-
- "I fully realize that the majority of Americans
will not believe me. They have continued to believe our President even
after he has demonstrated over and over that he has no regard for the truth."
-
- "The Cox Report has shed light on the fact that
the Clinton administration has actually helped China in its technology
acquisition efforts or made it easier for them to commit thefts and espionage."
-
- Mr. President, I ask that you listen again. I am going
to pick up on the incredible but true story of the Clinton administration's
betrayal of national security and the scandalous coverup that continues
as we speak. In doing so, I fully realize that the majority of Americans
will not believe me. They have continued to believe our President even
after he has demonstrated over and over that he has no regard for the truth.
-
- Though you would never realize it by listening to the
national media or the Clinton spin doctors, the recently released Cox Report
has revealed a wealth of information on how the Clinton administration
has undermined national security to simultaneously pursue its misguided
foreign policies and self-serving domestic political agendas.
-
- On the one hand, there is the mind-boggling story of
how the Clinton administration deliberately changed almost 50 years of
bipartisan security policies--relaxing export restrictions, signing waivers
to allow technology transfers, ignoring China's violation of arms control
agreements, and its theft of our nuclear secrets, opening up even more
nuclear and high technology floodgates to China and others--thus harming
U.S. national security.
-
- On the other hand, there is the continuing coverup--the
effort to hide from Congress and the American people the true damage that
has been done to national security and the Clinton administration's central
role in allowing so much of it to happen on their watch.
-
- Over three months ago--on March 15--I spoke on this floor
about China's theft of the W-88 nuclear warhead. To remind you, this is
the crown jewel of our nuclear arsenal. It is the warhead that has 10 times
the explosive power of the bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima and yet just
a fraction its size. I spoke about how serious this was to our national
security--how it was a story with life and death implications for millions
of Americans.
-
- I told how President Clinton was directly responsible
for downplaying the significance of and covering up this story. While the
information on the W-88 design--the crown jewel of our nuclear arsenal--was
stolen in the late 1980's, the theft was first discovered in 1995 by this
administration. So people remember, it was the Chinese walk-in informant
to the CIA that gave us all this information. I told how it was this administration
and this President who deliberately covered up this vital information from
Congress and the American people and, at the same time, lulled our people
into a false sense of security by repeating the lie that there were no
nuclear missiles targeted at America's children.
-
- At that time, I spoke of six proven incontrovertible
facts, and let me repeat them now:
-
- 1. President Clinton hosted over 100 campaign fundraisers
in the White House, many with Chinese connections.
-
- 2. President Clinton used John Huang, Charlie Trie, Johnny
Chung, James Riady, and others with strong Chinese ties to raise campaign
money.
-
- 3. President Clinton signed waivers to allow his top
campaign fundraiser's aerospace company to transfer U.S. missile guidance
technology to China.
-
- 4. President Clinton covered up the theft of our most
valuable nuclear weapons technology.
-
- 5. President Clinton lied to the American people over
130 times about our nation's security while he knew Chinese missiles were
aimed at American children.
-
- 6. President Clinton single-handedly stopped the deployment
of a national missile defense system, exposing every American life to a
missile attack, leaving America with no defense whatsoever against an intercontinental
ballistic missile.
-
- On March 15, I began my speech by asking the American
people to listen as I told them 'a story of espionage, conspiracy, deception,
and cover-up--a story with life and death implications for millions of
Americans--a story about national security and a President and an administration
that deliberately chose to put national security at risk, while telling
the people everything was fine.'
-
- In the three months since I made these statements, none
has been refuted.
-
- Now, I come before you to tell some of the rest of the
story that we have learned since March 15. And it is a truly astounding
story. We thought the W-88 story was bad--and it is. But with the release
of the Cox Report last month, the American people have been presented with
documented evidence that the harm President Clinton has done to U.S. national
security is enormously worse than we thought.
-
- On March 15, I said that, as damaging as the W-88 breach
was, I believed we had not yet scratched the surface of the national security
scandal exposed by this one revelation. I must say that I was right--even
beyond my own worst fears.
-
- Let's not be distracted by the self-serving Clinton spin:
that everybody does it; that it all happened during previous administrations;
that this is only about security at the nuclear weapons lab; that there
is equal blame to go around on all sides; that President Clinton acted
quickly and properly when he found out; and that the only problem is now
being fixed.
-
- I am here today to tell you that all of this is wrong.
The Clinton spin is nothing more than a dishonest smokescreen designed
to divert attention from the real issues. It is also, I believe, an attempt
to dissuade people from actually reading the Cox Report and discovering
for themselves that the Clinton spin is a snare, a delusion, and a lie.
-
- This is why I want to take some time to walk through
some of the more important revelations in the Cox Report and to remind
my colleagues that we have an obligation to tell the American people the
truth--the truth that the media is inexplicably ignoring and that the President
seems to hope the people will never find out on their own.
-
- First, let us begin with a simple fact: Sixteen of the
17 most significant major technology breaches revealed in the Cox Report
were first discovered after 1994. With the lone exception of the W-70 technology
that was discovered back in the 1970's during the [Carter] administration,
all the rest of them were discovered since 1994. Again, that is when they
had the individual who came into the CIA and exposed all of those.
-
- Let me repeat--sixteen of the 17 most significant major
technology breaches revealed in the Cox Report were first discovered during
the Clinton administration. Those who tell you otherwise are willfully
lying to you.
-
- Second, of the remaining 16 technology breaches, one
definitely occurred during the Reagan administration--the W-88 Trident
D-5. Seven occurred sometime before 1995, though it is unclear exactly
when. And eight occurred--without question--during the Clinton administration.
-
- Let's take a closer look at these. The seven that occurred
before 1995 included breaches of information on all of the currently deployed
nuclear warheads in the U.S. intercontinental ballistic missile arsenal:
the W-56 Minuteman II; the W-62 Minuteman III; the W-76 Trident C-4; the
W-78 Minuteman Mark 12A; and the W-87 Peacekeeper. In addition, there was
the breach of classified information on reentry vehicles, the heat shield
that protects warheads as they reenter the Earth's atmosphere when delivered
by long-range ballistic missiles.
-
- Let me repeat that all of these technology breaches were
first discovered in 1995. They were discovered when a Chinese 'walk-in'
agent actually approached the CIA at a location outside of China and handed
them a secret Chinese government document containing state-of-the-art classified
information about the W-88 and the other U.S. nuclear warheads. We still
don't know why he did this, but he did.
-
- The Cox Report also tells us that the Energy Department
and FBI investigations of this matter have focused exclusively on the loss
of the W-88, which we know happened around 1988. There have been no investigations
undertaken about the loss of the other warheads, the timing of whose loss
cannot be as clearly pinned down.
-
- Next, we move to the other eight major technology breaches
revealed in the Cox Report. All of these were not only first discovered
during the Clinton administration, they also happened during the Clinton
administration:
-
- No. 1, the transfer of the so-called Legacy Codes containing
data on 50 years of U.S. nuclear weapons development including over 1,000
nuclear tests;
-
- No. 2, the sale and diversion to military purposes of
hundreds of high performance computers enabling China to enhance its development
of nuclear weapons, ballistic missiles, and advanced military aviation
equipment;
-
- No. 3, the theft of nuclear warhead simulation technology
enhancing China's ability to perfect miniature nuclear warheads without
actual testing;
-
- No. 4, the theft of advanced electromagnetic weapons
technology useful in the development of anti-satellite and anti-missile
systems;
-
- No. 5, the transfer of missile nose cone technology enabling
China to substantially improve the reliability of its intercontinental
ballistic missiles;
-
- No. 6, the transfer of missile guidance technology (by
President Clinton to China) enabling China to substantially improve the
accuracy of its ballistic missiles--these same missiles that are targeting
U.S. cities;
-
- No. 7, the theft of space-based radar technology giving
China the ability to detect our previously undetectable submerged submarines;
and
-
- No. 8, the theft of some other 'classified thermonuclear
weapons information' which 'the Clinton administration' (not the Cox committee)
'has determined . . . cannot be made public.'
-
- We used to think China was decades behind us in terms
of building a modern advanced nuclear arsenal. Now we learn that, later
this year, China is planning to test its new JL-2 long range ICBM, a submarine
launched ballistic missile with MIRV capability--meaning multiple independently
targeted warheads on each missile--almost a replica of our Trident ICBM.
This missile will have a range of over 13,000 kilometers and could reach
anywhere in the United States from protected Chinese waters.
-
- In addition, we know that China has been helping North
Korea, among others, with weapons and technology. North Korea is also expected
to test its long range Taepo Dong II missile later this year.
-
- I am reminded of something that happened last August
when I made a request to sort of see where we were and where North Korea
was in terms of a threat to the United States.
-
- In a letter that I received from General Shelton, who
was depending on our intelligence system for his response, he said it would
be at least three years before the North Koreans would have a multiple-stage
rocket. That was August 24. Seven days later, on August 31, they fired
a multiple-stage rocket.
-
- I remind my colleagues we have no defense against either
of these potential threats, because of the policy decisions of the Clinton
administration. Someone very smart back in 1983 determined that we would
need a national missile defense system in place by Fiscal Year 98. We were
on track to meet the deadline until 1993 when President Clinton, through
his veto power, stopped this missile defense system.
-
- But as the Cox Report points out, nuclear espionage by
China is only one part of the problem. China's efforts to acquire U.S.
military related technology is pervasive. Operating through a maze of government
and quasi-government entities and front companies, China has established
a technology gathering network of immense proportions.
-
- The Congressman from Pennsylvania, Congressman Curt Weldon,
has done extensive research in putting this together, and other charts
to show exactly what capacity China has to collect our nuclear secrets.
-
- When there is time to look at it, it shows you operational
entities of the Chinese military in red, the Chinese military entities
and those in contact involving financial entities in green, and you have
the Chinese military front companies in blue.
-
- You can see that this is well thought out. It took many
years to put it together to make it effective.
-
- They are willing and able to trade, bribe, buy, or steal
to get U.S. advanced technology--all for the purpose of enhancing their
long-term military potential. Their success is often determined largely
by our willingness to make it easier for them to get what they want.
-
- The Cox Report has shed light on the fact that the Clinton
administration has actually helped China in its technology acquisition
efforts or made it easier for them to commit thefts and espionage. You
know the truth is always difficult and controversy is difficult. It is
easier to take polls and tell people what they want to hear. But I have
to make a decision--who do I love more--this President or America.
-
- I find that to be very easy in this case.
-
- The following are just some of the things that the Clinton
administration has done. And I want to applaud Congressman Weldon for helping
to bring many of these things to light.
-
- No. 1, in 1993, the Clinton administration removed the
color-coded security badges that had been used for years at Energy weapons
labs claiming they were 'discriminatory'--as if that makes any sense whatsoever.
Now just a few weeks ago, in the wake of all these revelations, the Energy
Department has reinstated the color-coded badges.
-
- But during the time that these thefts took place, they
were not able to wear these badges.
-
- No. 2, in 1993, the Clinton administration put a hold
on doing FBI background checks for lab workers and visitors, an action
which helped to dramatically increase the number of people going to the
labs who would previously have not been allowed to have access.
-
- No. 3, in 1995, the Clinton administration took the extraordinary
action of overturning its own agency's decision to revoke the security
clearance of an employee found guilty of breaching classified information.
When this happened, it sent a message to employees throughout the Department,
that this administration was not serious about countering breaches of classified
information.
-
- No. 4, the Clinton administration deliberately, and many
would say recklessly, declassified massive amounts of nuclear-related information
in what the Clinton administration touted as a new spirit of openness.
-
- No. 5., in the W-88 investigation, the Clinton administration
turned down four requests for wiretaps on a suspect who was identified
in 1996 and allowed to stay in his sensitive job until news reports surfaced
in 1999.
-
- No. 6, in 1995, someone at the Department of Energy gave
a classified design diagram of the W-87 nuclear warhead to U.S. News &
World Report magazine which printed it in its July 31 issue that year.
Representative Curt Weldon is still trying to get answers about how this
leak was investigated and what was determined. He has good reason to believe
the investigation was quashed because it was going to lead straight to
President Clinton's Energy Secretary.
-
- No. 7, career whistle-blowers at the Department of Energy
who tried to warn of serious security breaches--including Notra Trulock,
the former Director of Intelligence for the Energy Department, and Ed McCallum,
the former Security and Safeguards Chief--were thwarted for years by Clinton
political appointees who refused to let them brief Congress and others
about what they knew. Trulock was demoted but will now get to keep his
job. McCallum appears to be on his way to being scapegoated and perhaps
fired for trying to tell the truth. Members will remember we had extensive
hearings. Notra Trulock testified under oath that he thought that the theft
of the W-88 was so significant, he wanted to give it to Congress. He was
refused being allowed to do that by the then-Acting Secretary of the Energy
Department.
-
- No. 8, rejecting advice from his Secretaries of State
and Defense, President Clinton approved switching the licensing authority
for satellites and other technology from the State Department to the Commerce
Department, making it easier for China to acquire U.S. missile technology.
-
- No. 9, President Clinton granted waivers making it easier
for U.S. companies to transfer missile and satellite technology to China
during the launching of U.S. satellites on China's rockets.
-
- No. 10, in 1994, President Clinton ended COCOM, the Coordinating
Committee on Multinational Export Control, the multinational agreement
among U.S. friends and allies that they would not sell certain high-technology
items to countries like China. When this happened, it opened the commercial
floodgates. Ever since, there has been a wild scramble for competition
to sell more and more advanced technology to China. As a result, the proliferation
has never been worse than it has been in the last 6 years.
-
- No. 11, in a series of decisions throughout his Presidency--and
many surrounding the 1996 election--Clinton has consistently relaxed export
and trade restrictions on various forms of high technology of interest
to China.
-
- Again, I applaud Congressman Weldon who put this chart
together. This timeline was not put together because President Clinton
took office in 1993, but that is when all the compromises took place. This
timeline shows categories including machine tools, telecommunications,
propulsion. All were compromised, or as we normally say stolen.
-
- No. 12, President Clinton has ignored or downplayed numerous
Chinese arms control violations by not imposing sanctions required by law.
While we are selling more and more high tech to China, China is sending
prohibited military technology to countries such as Pakistan, Iran, North
Korea, Syria, Libya and Egypt.
-
- What does the Clinton administration do? They do nothing.
What are the motives for all this? Why did the Clinton administration act
the way it did, with almost total disregard for any traditional concern
for U.S. national security?
-
- The Cox Report did not answer these questions because
it was only concerned with the facts of the security breaches themselves,
not what was behind it.
-
- But FBI Director Louis Freeh did assign one man to look
into this. His name was Charles LaBella, who became head of the Justice
Department's China Task Force. He and his investigators spent months looking
into the connections, trying to connect the dots with campaign contributions,
foreign influences and administration actions. What he found is laid out
in a 100-page memo he prepared for Janet Reno. We know this memo argues
in favor of the appointment of an independent counsel to carry on the investigation.
-
- But the memo itself has remained secret, even through
it has been subpoenaed by Congress. Janet Reno, who rejected its recommendation
for an independent counsel, has refused to release the memo to the Congress
or to the public. It is time for that memo to be released.
-
- FBI Director Freeh has testified that the public knows
only about one percent of what the FBI knows about the Chinagate scandal.
It is time for the truth to come out. It is time for the public to get
some sense of the other 99 percent which is contained in the LaBella memo.
-
- Mr. President, over the last six years, President Clinton
and his administration have shown a pervasive disregard for national security.
In both actions and inactions, this President has broken ranks with the
bipartisan consensus about national security that helped us win the cold
war.
-
- His policies and attitudes--towards export controls,
nuclear weapons, militarily important high technology, and dealing with
our adversaries in the world--have been strikingly different from those
of all of his predecessors in the modern era.
-
- His administration has acted as if the end of the cold
war gave them carte blanche license to open the commercial and technology
floodgates to countries like china simply because it was good for business,
or good for getting campaign contributions, or good for other domestic
political reasons.
-
- The traditional concern about national security--about
protecting our nuclear secrets, about maintaining our military and technological
superiority, about sanctioning those in the world who engaged in flagrant
and hostile espionage and proliferation--all that went out the window,
replaced by other priorities this President somehow thought were more important.
-
- President Clinton claims he has 'redefined' national
security. In fact--as the Cox Report conclusively documents--he has 'harmed'
national security. This is the message that every American must understand.
-
- My hope is that we never again have a President who is
so disrespectful of, and inattentive to, traditional national security
concerns.
-
- Yesterday at the joint hearing of the Armed Services,
Energy and Intelligence Committees, I asked whether or not it would be
possible to put in place some safeguards so that no future President could
ever again so successfully undo the country's national security defenses
as this President has. We are working on an answer.
-
- Some of us will continue to speak, out--seeing it as
our highest duty of public service. As I said on March 15--and repeat again
here today--I only hope America is listening. We have a nation to save.
-
- The truth will get out. Winston Churchill said:
-
- "Truth is incontrovertible: Panic may resent it,
ignorance may deride it, malice may destroy it, but there it is."
-
- I yield back the remainder of my time.
-
- _________________
-
- Published in the Jun. 28, 1999 issue of The Washington
Weekly. Copyright © 1999 The Washington Weekly (<http://www.federal.com/http://www.federal.com).
Reposting permitted with this message intact.
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