A Convenient Spy: Wen Ho Lee and the Politics of Nuclear Espionage

by Dan Stober

Journeys behind the scenes to provide a close-up look at the untold story behind the bungled nuclear espionage case, offering a vivid portrait of nuclear scientist Wen Ho Lee, the secret intelligence competition between the U.S. and Chinese, and the implications of the case for the development of modern nuclear weaponry and Sino-U.S. relations. 50,000 first printing.

Genres: Espionage, Politics, History, Nonfiction

384 pages, Hardcover

First published January 8, 2002

Reviews

[John McDonald · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are lessons that each of us, as American citizens, can learn from the government investigations, indictment, and termination from employment of Wen Ho Lee, a Taiwan-born American citizen. Lee, who made serious mistakes in his employment at Los Alamos, writing and adjusting codes used on nuclear weapons, was the subject of misstated facts, overly aggressive and politically-motivated attacks, and the inability and unwillingness of government investigators and prosecutors to be truthful (to themselves) about the evidence and the ethnic biases that were built into the pursuit of Lee from the very beginning.

As a lawyer, I despaired reading just how elusive justice and the integrity of government lawyers and investigators was, and how right up to the very end, due process of law eluded Lee, even to the point of the government appealing a Judge's decision to release Lee from confinement where he had been held for over a year, even when the government understood none of its 59-count indictment would stand.

The saga takes place over a period of about 6-7 years, and it begins with an FBI-Department of Energy investigation that, probably unintentionally, misstated the evidence and misidentified abuses of "classified" information that proved later to be unclassified, or as one prominent nuclear weapons scientist stated under oath at the very end, was 90 or 99.9% unclassified and totally unusable by the PRC or any other foreign power that ended up in possession of the nuclear secrets information.

[Sho S · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book detailing the case of the "spy" Wen Ho Lee who downloaded loads of codes from his restricted nuclear Division X laboratory and the politics residing from the mishandling of the case when prosecuting Dr. Lee. I enjoyed reading the recent history of nuclear ideology and how nuclear secrets post-soviet union was essentially an open book/source in that the free flow of deadly nuclear knowledge was passed around internationally. The book summarizes well the historical standpoints from before and how it has evolved to the case of Wen Ho Lee. The ending was in particular saddening because there was strong evidence that the FBI mishandled this case and yet the only person who suffered the true consequences of the fault was Dr. Lee. But it puts a spot light of the ways the government can accuse you of something even if they don't have substantial strong evidence. 4/5 would recommend for historical/political readers

[Dan Cohen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book describes the rather bizarre case of a programmer working on simulations for nuclear explosions who got caught up in an espionage scandal. This being the US, the case was inevitably ensnared with political machinations - both small "p" political and big "P" Political. So the book is as much about these rather dysfunctional elements of US society as it is about the suspected espionage itself.

The authors do their best to unravel the messy evidence and are liberal in their criticism of many of the parties involved. I was left quite unsure of what to think about the main protagonist and his wife - they certainly come across as very human.

It's a good book and worth a read, although there was more on the politics and Politics than I really wanted.

[Chad Montabon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Inconsistent in tone, but an enjoyable, informative read about how some of the most empowered agencies of government are the least well run.

[Phayvanh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Disclaimer: I have not read Wen Ho Lee's book, My Country Versus Me.

This account of the Wen Ho Lee case reads very much like a spy novel featuring a bumbling (perhaps naive) office worker who happens to make an unexplainable mistake at the time the Government was looking for someone to blame. It's sad, really, that the forces of fate can and will do that to a person.

The authors take great pains to dramatize and explicate the circumstances and information involved in the debacle, including a diagram of a warhead(?) Mr. Lee supposedly "stole". They explain the mechanics and political implications of a possible information leak to other powers.

At the same time, the matter of singling out Mr. Lee by the government gives the book heart and by the end, after the court trial and public avowals, despite the fact that Mr. Lee has never said WHY he broke regulation and copied the info, I couldn't help but feel sorry for the man, and especially, his family.