Government Agrees to Wen Ho Lee Settlement

In 1999 the federal government accused then Los Alamos Labs nuclear scientist Wen Ho Lee of being a spy for China. Lee proved the charges false and sued the government and five news agencies for violation of his privacy rights. On June 2, the government and the news agencies settled the suit, agreeing to pay Lee $1.6 million for his troubles.

Wen Ho Lee's "troubles" stemming from the accusations against him include: indictments on 59 counts of stealing U.S. nuclear weapons secrets, a nasty and indelible label of "national security threat," loss of his job and, oh yes, a nine month stay in solitary.

After the government dropped all but one of the 59 charges against him, Lee was released from prison and pleaded guilty to a felony charge of mishandling classified computer files.

Under the terms of the settlement agreement, the government will pay Lee $850,000 to cover his attorney fees, while The Associated Press, The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post and CNN will pay Lee a combined $750,000.

The charges against Wen Ho Lee came as government officials were already dealing with the fallout from two other cases of "mishandling classified computer files." Two portable hard disks full of nuclear weapons data "vanished" from Lee's own Los Alamos Labs, only to be found stuck behind a copy machine, and two laptops with sensitive material walked away from the State Department, never to be found.

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