Nuclear Weapons United States

Poor judgment and bureaucratic infighting crippled the federal investigation into an alleged plot by the Chinese government to influence the 1996 presidential election, according to a report released by the Justice Department's inspector general in Washington. The report found no evidence that anyone at the FBI or the Justice Department tried to protect the Clinton administration by concealing potentially damaging information.

The Energy Department's top official overseeing the nation's nuclear weapon programs has resigned because of differences with Energy Secretary Bill Richardson over the department's organization, administration sources said Saturday. Victor Reis, assistant secretary for defense programs, submitted his resignation in a letter to President Clinton on Friday, said officials who spoke on condition of anonymity. Reis could not be reached for comment.

Stung by recent allegations of rampant Chinese espionage, officials at the FBI and CIA are moving toward a wholesale restructuring of their counterintelligence operations to plug potential holes in national security, according to sources.

University of California President Richard C. Atkinson has ordered a panel of expert advisors to review newly tightened security rules at UC-managed nuclear weapons labs "to make sure the university is doing everything possible to maintain the vital security interests of the United States." Atkinson's decision, announced to the regents on Friday, came after the urging of Democratic Lt. Gov.

A high-level White House panel condemned the federal Energy Department on Monday as "a dysfunctional bureaucracy that has proven it is incapable of reforming itself" and called for the nation's nuclear laboratories to be placed under separate management. The panel, led by former Sen. Warren B. Rudman (R-N.H.), warned that the labs are still vulnerable to foreign espionage and said that the administration's efforts to tighten security have been well intentioned but tardy and inadequate.

Energy Secretary Bill Richardson stood in a packed auditorium at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory here Friday and pleaded with the 400 or so Asian American and other employees to share their concerns and fears. A Chinese American engineer and computer analyst jumped to her feet as soon as he stopped speaking. "As someone who works with the weapons program, I feel like I'm a suspect at the lab until proven guilty," she complained.

Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) warned Wednesday that Congress should not "rush to judgment" in dealing with alleged Chinese espionage, despite a House investigative panel's contention that Beijing has stolen America's top nuclear secrets. Lott said that the United States must remain engaged with the Chinese government to keep from driving Beijing into a new Cold War.

The Cox committee's assertion that the Chinese government established a network of as many as 3,000 "front companies" in the U.S. to acquire military technology reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of China's business enterprises in the U.S., trade experts say. The figure comes from the long-awaited report of the House investigative committee on Chinese espionage, which set off a wave of recrimination over lax safeguarding of U.S.

China has successfully mounted a systematic espionage campaign in the United States since the 1970s that has helped it harvest U.S. nuclear weapon secrets, advanced missile and warplane guidance systems, futuristic electromagnetic weapons and other sensitive military technology, a long-awaited House investigative committee report concludes. The report, which will be formally released today, says that China has stolen the design secrets of seven U.S.

The allied bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade has provided Beijing with a powerful propaganda tool, at least for domestic consumption, to counteract the sensational allegations contained in a congressional report on Chinese espionage activities in the United States. Among the allegations in the report from a nine-member congressional committee chaired by Rep.