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From: Bartch, Robert <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: 'SNETNEWS' <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Monday, 28 June 1999 11:18 PM Subject: SNET: China whistle-blowers CHINA WHISTLE-BLOWERS GAGGED: Is White House Serious About Guarding Secrets? Investor's Business Daily It was the fax Pentagon official Jonathan Fox had been dreading. "To Jon Fox. Call me ASAP," his superior scrawled in fat letters at the top. On the same page was a block of text that ended with: "The proposed agreement is not inimical (harmful) to the comon defense or the security of the United States." Earlier that day-Oct. 24, 1997-Fox had been ordered to insert the conclusion in place of his own in a memo reviewing an administration plan to share critical nuclear technology with China. The White House needed a rush OK in advance of Chinese President Jian Zemin's visit the next week. Fox's finding was at odds with the White House by 180 degrees: "The proposed arrangement presents real and substantial risk to the common defense and security of the United States." Fox, an arms-control officer, made the change-but only because he says his job had been threatened. If he didn't alter the memo, his boss at the time, Michael Johnson, "told me I would be lucky if I still had my job at the end of the day." Johnson, who works for the Pentagon's Office of Nonproliferation Policy, did not return calls for comment. Fox was one of four federal whistle-blowers who publicly testified Thursday before the House Government Reform Committee. Another witness gave a written statement but testified in closed session. The five-all career civil servants-say they've been harrassed by the Clinton administration after speaking out about national security problems, which came to a head last month in a report detailing massive Chinese espionage in recent years. President Clinton has assured Americans that he would tighten security. But witnesses charge that it's still flaccid, and many say higher-ups are still retaliating against them for sounding alarms. They aren't alone. At least 10 other security whistle-blowers have faced reprisals, claims Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., a member of the special House panel that probed technology transfers to China and Chinese espionage at U.S. nuclear weapons labs. In an interview, Weldon said he knows of "15 employees who tried to speak out about what was happening within the intelligence community and were either punished, lost their jobs, were harassed or were put into lesser positions." They include an Energy Department arms-control expert, a Navy officer and two CIA agents. Calls to the Energy and Defense Departments about the hearing were not returned. But officials in the past have dismissed such whistle-blowers as "cold warriors," or Cold War throwbacks." California Rep. Henry Waxman, the ranking Democrat on the House Government Reform panel, cautioned that many of the whistle-blowers who come before Congress amount to nothing more than "cranks." He added that something that looks like a cover-up may just be an "honest policy disagreement" between a senior official and a staffer. Waxman was the only Democrat of 19 on the panel who heard the witnesses. Eight of 24 Republicans stayed on for at least some of their testimony. One Republican says he sees a pattern. And it's dark. "What we've seen in this administration is a witch hunt for those who are anti-communist," said Mark Souder, R. Ind. None of the witnesses sought out the panel They were all subpoenaed. Here are their stories: Edward McCallum. Until last month, he headed Energy's Office of Safeguards and Security for nine years. He's been one of the department's internal critics, writing reports, arguing for, among other things, tighter screening of foreign visitors to the labs. On April 16, McCallum was asked to testify before the so-called Rudman Commission, which was charged with helping fix lab security problems. Three days later, he was put on administrative leave with pay. He was allowed to keep his security clearance, which he's had for more than 25 years. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson claimed McCallum "may have committed a serious security infraction" involving allegedly classified information. The case arises from a phone call McCallum had with Jeff Peters, a former security official at Energy's Rocky Flats, Colo., nuclear weapons site. The two reportedly discussed fears about a terrorist attack because of security breaches. It turns out that the official, who lost his job, taped the conversation. And parts of it wound up on the Internet in early April, posted by lawyers for another Rocky Flats security worker who lost his job. "They claim I disclosed classified information during a conversation with a whistle-blower," McCallum said under oath. "This is not true." He added: "(The claim) is a clear and obvious act of retaliation against me" for warning of "failed security at the laboratories since 1995." (In an interview, he said several security officials at other sites have come under attack by this administration.) McCallum's old boss backs him. Maj. Gen. George McFadden, who retired from Energy last year, was recently quoted as saying McCallum "is a true professional (and) is very, very tight with national security." So does Notra Trulock, the former head of Energy's intelligence office. He recently e-mailed McCallum to commend him for pointing out the administration's targeting of whistle-blowers. Trulock himself was demoted after revealing that his boss turned down his repeated requests to warn Congress about lab security problems. Richardson says he recently gave Trulock a $10,000 bonus (though he didn't give him back his old job). For two decades, Energy has folowed a nine-step process for reviewing security infractions. It's yet to be applied in McCallum's case. He says he hasn't even been interviewed. He and his lawyers did, however, meet with Richardson on May 27. In the meeting, McCallum says Richardson waved a letter he got the day before from 10 congressman who back McCallum. Richardson then tossed it down on his desk and said: "This letter doesn't intimidate me. This isn't (expletive). I play baskeball with these guys," McCallum recalled. I understood that to mean: 'Stay away from Congress,'" said McCallum, a retired Army special operations lieutenant colonel and a decorated Vietnam vet. Robert Henson. A Los Alamos nuclear weapons physicist, Henson says he was one of the scientists who in 1995 tipped off Trulock about the Chinese heisting design data about the prized W-88 warhead. For his efforts, Henson says, he was fired in October 1995. Los Alamos claims Henson's dismissal was part of a lab work-force reduction. (That year, the lab hired 19 Chinese nationals and has added another 15 since.) Henson, 61, sued for age bias and got his job back. "Los Alamos retaliated against me because of my strong involvement in bringing to light the Chinese espionage," he said in a statement. He didn't testify in public. Jon Fox. The fax was the final act in a revealing drama that had started as soon as Fox turned in his memo on Oct. 23, 1997. The next day, like every Friday, he went to a meeting at the State Department with other Pentagon export control officials. While sitting in the meeting, he got called out by a secretary. His superior, Johnson, was on the phone. It was urgent. Fox says Johnson wanted to speak to him about the memo. "He was quite upset (and) expressed that this was not what was being looked for," Fox said. Fox insisted that China shouldn't be allowed, among other things, access to "detailed information on transfer, storage and disposition of fissionable fuels" as part of a "technical exchange" deal proposed by the White House. He stressed his points that China could divert the technology to its nuclear missile program or sell it to non-nuclear states. He provided documents to back his opinion. Johnson also wanted him to certify China as a nonproliferator, even though a 1995 Defense study ranked it at the highest level of risk. After arguing his case, Fox went back to the meeting. He was then pulled out so many times that they had to adjorn the meeting, he says. He says Johnson gave hima choice: Rewrite the memo or get another job. Fox "caved," he says, after seeing the pressure was coming from "a high level." "I'm not independently wealthy," he explained in an interview. "I could have been blackballed and never work again in government." He added that his wife also holds a federal job. But Waxman sided with Johnson's actions, arguing that Fox's memo "went beyond the technical analysis he asked for." Fox swears he'd never been asked to rewrite a review before. And he had written 125. Also, Fox says Johnson told him not to sign the revised memo. Why? If his first draft fell into the wrong hands, it would have been "too blatant of an appearance that I was being coerced," Fox said. Indeed, the final draft was stamp-signed by Charles Gallaway, a programs manager. Fox's problems didn't stop there, though. In October 1998, he was relieved of some of his certifying duties when Defense Secretary William Cohen reorganized his department. Peter Leitner. In 1994, Leitner, a longtime Pentagon export-control officer, denied to China the transfer of a McDonnell Douglas machine tool plant in Columbus, Ohio. He warned it could help the Chinese military build stealth weapons. He was ordered to change his opinion and refused. Most of the gear was exported anyway. It turns out Leitner was right. The tools were diverted to military use. The case is now under investigation. Since testifying at different times on the HIll and talking to CBS' "60 Minutes" about the administration's liberal export policy, Leitner says his performance ratings have suffered. One of the marks against him in the file reads: "advocate of tightening export controls." He says he's the only licensing officer not to receive a cash bonus despite maintaining outstanding grades. A father of four, he figures his whistle-blowing over the years has cost his family $75,000 to $100,000 in lost pay raises and bonuses. Michael Maloof. As chief of operations for the Defense Technology Security Agency, Maloof follows dual-use exports to China and other countries to verify they haven't been diverted to military use. He's alo complained of "wholesale" decontrol of exports such as satellites, supercomputers and stealth technology in the Clinton years. He's been at Defense since 1985. After talking to The New York Times last year about satellite exports, Maloof got a call from Ken Bacon, the assistant secretary of Defense for public affairs. He said Bacon demanded to know "what was behind the story" and complained that Defense Secretary William Cohen was "blindsided." "I thought (the call) was unusual," Maloof said. |
Title: China whistle-blowers
