I have just finished rereading Wen Ho Lee's book My Country Versus Me (a must read, btw), and I have few comments.

• By all accounts the DOE went "shopping" for a polygrapher who would reinforce their desire to railroad Dr. Lee. From what I can tell this is not an exception. Forgive me if this has been asked elsewhere, but I would like to know of other cases.
• It would appear that the original strategy was to use Dr. Lee's "failed" polygraph test, as touchstone for basically the entire case against him. Now, IANAL, I do know that polygraphs are most time inadmissible in terms of evidence. So how would the government's have been able to stand up in court if that was used to start the ball rolling in the first place. (BTW, a couple of defense attornies that I know have both said most if not all eveidence seized via probable cause using this would probably have been thrown out.) Any comments on this would be appreciated.

I was working as a DOE contractor at the time of this whole debacle. It was very apparent at the time that there were elements within the DOE that did not want this to move forward. Furthermore, time has shown that that security problems are pandemic at LANL (and probably other labs, as well). With that being said, it occurs to me that DOE (and all other agencies that use polygraphy) are using this a pacifier. In other words, if they cannot get real security, let's feel good about we do have.

-d

I agree that Curran was probably surprised that Dr. Lee passed the polygraph. However I think that the surprise hit higher ups much harder, i.e. this wasn't supposed to happen. It was quite clear from reading Dr. Lee's account (which I happen to agree with), that the DOE needed to "fit the case". The firing of Dr. Lee was merely the pretext of this whole sham. DOE, et al. needed to offer up a scapegoat, as the Clinton administration was in need of doing damage control.

I did not mean to suggest that Mr. Vinskey's tests were in doubt. Rather the polygraph outcomes did not fit into the plan. Subsequently the Hobgood polygraph test was administered. (For details of this sham, I would recommend Dr. Lee's book, pp. 72-83.) It seems to me that this was a set up specifically for Dr. Lee to fail, hence my use of "shopping".

As far as the usefullness of the polygraph in terms of evidence, I agree with your assessment of the use of Dr. Lee's failed test as a precursor for the subsequent search warrants that were issued. Further it was no real surprise that these warrants did not turn up much of anything. At that point, the only "real evidence" for any sort of treasonous activity was the the polygraph.

What disgusts me most about the Dr. Lee's case is the way that the govenment built the case. Rigged polygraphs, leaks to the press, racial profiling, draconian inprisonment. I sincerely hope that Dr. Lee succeeds in his the lawsuits that he has filed, but I don't think wew will ever really get the whole truth.

I would interested to hear what other people think about Dr. Lee's cae.

-d

P.S. Just my $.02, but the section on Dr. Lee in your book was good, but as I said before Dr. Lee's account of this whole matter is chilling.

Marty,

It seems to me that the DOE's decision to adopt polygraph screening was a knee-jerk political decision taken to stem criticisms of lax security at the national laboratories arising as a result of the Cox Report. The series of public hearings that DOE held on its polygraph policy before implementing it were merely window dressing for a decision that had already been made. Certainly, belief in the polygraph was a factor -- then DOE counterintelligence chief Ed Curran is a true believer. But political expediency was the paramount concern.

Quote:


I would wholeheartedly agree with that assessment. Notwithstanding whether there was (or was not) a belief in polygraphy, it was quite obvious that the DOE needed to something - anything. Congress was breathing down their necks and something had to be done. Dr. Lee was just a convenient target, e.g. Chinese ancestry, travel to Mainland China, etc.

One other thing that's important about this case is the fact that a Federal judge chastised every single group involved in the prosecution (which happens so infrequently, I have heard of no other case). Why the judge did not single out the blantant misuse (asumming of course that it can be used properly) or even mention it is beyond me.

In a slightly off-topic tone, I see the use of polygraphy and other questionable security methodologies as a panacea. I have worked in IT security for a while now and I have come to the conclusion that security is a "contact sport". In other words, it is an ongoing process. In Dr. Lee's case, it was just an attempt at a quick fix.

That whole era was just rife with attempts to "fix" a completely broken system. For example, countless memos came down from Richardson's office about DOE's stance against racial profiling, however the vast majority of those targetted for special investigations were - you guessed it - of Asian descent. The number of individuals polygraphed in Albuquerque during this period must number close to a hundred, also. Guess what ancestary they had??

-d 

Marty wrote on Feb 10^th, 2004 at 9:12pm:


As far as I can tell, Dr. Lee was really the only suspect. If they had a belief in polygraphy, then the first test  should have been enough. Instead they did it again and got the results they wanted. I think the belief (or lack thereof) in polygraphy was the problem. It is now apparent they needed a sacrificial lamb. Dr. Lee fit that bill. The way I see it is that they were just using the failed polygraph as a way bolster their quetionable tactics/case. Think about it this way, if he had "passed" the second test, there would have probably been a third, then maybe a fourth...

-d

dr_lark,

Could you elaborate on your observation that Asian-Americans were targeted for special investigations and polygraph interrogations?

...and now after all is said and done,, Dr. Lee's life is still in shambles.