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TUESDAY, AUGUST 14, 2001

A report released by the Department of Justice on Monday indicts the Department of energy for its prelminary handling of the investigation of Wen He Lee, a scientist who was employed at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.

The report says the DOE conduted a "woefully inadequate" invesigation before turning the case over to the FBI. Only two censored paragraphs of the report were made public.

Lee was held in custody for over nine months for allegedly leaking information about a nuclear warhead. After beind charged with 59 felony counts, the case was dropped after he pleaded guilty to only one.

The report was released as part of a defamation lawsuit filed by Notra Trulock, former DOE Counterintelligence Chief. He alleges the Department of Energy called him racist for the probe.

But the 800-page report clears racism as the motive for indicting going after Lee Lee, instead placing the blame on a shoddy investigation.

The report also blames the FBI for using the poorly written DOE report as a basis its own probe.

The Department of Energy has stated that they will use the report to determine whether or not policy should be changed.

Get the Story:
OE Lee Inquiry Blasted (The Albuquerque Journal 8/14)
U.S. Probe of Nuclear Scientist Assailed (The Washington Post 8/14)
Justice Dept. Cites Problems in 2 Inquiries at Los Alamos (The New York Times 8/14)
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Relevant Links:
Los Alamos National Laboratory - http://www.lanl.gov
The Wen Ho Lee Defense Fund - http://www.wenholee.org

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Judge orders Wen Ho Lee release (08/25)