Report: China stole U.S. nuke secrets to 'fulfill international agenda'

"(Chinese) penetration of our national weapons laboratories spans at least the past several decades and almost certainly continues today," the report says.

Beijing primarily focused on Los Alamos, Lawrence Livermore, Oak Ridge and Sandia national laboratories.

The Clinton administration first learned of the extent of the alleged espionage in 1995 when a Chinese citizen gave the CIA a classified document from Beijing that demonstrated China had obtained information on the W-88 and half a dozen other U.S. nuclear warheads.

AIFF or WAV (498 K/30 sec. audio) Cox explains the possible implications of the loss of U.S. nuclear information

The report claims that President Clinton was made aware of the allegations in early 1998.

Although the administration has taken steps to boost security at nuclear labs, the report says, security will "not be satisfactory until at least sometime in the year 2000."

"Despite repeated (Chinese) thefts of the most sophisticated U.S. nuclear weapons technology, security at our national nuclear weapons laboratories does not meet even minimal standards," it says.

Sources: 70 percent made public

The so-called Cox report was released following months of review as to how much should be declassified. About 70 percent has been made public, sources say.

Details of the report have been trickling out for weeks amid a growing criticism of the current administration's response to fix the security lapse after it was exposed in 1995.

"Some of the most significant thefts have occurred during the last four years," Rep.Christopher Cox, R-California, the House Select Committee chairman in charge of the report, told CNN.

"It means that we're going to be preparing ourselves to defend against American technology used against us," he added. "It's not good news ... The world is a lot less safer today as a consequence of these thefts."

The allegations, coupled with the recent NATO bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, have put an added strain on Sino-American relations, which have long been characterized as lacking in trust.

The nearly 700-page report culminates a year-long investigation into the threat of China to the security of the United States.

The report was written at the end of 1998 and issued in classified form to the administration and congress in January of this year. The past four and a half months have been spent negotiating with the Clinton administration as to what could be made declassified and essentually public.

The report is written in 13 chapters. A 25-page overview spells out the findings in broad terms. Three chapters focus on Chinese efforts at obtaining U.S. technology, nuclear weapons, and high performance computer technology.

Five chapters deal with Chinese missiles, satellite launches in China with U.S. cargo aboard, and lapses in launch site security in China that may have led to espionage.

There are two chapters dealing with U.S. export policy toward China and manufacturing processes in China aided by U.S. technology.

There are 38 recommendations to the president and Congress on way to help security in the future and curb espionage by the Chinese.

There is a final section listing who worked on the report and a glossary of terms and language used in the bulk of the report.

Beijing disputes report

Beijing has vehemently denied the espionage charges.

Liu Xiaoming, the Minister of the People's Republic of China to the United States, said Beijing officials "are not worried greatly about" the report because they do not believe it will contain hard evidence of any Chinese spying.

He said China believes the Cox report is largely the result of American politics and of those in Congress who, he said, have an anti-Chinese agenda. Liu added that he has yet to see the report.

Cox said the evidence "is unmistakable" -- that Beijing conducted a highly sophisticated espionage scheme that is a most serious breach of U.S. national security.

"In many cases, a little piece of information might seem innocuous but if you collect enough of them through the so-called matrix technique ... you can learn a great deal about military matters in the United States," Cox said.

A number of Republicans have accused the Clinton administration of dropping the ball, prompting calls for the resignation of Attorney General Janet Reno and renewed criticism of FBI Director Louis Freeh and National Security Adviser Samuel Berger.

White House backs Reno, Berger

The White House said Monday the president remains fully supportive of Reno and Berger.

"I'm right here and going strong," Reno said in response to the calls for her resignation.

"I think you're beginning to see some elements of partisan fingerpointing," said White House press secretary Joe Lockhart, referring to Republican calls for Reno's resignation.

Cox said the report is firmly a bipartisan one.

"The Select Committee stayed away from surmise, we stayed away from opinion, and we always returned to the facts, that's why we have a unanimous and bipartisan report without a single sentence of minority or dissenting views," he said.

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