But that same day a group of federal officials quietly convened a meeting to discuss the darker side of the U.S.-Chinese relationship: Beijing’s voracious appetite for U.S. military and technological secrets. Law-enforcement and intelligence agencies are preparing a task force–code-named “Golden Tiger”–to crack down on unsolved cases of technology smuggling.
Customs investigators are still trying to determine if the Chinese illegally obtained satellite technology from Hughes Electronics and Loral Space & Communications, two U.S. manufacturers that sold commercial satellites to Beijing. Both companies have denied any wrongdoing. The Feds also want to know if CIA case officers who routinely debriefed Hughes executives about their dealings with China withheld knowledge about the information transfers to protect the spy agency’s relationship.
On Saturday FBI agents searched the New Mexico home of Wen Ho Lee, the dismissed Los Alamos scientist who was fired under suspicion of having passed nuclear secrets to Beijing. Already Lee has made his feelings clear. Last week his lawyers sent a scathing letter to FBI Director Louis Freeh–claiming the government has maligned his character. Lee’s lawyer, Mark Holscher, told NEWSWEEK, “He is innocent, and he will prove it to the government.”
