insisted, as he had on his travel form for TRW, that he had paid his own expenses: Ibid., p. 21.

  [>]Lee now admitted he had lied: Specter, Report on the Investigation of Peter Lee, p. 5. The author reached Peter Lee by telephone at his home in California on March 23, 2009, and asked to interview him for this book. He twice said, "I'm not interested" and then hung up. Lee did not reply to a follow-up letter asking him to reconsider.

  [>]Lee submitted the phony receipts to the FBI: Specter, Report on the Investigation of Peter Lee.

  [>]ICF, the use of lasers to attempt to trigger what amounted to miniature, tabletop thermonuclear explosions: Final Report, unclassified version, of the Select Committee on US National Security and Military/Commercial Concerns with the People's Republic of China, H.R. Rep. 105–851 (Cox Report) (1999), p. 89.

  [>]Lee met with Chen Nengkuan.... Chen told Lee he did not need to speak, he could just nod yes or no: Specter, Report on the Investigation of Peter Lee, p. 4.

  [>]For two hours, Lee answered questions and drew several diagrams, including sketches of hohlraums: Ibid.

  [>]"what I thought was a dead-bang case": Jonathan S. Shapiro testimony, Peter Lee Case: Hearings, p. 71.

  [>]"I strongly advocated for ... pursuing Mr. Lee on charges of espionage": Ibid., p. 70.

  [>]With a narrow exception ... the statutes do not penalize disclosure of classified documents as such but of information "relating to the national defense": See David Wise, The Politics of Lying (New York: Random House, 1973), chap. 4 and pp. 65–66.

  [>]in 2008 the government classified 23,421,098 documents: Information Security Oversight Office, Report to the President for Fiscal Year 2008, p. 7.

  [>]the Pentagon classified the fact that it was sending monkeys into space: Wise, Politics of Lying, pp. 67–68.

  [>]he could claim he was only trying to help persuade China not to conduct tests of nuclear weapons in the air: Michael Liebman testimony, The Peter Lee Case: Hearings, pp. 125–26.

  [>]the article discussed Livermore's role in the joint US/UK program: "Radar Ocean Imaging," Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory website, http://www.llnl.gov, March 29, 1995; Ibid., p. 128.

  [>]"important progress in the development of methods to detect submarine signatures with remote sensing radars": Richard E. Twogood testimony to the Research and Technology Subcommittee, House Armed Services Committee, April 1994, Peter Lee Case: Hearings, p. 130.

  [>]"my immediate response was that it is at least confidential, and I thought it was likely ... secret": Twogood testimony, Peter Lee Case: Hearings, p. 23.

  [>]"Dr. Twogood, in my view, would have gone down in blue flames on cross-examination": Shapiro testimony, Peter Lee Case: Hearings, p. 78.

  [>]"I wasn't allowed to hook Mr. Lee up": Ibid., p. 85.

  [>]he opposed "a prosecution that might risk exposure of ... ASW [antisubmarine warfare] information": John G. Schuster testimony, Peter Lee Case: Hearings, p. 45.

  [>]"the Navy's reluctance was a problem": Jonathan S. Shapiro interview, January 14, 2009.

  [>]"the FBI is much more interested in the intel yet to be garnered than in punishing felons": Michael P. Dorris memorandum, November 25, 1997, Peter Lee Case: Hearings, p. 74.

  [>]"I'm a one-trick pony": Shapiro testimony, Peter Lee Case: Hearings, p. 75.

  [>]Lee thus was pleading guilty to revealing information in 1985 ... on inertial confinement fusion. There was no mention in the plea bargain of the data he had revealed in 1997 about detecting submarines by radar: Peter Lee Case: Hearings, p. 258.

  [>]"to threaten previously invulnerable U.S. nuclear submarines": Cox Report, p. 88.

  [>]"had the potential of creating a widespread misperception": Peter Lee Case: Hearings, p. 38.

  [>]It was just "a scientific thing": Ibid., p. 315.

  [>]the prosecutor displayed a hohlraum in court: Ibid., p. 323.

  [>]"Please, your honor, don't put me in jail": Ibid., p. 333.

  [>]Hatter was skeptical of Lee's explanation: Ibid., p. 332.

  [>]The Pentagon asked the Naval Criminal Investigative Service to conduct a "Project Slammer" interview with Lee: Statement of Thomas A. Betro, NCIS, to U.S. Senate, Subcommittee on Administrative Oversight and the Courts, Senate Judiciary Committee, March 29, 2000. "Based on FBI recommendations, a Project Slammer interview was not conducted."

  [>]"the only reason it was classified was to get funding from Congress": James D. Henderson interview, July 16, 2009.

  16. RICHARD NIXON AND THE HONG KONG HOSTESS

  [>]"Intelligence was a cottage industry in Hong Kong": Milton A. Bearden interview, December 8, 2008.

  [>]"He said there's all kinds of reports about her working for the other side": Dan Grove interview, October 28, 2008.

  [>]"Spanos said she spent last night with Nixon": Grove interview, July 27, 2009.

  [>]"'but Nixon is a US politician and just had a TOP SECRET briefing here'": Grove interview, October 28, 2008.

  [>]"Spanos says, 'I understand you spent the night with the big man last night.' She giggles": Ibid.

  [>]"She said, 'Myself and Teresa entertained Nixon'": Perry J. Spanos interview, January 14, 2009.

  [>]"She swears they never even touched, and I believe her": Grove interview, October 28, 2008.

  [>]"The Brits said it's been reported to us several times she was a possible CHIS [Chinese intelligence service] agent": Ibid.

  [>]"a regular bedmate of Vice-President Nixon when he visited Hong Kong": FBI memorandum, July 1976.

  [>]"Sullivan thought with this information Nixon would never get rid of Hoover": Grove interview, July 27, 2009. Sullivan's reaction, as related by Grove, that "Mr. Nixon's private life is of no concern to this bureau," was both hilarious and ironic, given Hoover's exactly opposite reputation as an avid collector of personal gossip about political figures, one of the weapons the FBI director used successfully to maintain his power.

  [>]he had asked Hoover to remain as FBI chief: Robert B. Semple, "Nixon Will Retain Hoover and Helms," New York Times, December 17, 1968.

  [>]Hoover dropped by the White House for a private lunch with President Kennedy: "Al
leged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders," An Interim Report of the Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, U.S. Senate, 94th Congress, 1st Session, S. Rep. 94–465 (1975), p. 130.

  [>]"the last telephone contact between the White House and the President's friend [Judith Campbell] occurred a few hours after the luncheon": Ibid. The Senate report adds, deadpan: "There is no record of what transpired at that luncheon."

  [>]"'I'll handle this one,' Hoover said gleefully when I passed the letter on to him": William C. Sullivan with Bill Brown, The Bureau: My Thirty Years in Hoover's FBI (New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1979), p. 198.

  [>]"From that time on the senator's right in his pocket": Jack Nelson, "Wiretap Files Were Kept From Hoover, Aide Says," Los Angeles Times, May 15, 1973, p. A10.

  [>]she confirmed that she and the other hostess had spent time with Nixon and Rebozo at the Mandarin Hotel: Marianna Liu interview, December 12, 2008.

  [>]"no love affair. We were friends.... I did not spend the night with Nixon": Ibid.

  [>]she thought they had seen each other on his trips to Hong Kong in 1964, 1965, and 1966: John Crewdson, "F.B.I. Investigated Hong Kong Woman Friend of Nixon in '60's to Determine If She Was Foreign Agent," New York Times, June 22, 1976, p. 19.

  [>]"I did not give information to PRC": Liu interview, December 12, 2008.

  [>]"He was shot somewhere in Shantung": Liu interview, February 20, 2009.

  [>]Liu moved to Whittier, California, Nixon's hometown: Ibid.

  [>]"Warren got me papers to take care of his wife": Ibid.

  [>]"Nixon Romanced Suspected Red Spy": National Enquirer, August 10, 1976, p. 1.

  [>]Liu denied many of the assertions in the tabloid's account: Liu interview, February 20, 2009.

  [>]although the Liu file had not been forwarded to Attorney General Edward H. Levi, he was aware of its contents: FBI memorandum, July 1976.

  [>]"I took some friends to see Mr. Nixon's grave": Liu interview, February 20, 2009.

  17. ANUBIS

  [>]He was born in Shanghai in 1949: Wen Ning biographical details are from James Geis brief, United States v. Ning Wen, United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, Appeal from the US District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, 04-CR-241, filed April 24, 2006, pp. 7–9.

  [>]the family was forbidden to bring their only child, Sharon, with them to the United States: Ibid., p. 7.

  [>]Johnson persuaded Wen to remain as a diplomat in the consulate, providing information to the FBI: Ibid.

  [>]The FBI then arranged for Sharon to come to Washington, DC: Ibid., p. 8.

  [>]documents that he smuggled out of the consulate: Interviews with former FBI counterintelligence agents.

  [>]he began shipping computer chips to China: Geis brief, p. 8.

  [>]"He thought he might never get out again": Interview with former FBI counterintelligence agent.

  [>]"make actual contributions to my motherland": Wen Ning resignation letter to Chinese consulate, Los Angeles, March 15, 1992, Exhibit 65A, United States v. Ning Wen, US District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, 04-CR-241, September 28, 2004, p. 1.

  [>]Fuqua had worked counterintelligence most of his career, in Boston and Kansas before Milwaukee: Melvin D. Fuqua interview, August 12, 2009, and Fuqua testimony, United States v. Ning Wen, trial transcript, p. 758.

  [>]Wen began shipping computer chips to Qu and Wang Ruo Ling: Third Superseding Indictment, United States v. Ning Wen (a/k/a Wen Ning), August 8, 2005, pp. 4–5.

  [>]they would typically falsify invoices: Geis brief, pp. 9–10; and Criminal Complaint, United States v. Ning Wen, September 28, 2004, p. 21.

  [>]In 2000 the company sent Wen back to China as president and general manager of its refrigeration company in Hangzhou: Charlie Mathews, "Globetrotters: Manitowoc Co. Employees Travel the World," Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter, May 16, 2004, p. B1.

  [>]between 2002 and 2004, almost $2 million was wired to Wen Enterprises from China: Criminal Complaint, United States v. Ning Wen, p. 8.

  [>]"They will need ice machines": Mathews, "Globetrotters."

  [>]the "54th Research Institute": Criminal Complaint, United States v. Ning Wen, pp. 12–13.

  [>]posing an "unacceptable risk in the development of missiles": Ibid., p. 13.

  [>]The bureau recorded thirty-seven hours of conversations between Wen and his wife: Geis brief, p. 25.

  [>]"I was shocked and just about fell out of my chair": Fuqua testimony, United States v. Ning Wen, trial transcript, p. 764.

  [>]Lin agreed, replying, "Risk, yeah": Criminal Complaint, United States v. Ning Wen, p. 19.

  [>]"You get money from the bank, the bank won't know. You get money directly from ATM": FBI special agent Ryan Chun testimony, United States v. Ning Wen, trial transcript, p. 277.

  [>]"Yeah, I have to make up the figure every time": Ibid., p. 290.

  [>]"China now is desperately purchasing weapons": Ibid., p. 296.

  [>]when the couple from Beijing, both Chinese nationals, got off a Greyhound bus in Milwaukee, the FBI arrested them. Other agents arrested Wen and his wife at their home in Manitowoc: US Department of Justice, "Four Arrested in Scheme to Export Restricted Electronic Equipment to the People's Republic of China," press release, September 30, 2004, and Gina Barton, "Manitowoc Couple Charged in China Export Scheme," Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, October 1, 2004, p. 1.

  [>]"The charges against the Wens are unrelated to the Manitowoc Company or Mr. Wen's responsibilities as general manager of Manitowoc Hangzhou": Tara Meissner, "Two Face Export Charges," Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter, October 1, 2004, p. A1.

  [>]Lin Hailin ... pleaded guilty to conspiracy and money laundering and was sentenced to three and a half years in prison and fined $50,000: Department of Justice, United States Attorney, Eastern District of Wisconsin, "Manitowoc Resident Sentenced to Prison for Exporting Restricted Electronic Components to China," press release, December 22, 2005.

  [>]Wen claimed diplomatic immunity: United States v. Ning Wen, Order Granting Extension, Judge William C. Griesbach, July 29, 2005.

  [>]He then sentenced Wen to five years in prison and fined him $50,000: "Ning Wen to Spend Five Years in Prison," Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter, January 19, 2006, p. A1.

  [>]a federal judge in Oregon struck down the expanded provisions of the Patriot Act that Geis had contested: Susan Jo Keller, "Patriot Act Sections on Search and Surveillance Are Ruled Unconstitutional," New York Times, September 27, 2007, p. A29. The decision by Judge Anne L. Aiken came in the case of Brandon Mayfield, a Portland lawyer arrested and jailed after the FBI erroneously linked him to the Madrid train bombings in March 2004 that killed 191 persons and injured 2,000.

  [>]"will not be tolerated": "Ning Wen to Spend Five Years in Prison."

  [>]"Just who am I?": Mathews, "Globetrotters."

  18. ENDGAME

  [>]PARLOR MAID sat in the courtroom with her head in her hands: Erica Werner, "Former FBI Agent Charged with Allowing Chinese Agent Access to Classified Documents," Associated Press, April 9, 2003.

  [>]J.J. Smith was charged with "gross negligence in handling documents related to the national defense": Ibid.

  [>]"This is a sad day for the FBI": Ibid.

  [>]The charges ... "are very serious": Jerry Seper, "Mueller Orders Probe of Major FBI Division," Washington Times, April 11, 2003, p. A4.

  [>]"Katrina Leung is a loyal American citizen": Werner, "Former FBI Agent Charged."

  [>]Brian Sun ... called his client a "loyal, patriotic, and dedicated former agent": Greg Krikorian, David Rosenzweig, and K. Connie Kang, "Ex-FBI Agent Is Arrested in China Espionage Case," Los Angeles Times, April 10, 2003, Metro, p. 1.

  [>]"a thorough review of his work is now under way": Houghton did not mention Cleveland by name but referred to him delicately as "the employee in question." Curt Anderson, "Ex-FBI Agents Suspected Woman of Spying," Associated Press, April 11, 2003.

  [>]on May 7
, J.J. was indicted on charges of "gross negligence" for allowing classified documents to end up in Leung's hands: Eric Lichtblau, "Ex-F.B.I. Agent Indicted on More Serious Charges in Spy Case," New York Times, May 8, 2003, p. A34.

  [>]A federal grand jury handed down a five-count indictment: Dan Eggen, "Accused Double Agent for China Indicted," Washington Post, May 9, 2003, p. A2.

  [>]appeared in federal court in downtown Los Angeles for a bail hearing before Judge Florence-Marie Cooper: The author attended the June 19, 2003, bail hearing at the federal courthouse in downtown Los Angeles, and the description of the scene in the courtroom and the quotes are from the author's notes taken at the hearing.

  [>]she had "reached a tentative decision to grant release with a $2 million bond": Ibid.

  [>]"if necessary it can be increased to 1 billion": United States v. Katrina Leung, US District Court for the Central District of California, 03-CR-434, government's Memorandum of Points and Authorities, June 2003, pp. 15–16.

  [>]"whether to publicly disclose 20 years worth of spying secrets": Susan Schmidt and Kimberly Edds, "Ex-Handler of Alleged FBI Spy Cuts Deal," Washington Post, May 13, 2004, p. A3.

  [>]On May 12, 2004, J.J. pleaded guilty to only one felony count, lying to the FBI: Eric Lichtblau, "F.B.I. Agent Pleads Guilty in Deal in Chinese Spy Case," New York Times, May 13, 2004, p. A16.

  [>]"to have no further sharing of information relating to this case with Leung": United States v. James J. Smith, US District Court for the Central District of California, 03-CR-29, Plea Agreement for Defendant James J. Smith, May 12, 2004, p. 7.

  [>]"Owens did the first draft of the plea agreement": Rebecca S. Lonergan interview, August 24, 2009.

  [>]"That clause was never intended to stop the defense from interviewing J.J.": Ibid.

  [>]the government had engaged in "willful and deliberate misconduct": United States v. Katrina Leung, Order Granting Defendant's Motion to Dismiss, January 6, 2005.

  [>]"Smith is being told not to talk to Leung or her attorneys": Ibid., p. 3.

  [>]"The goal of the clause was to prevent Smith's lawyers from helping Leung's lawyers": Michael W. Emmick interview, February 23, 2009, and e-mail, August 22, 2009.