DOWNSIDE LEGACY AT TWO DEGREES OF PRESIDENT CLINTON
SECTION: BEHIND THE TREASON ALLEGATIONS
SUBSECTION: TIMELINE 1998
Revised 8/9/99
With many thanks to Ohmlaw98 and Jolly!
Abbreviations:
Iran-Iraq Arms Nonproliferation Act (IIANA)
Arms Export Control Act (AECA)
Export Administration Act (EAR)
Nuclear Proliferation Prevention Act (NPPA)
Director of Central Intelligence (DCI)
China's People's Liberation Army (PLA)
Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR)
Nonproliferation Treaty (NT)
Export-Import Bank Act (EIBA)
1998
According to sources familiar with the situation, the administration pushed forward funding for a new, cleaner reactor for North Korea, even though there was evidence that the North Koreans were using the old reactor's plutonium fuel rods for weapons development instead of sending the material to the new facility for energy development. Sources said there was a fierce debate over withholding funds for the reactor project, but the White House insisted on going ahead anyway, despite the evidence of North Korea's misuse of the fuel rods. - FoxNews 5/13/99
Late 1997 - Early 1998
Schwartz (Loral) attended 3 White House events (holiday party, Kennedy Center honors and 13 days before waiver, a dinner for Tony Blair)
First Half 1998
China produced 6 new long range missiles
China is MIRV-ing its ICBMs, deploying them, shopping for more advanced rockets, selling to Iran, North Korea and Libya.
January, 1998
Mr. William S. Cohen, Secretary of Defense of the United States, paid an official visit to China.
An Agreement between the Ministry of National Defense of the People's Republic of China and the Department of Defense of the United States of America on Establishing a Consultation Mechanism to Strengthen Military Maritime Safety was signed by General Chi Haotian, Minister of National Defense of the People's Republic of China and Mr. William S. Cohen, Secretary of Defense of the United States. – Chinese Embassy 6/98
Mr. Clinton officially certified that China was complying with nuclear nonproliferation laws, permitting U.S. companies such as Westinghouse Electric Corp. to sell China civilian nuclear technology. About the same time, Loral moved back into the picture. The company requested -- and got -- a waiver for a Chinese satellite launch. The waiver came despite the controversy surrounding an earlier Chinese rocket launch carrying an Intelsat satellite built by Loral and Hughes Space and Communication Co., which crashed in 1996. A Pentagon study concluded that "U.S. national security was harmed" when the U.S. companies shared with their Chinese partners information about why the crash had occurred.
The Clinton-Gore Administration certified China ... to receive nuclear technology for being in compliance with non-proliferation regimes, even though there was strong evidence that the Chinese government was continuing its proliferation activities with Iran, North Korea, Syria, Pakistan, and Libya. Such proliferation activities, which were contrary to U.S.-Chinese understandings, continue unabated to this day. 5/27/99 Curt Weldon (R-PA)
January 15, 1998
Interim rule with request for comments (Bureau of Export Administration) - Revisions to Commerce Control List and Reporting under the Wassenaar Arrangement.
NSC lawyer Newell Highsmith recommended explicit mention be made of the investigation and the allegation that the Chinese ballistic missile program might have been aided, and suggested Clinton be warned the waiver might generate political heat, but said the administration could mount "a strong rebuttal to such criticism."
Malcolm Lee, a senior official on international economic policy, urged the staff to get more information about "what Loral did." "By no means should we downplay violations" in the memo to Clinton, Lee argued. Berger added a handwritten order: "Find out as much as you can . . . status/timetable/seriousness of DOJ . . . anything we can hang our hat on to characterize Loral's 'offense?' We need some more info."
After China promised it will not aid Iran's nuclear program, Clinton certifed that China is a reliable partner for nuclear technology exchange. Human Events, 5/29/98
January 17, 1998Lewinsky Scandal Breaks on Internet
January 19, 1998
Presidential Letter to Congressional Leaders ".The Government of the People's Republic of China has made substantial strides in joining the international nonproliferation regime, and in putting in place a comprehensive system of nuclear-related, nationwide export controls, since the nuclear cooperation agreement was concluded in 1985. I believe the initiation of cooperation under the Agreement will bring significant nonproliferation benefits to the United States."
January 21, 1998
Monica Lewinsky story breaks in the media
January 26, 1998
Clinton Denies ever having any relationship with that woman, Monica Lewinsky
Clinton intensifies U.S. pressure on Iraq to open all sites, warning Saddam Hussein not to ``defy the will of the world.''
February, 1998
Pentagon workers said that memos and draft documents arguing against Clinton's approval of the satellite exports were suppressed by the security administration's director, and in some cases erased, to minimize the record of executive branch opposition.
Department of Justice was in the process of investigating the missile exports when the President approved the transfer of technology (after the fact.) The New York Times, 4/4/98; Human Events, 5/29/98
An Capstone Delegation from the National Defense University of the United States visited China. – Chinese Embassy
The Energy Department contracts out day-to-day operation of the country's nuclear labs to the University of California and Lockheed Martin Corp. "Security is something they don't even think about," says a retired FBI agent. To break the logjam, agents arranged for Freeh and CIA director George Tenet to receive a stunning briefing in 1997 on security lapses and suspicions of Chinese snooping at Los Alamos. The directors then told Energy Secretary Federico Pena that security was in need of an overhaul. The two also convened a committee of U.S. counterspies, which informed the National Security Council in mid-1997 that the labs needed tighter security and stricter vetting of foreign visitors. Clinton signed off on the proposal in February 1998. -Time 5/10/99 Romesh Ratnesar
February 2, 1998
White House Press Secretary 2/2/98 Mike McCurry/Robert Bell "...MR. MCCURRY:... I'd like to have the President's Senior Director at the National Security Council for Defense Policy and Arms Control to tell you more about our efforts to achieve advice and consent for the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, and then also to tell you a little bit about specifically what the President will be seeing tomorrow when he goes to Los Alamos. .....Now, at Los Alamos, the President will be briefed on the four basic objectives of our stockpile stewardship program. The first is to maintain a safe and reliable stockpile as weapons age. We're extremely confident in our nuclear stockpile now. The last nuclear test was in 1992, and at that time everyone was very confident that for at least a decade, we had very, very high levels of confidence in the inventory. The challenge of the stockpile stewardship program is to bring on line over that next decade, the facilities we need to offset for the loss of testing. The second objective of the program is to enhance our capability to replace and certify nuclear weapons components as needed. The third is to train new weapons scientists, capable of doing this job. And the fourth is to maintain an operational manufacturing capability to repair and remanufacture weapons over time as they age.....Q Hasn't he already gone to Los Alamos? MR. BELL: He went to Los Alamos in 1993, and at that point we had just directed the establishment of this program. So he's coming back, really five years later, to see the progress we've made...."
February 23, 1998Annan and Iraq sign a deal allowing full access to suspected Iraqi weapon sites. New conditions are added to where UNSCOM can go.
March, 1998
An Education and Training Delegation from the US TRADOC visited China. – Chinese Embassy
Chung agreed to terms with prosecutors. He would plead guilty to misdemeanor election law violations, as well as felony tax evasion and bank fraud, and cooperate with investigators - Los Angeles Times 4/4/99
One National Security Council official in March 1998 -- some two years after knowledge of the W-88 and other U.S. nuclear warhead design diversions -- had proposed blanket waivers for satellite sales to China in exchange for China joining the Missile Technology Regime 5/27/99 Curt Weldon (R-PA)
March 16, 1998
China and Loral signed a multiple launch agreement Journal of Commerce, 3/18/98
March 25, 1998
Iridium 51 and 61 were launched China/Com Long March 2C – NASA
March 31, 1998
Assistant Secretary of Defense Edward L. Warner III went before the Congress and bragged about the litany of unilateral disarmament this administration has forced upon the U.S. military: Warner noted the "success" the Clinton administration has had in recent years, which has: Eliminated our entire inventory of ground-launched non-strategic nuclear weapons (nuclear artillery and Lance surface-to-surface missiles). Removed all nonstrategic nuclear weapons on a day-to-day basis from surface ships, attack submarines, and land-based naval aircraft bases. Removed our strategic bombers from alert. Stood down the Minuteman II ICBMs scheduled for deactivation under Start I. Terminated the mobile Peacekeeper and mobile small ICBM programs. Terminated the SCRAM-II nuclear short-range attack missile.
March-April, 1998
General Wang Ke, Member of the Central Military Commission of the People's Republic of China and Director of the General Logistics Department of the PLA, visited the United States. – Chinese Embassy
April, 1998
Top secret CIA report finds 13 Chinese CSS-4 missiles (range of 8000 miles) are targeted at US cities The Washington Times, 5/1/98
An Capstone Delegation from the National Defense University of the United States visited China. – Chinese Embassy
Administration was discussing with the Chinese the possibility of a blanket waiver of sanctions to allow China to launch US-made satellites without case-by-case presidential review.
About a month after press accounts reported his deal with federal investigators, Chung was approached by a San Gabriel Valley businessman, who said he was an associate of Liu. That session was secretly recorded by the FBI and videotaped with a camera hidden in a clock. In a conversation conducted in Chinese, the businessman offered Chung a carrot and a stick. According to sources familiar with the investigation, the businessman advised Chung to keep silent about his contacts with Ji. In return, Chung would receive funds sufficient "to live very comfortably." But the businessman suggested that Chung and his family could have safety concerns if the offer was ignored, the sources said. The threats were veiled but ominous, the sources said, declining to provide details. Furthermore, the businessman advised Chung to go to jail if necessary, assuring Chung that friends in high places would support him. The businessman even suggested that Chung could expect to be pardoned by the president. - Los Angeles Times 4/4/99
It was in April 1998 when some patriotic congressmen discovered how three U.S. companies helped China improve its missiles. Loral Space & Communications, Hughes Electronics and Motorola shamefully supplied Beijing with the launch know-how that China used to improve the reliability of its long-range nuclear missiles. Augusta Chronicle 5/30/99
April 4, 1998
New York Times reporters Jeff Gerth and Raymond Bonner reported, "A federal grand jury is investigating whether two American companies illegally gave China space expertise that significantly advanced Beijing's ballistic missile program, according to administration officials. But the officials said the criminal inquiry was dealt a serious blow two months ago when President Clinton quietly approved the export to China of similar technology by one of the companies under investigation." The Times noted that company, Loral, has a chairman, Bernard Schwartz, who was the largest individual contributor to the Democratic National Committee in 1996. Network coverage? Six weeks went by without a single word from the networks... - Media Research Center 4/26/99 Tim Graham
April 21, 1998
Loral's Globalstar Limited Partnership division finalized a deal with China's Telecom and CHINASAT. Soros Fund controls about 4% of the stock.
April 28, 1998
Dr. Peter Leitner to Congress - in 1995 "President Clinton [unilaterally] decontrolled computers up to 2,000 MTOPS [from previous CoCom ceiling of 260 MTOPS] for all users and up to 7,000 MTOPS for civilian use in countries such as Russia" and China. Also, he said as "meet today, the administration appears poised to announce yet another round of unilateral supercomputer decontrols."
November 1997 - April 1998
China: may have transferred technology for Pakistan's Ghauri medium-range ballistic missile that was flight-tested on April 6, 1998, Violated MTCR, AECA, EAR - no action taken by the administration. . - Congress
April 29, 1998
Department of Justice will not release documents sought by congressional committees: "because it has concluded that doing so, even in a redacted form, would compromise an ongoing criminal investigation." DOJ has "blocked the Pentagon from releasing a classified report" it did in 1997 that found that the help the Chinese received during the China/U.S. tech transfer episode "harmed the national security of the United States by advancing China's missile capabilities."
May, 1998
Pentagon classified report issued ("national security has been harmed") Congress has been unable to see it. as of present.
Jiang Zemin held a three-day conference to discuss the reunification of Taiwan.
A PLA military legal delegation visited the United States. – Chinese Embassy
Mr. Franklin D. Kramer, Assistant Secretary of Defense, visited China. – Chinese Embassy
General Michael E. Ryan, Chief of Staff of the U.S. Air Force, visited China. – Chinese Embassy
Maloof's Office of Technology Security Operations objected last year to the sale by Hughes of a sophisticated new communications satellite to the Asia- Pacific Mobile Telecommunications (APMT) consortium, which is part-owned by the PLA, "because of an anonymous tip it received in late May 1998 that the son of the deputy director of COSTIND (the Chinese State Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense, which ultimately controls weapons development plans in China) was project manager of APMT at Hughes's U.S. facility." When Hughes sought approval in 1996 to allow the son, Shen Jun, to work at Hughes, their application stated he would "be only a translator, although as it turned out he was an APMT project director," Maloof told Congress. One of the most disturbing elements about the APMT project was a Chinese requirement that the new satellite be configured so that it could handle separate encrypted channels for Chinese military communications. The Chinese began relying on U.S.-built civilian communications satellites in 1996, Maloof wrote, after the catastrophic failure of their military communications satellites. As a result, "they had no choice but to resort to the use of previously purchased U.S. satellites for their encrypted communications." - The American Spectator 5/99 Kenneth R. Timmerman
May 2, 1998
Iridium 69 and 71 were launched China/Com Long March 2C - NASA
May 6, 1998
Charles Labella told Republican Senators that the campaign finance investigation evidence warranted an independent counsel. Janet Reno rejected the recommendation.
May 7, 1998
GAO testimony "According to State officials, since 1990, 11 presidential waivers have been issued removing export restrictions on 21 satellite projects. Presidential waivers were also granted to permit the export of encryption equipment controlled on the Munitions List." Also, GAO testifies that China is now using US built secure encoding systems to protect their military satellite and global communications. NSAID-98-171
May 11-13, 1998
India detonated 5 underground nuclear tests. Los Angeles Times, 5/12/98; Facts on File World News Digest, 5/14/98
May 11, 1998
Johnny Chung and Robert Luu discuss how they will communicate in secret, and Luu soon offers to help Chung - FoxNews 6/3/99
May 13, 1998
U.S. Senate, Democrats filibustered the "American Missile Protection Act of 1998"
May 14, 1998
Chung, Luu and Brockway (Robert Luu's suggested new attorney for Chung) - FoxNews 6/3/99
May 15, 1998
Chung carried a concealed recording device into another meeting with the businessman, sources said. That same day, the New York Times published a story reporting for the first time that Chung had linked Liu and the Chinese military to some of his DNC donations. Later that day, U.S. counterintelligence agents received some unspecified information that caused concern for Chung's immediate safety. Within hours, Chung and his family, including two children of preschool age, were escorted by heavily armed FBI agents to the Embassy Suites on Imperial Highway in El Segundo – Los Angeles Times 4/4/99
The New York Times reported Johnny Chung told investigators that a large part of the almost $100,000 he gave Democrats in the summer of 1996 came from Liu Chaoying, who works on defense modernization for China's People's Liberation Army. Two days later, the Times added that Clinton overrode then- Secretary of State Warren Christopher's decision to limit China's ability to launch American- made satellites on Chinese rockets. Network coverage? ... ABC devoted 75 seconds to the story, CBS 27, and NBC 15. After Sunday's disclosures, ABC reported one story, but CBS and NBC ignored it.... - Media Research Center 4/26/99 Tim Graham
May 18, 1998
Phone Call Luu and Chung discuss what form China's aid will take is who is behind the offer of help - FoxNews 6/3/99
May 20, 1998
Senior Justice Department officials rejected an FBI suggestion to invoke the Independent Counsel Act in the ongoing investigation of whether campaign contributions illegally influenced President Clinton's China trade policy.
When the House voted to block further US satellite exports to China, the reaction from Bureau of Export Administration, William Reinsch was "We're talking about the potential loss of major contracts,. It could really complicate people's lives."
May 22, 1998
John Pike (who in 1987 was sympathetic to negotiated limits on SDI development) was again in opposition to other exports in testimony before the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee. In not supporting a ban of satellite export to China, he reminded the senators that China was the birthplace of rocketry and said that any US help to China would be trivial compared to Soviet help to China (see May 1997.)
May 26, 1998
Clinton refused to visit Hong Kong democracy campaigner Martin Lee privately during his scheduled visit there.
May 28-30, 1998
Pakistan conducted a series of underground nuclear tests The New York Times, 5/29/98, 5/31/98
May, 1998
The Justice Department may launch a criminal investigation into whether the Clinton administration's decision to approve exports of satellite technology to China in 1996 had any connection with campaign contributions to the Democratic Party.
Summer 1998
"… At the Energy Department, officials waited more than a year to act on the FBI's 1997 recommendations to improve security at the weapons laboratories and restrict the suspect's access to classified information, officials said. The department's chief of intelligence, who raised the first alarm about the case, was ordered last year by senior officials not to tell Congress about his findings because critics might use them to attack the administration's China policies, officials said…." New York Times 3/06/99 Jeff Gerth
FBI undertakes additional investigative steps that do not yield dispositive results– Thompson/Lieberman Report 8/99
May-June, 1998
The FBI monitors two groups of Chinese visitors traveling in Southern California, at least one of which was regarded by intelligence operatives as a possible "hit squad." No attempt is made to harm Chung or his family. Los Angeles Times 4/4/99 William Rempel, Henry Weinstein, Alan Miller
June, 1998
Chinese mobile DF-15s are facing Taiwan, Russia and are inside occupied Tibet pointed at India. The DF-11s in Pakistani hands are clearly targeted at India. The missiles can deliver a 10 to 20-kiloton warhead on its target in less than four minutes - in other words, New Dehli and Taipei, cities with a combined population of over 4 million, are four minutes from total destruction. WorldNetDaily 10/13/98 Charles Smith plus
The Washington Time reports "China is discussing sales of missile test equipment to Iran and is helping Libya develop its own missile program . Iran held discussions with China last month on the purchase of "telemetry equipment" for missile testing, said U.S. officials familiar with intelligence reports . In addition, new intelligence data indicates Chinese technicians involved in missile research and development are working with Libya to help the North African state develop missiles . The Clinton administration has not appointed a special envoy to China to try to head off the missile assistance, as it did with Russia.
DOE requested 19 FBI investigations after internal reviews reviews indicated classified or sensitive information was leaked, stolen or compromised at U.S. nuclear weapons plants and laboratories USA Today 3/17/99 Peter Eisler
The [11/98] classified report contains numerous warnings and specific examples showing that outsiders had gained access to the computer systems at U. S. weapons labs as recently as June 1998.... the Energy Department recorded 324 attacks on its unclassified computer systems from outside the United States between October 1997 and June 1998, including instances when outsiders successfully gained "complete access and total control to create, view, modify or execute any and all information stored on the system." New York Times 5/2/99 Jeff Gerth James Risen
June 3, 1998
Clinton announced he will seek to renew China's MFN status.
Rep Gibbons: "Mr. Speaker, just when we think we have heard it all, yesterday China asked the United States for this, and get this, permanent most-favored-nation trading status."
The comptroller's office called a second, larger interagency meeting to present the findings of its investigation into Far East National. "This was a situation where we had identified a piece of a much bigger puzzle," Stipano, the agency's enforcement director, said. "And the rest of the puzzle was not something that we had the ability or the authority to investigate." Because the investigators thought some of the $92 million might have been diverted by Chinese officials, a State Department official was asked to consider raising the matter with Beijing. The Department decided against that. "It was not a foreign policy issue that one raises with the Foreign Ministry," one official said. At the FBI, an official said the matter was initially passed on to a task force investigating campaign-finance cases questions. The task force later referred it back to the bureau's headquarters in Washington, which forwarded it to the FBI field office in Los Angeles. Although the field office brought the case to the office of the U.S. attorney there, word of it only belatedly reached agents in foreign counterintelligence -- those who knew the most about Ms. Xu. - NY TIMES 5/12/99 TIM GOLDEN and JEFF GERTH
June 4, 1998
At the last minute request of Janet Reno, CIA Director George J. Tenet refused to discuss with a Senate Intelligence Committee, a secret report about unauthorized U.S. transfer of information to China. Reno reversed her position after objections were made.
June 5, 1998
China urged the US to abandon its plans to sale Taiwan advanced navigation equipment and spare parts for F16 fighters. Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao: "The Chinese side stands resolutely opposed to any sale by the US side of advanced military equipment technology to Taiwan because it violates the Sino-American August 17 communique and impairs China's sovereignty and security,"
June 5, 1998
Fax from Robert Luu to Johnny Chung on recommending Brockway - Foxnews 6/3/99
June 7, 1998
Over Defense Department reservations, a decision could be announced this week to permit Consarc to ship a high-tech furnace to military-connected institute in China. The furnace can be used in weapons production.
Sunday Telegraph "(7) For the People's Republic of China, the general licensing policy is to approve applications, except that those items that would make a direct and significant contribution to electronic and anti-submarine warfare, intelligence gathering, power projection, and air superiority receive extended review or denial. Each application will be considered individually. Items may be approved even though they may contribute to Chinese military development or the end-user or end-use is military. Note that the Advisory Notes in the CCL headed 'Note for the People's Republic of China' provide guidance on equipment likely to be approved more rapidly for China." [Code of Federal Regulations, Title 15, Volume 2, Sec. 742.4 National security, authored by the Bureau of Export Administration under the Commerce Department.]
June 9, 1998
State Department spokesman Rubin said the Clinton administration has decided to wipe the Chinese slate clean of all past nuclear and missile transgressions because "reality dictates that we focus on what cooperation we can get now, and it had been significant."
Rep Rohrabacher (CA) to Congress ".With the wealth of technology that Bill Clinton and the corporate power brokers are transferring, China is steadily building a state-of-the-art Army, Navy, and Air Force and strategic missile force. This is a power that will threaten anyone who gets in their way. And we are financing it. We are subsidizing it. We are facilitating it. And this administration is celebrating it. And when the party is over, as I say, a very few rich Americans are going to be better off and a multitude of our own working people will be displaced by low-tariff imports. ..Our military personnel will be in grave danger and our country vulnerable to nuclear attack and high-tech warfare attack. All of this from this nonsensical policy."
June 10, 1998
General Accounting Office associate director Katherine V. Schinasi, testified to the Senate Intelligence Committee that since the transfer from State to Commerce, ``the Defense department's ability to influence the decision-making process has diminished."
GAO Schinasi testimony to Senate Intelligence committee regarding move of technology export from State to Commerce: Congress does not have to be notified of a new application for a license, sanctions do not always cover technology under Commerce jurisdiction, Pentagon no longer has a veto (votes as 1 of 5,) new rules have a 3 step appeal process
June 11, 1998
On pleas to get China to sign on to the Missile Technology Control Regime, one administration official said "Their answer has been a flat no."
The European Union and China agreed to a determined effort to conclude China's negotiations to join the World Trade Organisation (WTO) by the end of 1999
Washington Post reporter John Mintz revealed, "Months after denouncing President George Bush in 1992 for coddling 'familiar tyrants' in Beijing, newly inaugurated President Clinton endorsed his predecessor's policy in 1993 by approving deals with China to launch U.S.-made satellites. Clinton took the action, the first of many favored by U.S. companies, despite evidence that China had sold ballistic missile parts to Pakistan, declassified White House documents show." Network coverage? Zero... - Media Research Center 4/26/99 Tim Graham
Luu came to Chungs office and tried to tell him he'll be all right Later in the conversation, Luu began to bring up subjects that Chung should avoid mentioning in his testimony, including links between China Aerospace and U.S. satellite makers. To Chung, however, it mattered little: He was worried about his own future, not China's. - FoxNews 6/3/99
June 13, 1998
New York Times reporter Jeff Gerth found: "For the past two years, China's military has relied on American-made satellites sold for civilian purposes to transmit messages to its far-flung army garrisons, according to highly classified intelligence reports. The reports are the most powerful evidence to date that the American government knew that China's army was taking advantage of the Bush and Clinton administrations' decisions to encourage sales of technology to Asian companies." Network coverage? Zero. - Media Research Center 4/26/99 Tim Graham
June 14, 1998
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the government owned Bank of China is subject to U.S. court jurisdiction after reneging on an "irrevocable" letter of credit concerning a suit brought by Voest-Alpine to collect on a $1.2 million guarantee for Jiangyin Foreign Trade Corporation which is owned by the PRC.
China has denied delivering M-11 missiles to Pakistan and described U.S. media reports in this regard as ``entirely groundless''. The administration has decided not to make a ``determination'' of the presence of M-11 missiles in Pakistan to avoid stiff sanctions against China. The retired head of CIA's Counter Proliferation Center, Mr. Gordon Oehler, said that Pakistan may have received upto 34 M-11s from China in 1992 but a recent USAF report puts the number at ``less than 50'', indicating that more missiles have been delivered since. The White House has said it never found ``irrefutable'' proof that could help the Clinton administration to impose sanctions on China for the transfer of M-11 missiles to Pakistan. Washington imposed some sanctions on Beijing for sending M-11 components to Pakistan in August 1993 but lifted them in 1994 to permit launches of U.S. satellites from China.
June 15, 1998
Fax From Luu to Johnny Chung coded message - FoxNews 6/3/99
June 15-16, 1998
Washington Times reporter Bill Gertz found White House documents showed Clinton loosened the Bush export-control policy by allowing a November 1993 satellite launch while sanctions were in place for exporting missile parts to Pakistan: "Congressional investigators said the document, released last week by the White House, contradicts recent statements by Clinton administration officials defending satellite export policies and claiming they were following procedures set by the Bush administration."... Bill Gertz added more in the Washington Times: "China is discussing sales of missile test equipment to Iran and is helping Libya develop its own missile program, The Washington Times has learned...The reports contradict administration claims that Beijing has improved its record on weapons proliferation." Network coverage? Zero. - Media Research Center 4/26/99 Tim Graham
June 17, 1998
Xinhua news agency reported that China implemented regulations controlling the export of nuclear equipment and technology with dual civilian and military uses. Beijing's pledge to end nuclear cooperation with Iran allowed Clinton last October to lift a ban on the sale of billions of dollars in U.S.-made nuclear power reactors to China.
Clinton Administration is reconsidering the $650 million Hughes satellite sale to China, the satellites contain some of this country's most sophisticated communications equipment. Shen Rongjun of COSTIND (China) in the project is the father of Shen Jun also directly involved. COSTIND is involved in intelligence gathering for China. http://www.worldnetdaily.com/bluesky_smith/19981013_xcsof_red_star_o.shtml and
Susan Esserman White House trade official said concerning China ``Revoking MFN would worsen the Asian financial crisis.'' And Stanley Roth, assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific affairs, said revoking the trade status ``would affect our relations with China across the board . we would be eliminating the prospects for future progress.'' The US has a $50 billion trade deficit with China.
China yesterday warned that there could be no compromise about its threat to use force to reclaim Taiwan: ``The Chinese government has repeatedly announced its willingness to reunify the country by peaceful means, but cannot undertake not to use armed means to resolve the Taiwan issue,'' the official China Daily newspaper said in an editorial.
June 18, 1998
Jeff Gerth reported in The New York Times that the Clinton administration was rethinking its approval of one of the largest satellite deals to that date: "Administration officials said concerns about the pending satellite sale had been deepened by American intelligence reports about Shen Rongjun, the Chinese Army general who oversees his country's military satellite programs. The reports quote the general as saying he planned to emphasize the role of satellites in gathering information." Gerth added: "In an unusual arrangement, Hughes Space and Communications hired General Shen's son, a dual citizen of Canada and China, to work on the project as a manager. The company said it was aware of his familial ties; it is not clear whether the Clinton administration knew. Father and son were both directly involved in the project, and American officials said the intelligence reports said the general was pressing his son to move it forward." Network coverage? Zero. - Media Research Center 4/26/99 Tim Graham
June 24, 1998
The New York Times reported that China barred American monitors from a previous rocket crash site: "When the Americans finally reached the area and opened the battered but intact control box of the satellite, a supersecret encoded circuit board was missing."Network coverage? Zero. - Media Research Center 4/26/99 Tim Graham
June 27, 1998
Thirteen of China's 18 missiles are targeted at the US.
June 28, 1998
U.S. President Bill Clinton and China's President Jiang Zemin pledged to stop targeting each other's countries with nuclear missiles. Analysts said the de-targeting agreement was not significant because missiles can be re-targeted rapidly.
June 30, 1998
Tripp first testifies before the grand jury. U.S. District Court Judge Susan Webber Wright ordered Mr. Clinton’s deposition in the Paula Jones case to be made public.
F-16 fighter fires a missile at an Iraqi surface-to-air missile battery in southern Iraq after Iraqi radar locks on four British patrol planes. Iraq denies any aggression. The first time since jets did so in November 1996.
July, 1998
House National Security Committee session, Rep. Gibbons asked Reinsch to produce the 1995 satellite waiver documents (between Reinsch and Baca - taken by Sokowitz.) Gibbons, a ranking member of the National Security Committee, made direct reference to the Reinsch 1995 memos, citing the Commerce Department worked on the waiver for a satellite launch from Kazakhstan in the former Soviet Union. Reinsch promised during the hearing that he would produce the hidden waiver documents. – Charles Smith WorldNet Daily 7/21/98
"…In July 1998, the House Intelligence Committee requested an update on the case, officials said. Trulock forwarded the request in a memo to, and in conversations with, Elizabeth Moler, then acting energy secretary. Ms. Moler ordered him not to brief the House panel for fear that the information would be used to attack the president's China policy, according to an account he later gave congressional investigators… …." New York Times 3/06/99 Jeff Gerth
The Rumsfeld Commission issued a brief unclassified report and a 307 PAGE CLASSIFIED report to the Clinton Administration for review. The only official response to the report came from General Shelton, who had only reviewed a pre-release draft, and had refused numerous offers of a direct briefing by the Commission. Other senior members of Clinton's foreign policy team refused to respond to the reports findings! Shelton then publicly rebuked the commission by releasing a letter that was very critical of their findings. The letter was then quoted widely by Senate Democrats during a filibuster that killed a Republican bill that would have required deployment of a national missile defense system. "Mr. Rumsfeld said in an interview yesterday both Gen. Shelton and Defense Secretary William S. Cohen have not been briefed formally on the commission's findings." "A U.S. government official involved in producing the report said Gen. Shelton had been offered a briefing several times, but his staff had declined. " from "Shelton has not had formal briefing on missile threat study" The Washington Times, by Bill Gertz 10/8/1998
"In a July 1998 report to Congress on the military modernization in China, the Department of Defense wrote that Beijing is acquiring foreign technologies that could be used to develop ASAT systems. The report refers to frequency jammers, radar satellite trackers and high-energy lasers, and notes that China already may possess the ability to damage optical sensors on satellites…" - Washington Times 7/12/99 James Hackett
July 6, 1998
BBC News "China says it is planning joint military exercises with the United States in an effort to reverse years of mistrust between the two countries. A report in the official China Daily newspaper said there could also be exchanges of military officers at junior and senior levels, as well as possible small-scale joint exercises in areas such as sea rescue and anti-piracy.."
July 8, 1998
Federal Bureau of Investigation Directory Louis Freeh provided significant new information to the Senate Intelligence Committee.
July 15, 1998
"The Justice Department's probe of satellite exports to China includes a 1995 Commerce Department decision to allow Hughes Electronics Corp.to give China a report on a rocket launch failure without Pentagon or State Department review..The Commerce decision, made in a three-page attachment to Hughes' analysis of the launch failure, was highlighted Wednesday by Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. "This would appear to me and to others to be a pretty serious breakdown in the safeguards,'' Shelby said at a committee hearing. David Tarbell, the Pentagon's chief official in charge of reviewing exports for national security concerns .,"I think that the report should have been provided to the Defense Department,''." AP 7/15/98 John Diamond
July 21, 1998
Trulock's memo to Acting Energy Secretary Elizabeth Moler - outlining a request for briefing "Acting Energy Secretary Elizabeth Moler prevented him from answering a request for a briefing on Los Alamos by members of the House Intelligence Committee." - Omaha World-Herald 4/20/99
July 28, 1998
Monica Lewinsky makes immunity agreement with Judge Starr. News coverage shifts to mostly Monica…
August 5, 1998
Iraq announces it's cutting ties with weapons inspectors, saying it sees no move toward lifting sanctions. It leaves long-term monitoring in place.
August 6, 1998Lewinsky Testifies Before Starr Grand Jury
August 7, 1998
Congressional Record 8/7/98 Rep Rohrabacher ".I disclosed information that indicated that American aerospace firms, with the acquiescence of officials in the Clinton administration, and perhaps the President himself, had facilitated the transfer of sophisticated rocket technology to the Communist Chinese.First and foremost, since my first address, nothing has emerged that suggests that my original statements were inaccurate....I expected, after my first speech on this issue, that the companies in question would protest that I was wrong, that my fears were unfounded, that my sources had exaggerated the damage being done to our security. That has not been the case. The dangers to our country may, in fact, have been understated….The Chinese Government, once Loral and Hughes jumped into analyzing what had gone wrong with this launch, the Chinese Government requested a Chinese-born Loral executive named Dr. Wah Lim, to be put in charge of this report…. ..To put that in terms that my colleagues might understand, now millions of Americans live under the threat of being incinerated by a nuclear weapon launched at the United States from China, and made more accurate and made more reliable by our own aerospace industry... What we are really talking about is the upgrading of a nuclear weapons delivery system in the hands of the Communist Chinese, a weapons system that is designed to hit American cities and vaporize millions of our own people..The frightening fact screams out at us. China did not have MIRVing capability for this system before the iridium satellite contract was signed with Motorola…..In addition, Motorola officials confirmed to me that they have provided the Chinese with technology such as exploding bolts. Exploding bolts. That is the technology that facilitates the stage separation of rockets.. Well, at first the company was turned down, Motorola, when they wanted to give some of these technologies, these exploding bolts that facilitate MIRVing and stage separation technology, they were turned down. They were turned down in their attempt. Just as perhaps Bernie Schwartz was turned down on some of these requests early on to sell weapons technology to the Chinese, they were turned down to sell these exploding bolts to the Chinese. But through a Clinton administration sleight of hand, by readjusting the paperwork, the licensing process moved forward, and this technology, which helps the rockets, was moved from the rocket category, which is illegal for these companies to transfer to the Communist Chinese, it was moved to the satellite list simply by reworking the paperwork. Now, it is permissible for them to give this technology, before it was illegal….. However, the most egregious demonstration of contempt, contempt for the people of the United States and contempt for President Clinton, was demonstrated when Beijing successfully tested an engine for a whole new generation of long-range ICBMs. This weapon that can hit the United States from mobile missiles launched in China, this engine for this new rocket was tested while President Clinton was right there in Beijing saying, let us be friends. .."
August 17, 1998
Clinton makes televised admission concerning Lewinsky
August 20, 1998
Clinton orders bombing in Sudan and Afghanistan
Monica Lewinsky testified before the federal grand jury and described how the president had encouraged her to continue denying the relationship and to submit a false affidavit.
NYT breaks story about Gore's fund-raising memo.
Starr report to allege Clinton power abuse
Scott Ritter quits UNSCOM
Sudan indicts Clinton as a war criminal
September, 1998
Clinton made another unexpected visit to Los Alamos – Freeper IndiCrusade 4/99 a Los Alamos employee
October, 1998
"…In October, Ms. Moler, then deputy secretary, stopped Trulock from delivering written testimony on espionage activities in the labs to a closed session of the House National Security Committee. Ms. Moler told Trulock to rewrite his testimony to limit it to the announced subject of the hearing, foreign visitors to the labs, an Energy Department spokeswoman said…." New York Times 3/06/99 Jeff Gerth
Cox/Dicks committee focus shifted dramatically when the panel learned of a major loss of nuclear secrets at Los Alamos. At the same time, the committee heard complaints from a senior Energy Department intelligence officer, Notra Trulock, that he had been stymied in his attempts to bring the espionage loss and security problems at the labs to the attention of senior Clinton administration officials - AP 5/24/99 H Josef Hebert
Plan: October 1
Plans to "gut" the Defense Technology Security Administration (DTSA), which President Reagan created as the Pentagon's central office for reviewing proposed sales of militarily sensitive technology abroad, by merging it with the primary defense agency opposed to export controls.
October 14, 1998
Statement of John C. Browne Director Los Alamos National Laboratory to Hearing of the Select Committee on U.S. National Security and Military/Commercial Concerns with the People's Republic of China United States House of Representatives "…In 1994, Dr. Siegfried Hecker, at that time Director of Los Alamos National Laboratory, led a small group of scientists on a visit to the People's Republic of China. This visit was a follow-up to an earlier visit to China by Mr. Robert Daniel, the DOE Director of the Office of National Security and Nonproliferation…There were 18 trips to the People's Republic of China in FY98 by Los Alamos staff of which 3 were associated with the lab-to-lab exchange program. The others were associated with our people presenting talks at international conferences being held in the PRC. Similar numbers of trips occurred in 1995, 1996 and 1997…In the areas approved for the lab-to-lab exchanges, the desired result is a transfer of technology to the PRC so that they can improve their nuclear materials safeguards up to the IAEA standards, and can utilize the appropriate technology for verification of treaties such as the CTBT….. There are some risks for this program. First, we are always concerned for the personal safety and security of our people during the visits to the PRC. Second, we presume that there is a strong potential for targeting our people for gathering intelligence information. Lastly, there is always some risk of inadvertent information disclosure although we take significant precautions to prevent this occurrence…."
October 15, 1998
Wye River discussions with Israel and Palestinians and Clinton begin. News coverage changes.
October 19, 1998
".According to a 1995 Commerce Department document, the President "made clear," in private conversations he had with Brown, that "he does not believe we have done enough to streamline and liberalize." The document mapped out how Brown should lobby high-level Administration officials to ease controls on computer exports and shift items like communications satellites, engine technology and commercial data-scrambling devices. Such items were on a list of equipment that required a State Department license, and companies believed they could close more deals if authority over the exports were moved to Brown's Commerce Department..Secretary of State Warren Christopher insisted that his department retain jurisdiction. He was overruled in early 1996 by Clinton, opening the way to billions of dollars of satellite sales to Chinese companies. At about the same time, the Administration was weighing whether to lift restrictions on the export of some advanced computers. Officials asked outside consultants to study the issue, and they came back with a report that asserted the controls were pointless. The powerful computers manufactured by American companies would soon be widely available from foreign competitors, the report said. The Administration asked the consultants to assess whether computer sales could pose a threat to the American military. Their report did not take a position, saying the Government did not have enough information to draw a conclusion. This left the issue to Clinton, who decided to fulfill his pledge to the Silicon Valley executives and relax the restrictions..The new rules took effect early in 1996. Soon after, Chinese companies bought 77 of the high-speed computers, which can be used to predict weather patterns but can also scramble secret communications or design powerful nuclear weapons. Disclosure of those sales prompted Congress to reinstate license requirements for some advanced computers. This year, the Central Intelligence Agency and other Federal agencies concluded that at least some of those computers are being used by China's military. The details of their use remain unclear, officials said..Just this month, Congress reversed Clinton's 1996 decision and returned satellite exports to the State Department. At the same time, lawmakers created a senior Pentagon position for technology security after concluding military officials' role in controlling exports to countries like China had been "significantly and improperly reduced over the years." ." New York Times Jeff Gerth 10/19/98
Announced the top of the fold, off-lead of Monday's New York Times. Reporter Jeff Gerth and Eric Schmitt detailed how Clinton's decision to relax export rules, made after he met high-tech executives who later contributed to the DNC, "enabled Chinese companies to obtain a wide range of sophisticated technology, some of which has already been diverted to military uses." Network Coverage? 10/20, Good Morning America and This Morning all skipped it Monday morning. Monday night: Not a word on the ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC or FNC evening newscasts. Media Research Center
October 31, 1998
Iraq suspends all cooperation with U.N. weapons inspectors. The United States and Britain warn Iraq of potential military action to force cooperation.
November, 1998
A secret report [prepared by U. S. counterintelligence officials throughout the government] to top Clinton administration officials last November warned that China posed an "acute intelligence threat" to the government's nuclear weapons laboratories and that computer systems at the labs were being constantly penetrated by outsiders.... The classified report contains numerous warnings and specific examples showing that outsiders had gained access to the computer systems at U. S. weapons labs as recently as June 1998....The report was distributed to the highest levels of the government, including Bill Richardson, the secretary of energy; William Cohen, the secretary of defense; Janet Reno, the attorney general; President Clinton's national security adviser, Sandy Berger, and three dozen other senior officials at law enforcement, defense and intelligence agencies. A government official gave a copy of the report to The New York Times. ... The 25-page counterintelligence report contains many examples of lax security and serious intelligence breaches at the labs that have not been previously disclosed, involving more than a dozen foreign countries......The report also includes detailed information about a number of incidents in which China could have obtained sensitive weapons information, as well as some of the ways the espionage could have taken place, including these: A Chinese scientist working at the Brookhaven National Laboratory, on Long Island, was able to send dozens of long, technical faxes to the Chinese Academy of Sciences, enabling the Chinese research center to duplicate Brookhaven experiments as they were being conducted. China might be using its exchanges with American scientists for espionage. Chinese intelligence officials have also arranged the visits of American scientists to China to "enable Chinese experts to assess and develop these contacts," according to the report. Thirty-seven Chinese intelligence officers have visited or been assigned to the labs and other Energy Department facilities over the last five years...The report also focuses on security breaches at the labs involving other countries, citing numerous incidents….. The report grew out of a comprehensive counterintelligence review prompted by an espionage investigation that came to focus on Lee in 1996...." New York Times 5/2/99 Jeff Gerth James Risen
November 13, 1998Clinton settles Paula Jones suit for $850,000; Clinton orders, then aborts, massive missile attack on Iraq.
Judge Starr delivered to Congress an additional 4 boxes of evidence against Clinton
November 14, 1998 8 a.m.
Clinton orders a massive strike against Iraq
November 15, 1998 3 a.m.
November 16, 1998
China Great Wall Industry Corp has signed a deal with Asia Satellite Telecommunication Co Ltd to launch a communication satellite on a Long March 3B rocket, said Wang Liheng, vice-president of China Aerospace Corp, Great Wall's parent company.."
November 17, 1998
Impeachment Hearings Begin Starr to testify
Late, 1998
"…Key lawmakers began to learn about the extent of the Chinese theft of U.S. nuclear secrets late in 1998, when a select committee investigating the transfers of sensitive U.S. technology to China, chaired by Rep. Christopher Cox, R-Calif., heard from Trulock. Administration officials say that Congress was adequately informed, but leading Democrats and Republicans disagree…..By December, Dicks, in his role as the ranking Democratic member of the Cox panel, was growing impatient with the administration's slow response to ongoing requests from the committee and its inaction on the Los Alamos spy case. …. As the FBI investigation intensified, the Cox Committee completed a 700-page secret report which found that China's theft of US secrets had harmed U.S. national security -- saving the Chinese untold time and money in nuclear weapons research. After hearing from both the CIA and Energy Department analysts, the bi-partisan panel unanimously came down on the side of Trulock's assessment, officials said…." New York Times 3/06/99 Jeff Gerth
December, 1998
In a December memo to Clinton, Richardson certified that the ''nuclear stockpile has no safety or reliability concerns that require underground testing at this time.'' There are a few problems with those assurances, observers say. For one, funding for the Nevada Test Site is being cut, in part to support construction of new computer-based testing facilities under Clinton's so-called Stockpile Stewardship plan. In fiscal 2000, Energy is asking for an 8% hike in spending for Stockpile Stewardship and a 1% cut in funding for Nevada weapons activities. So maintaining the site for future nuclear tests may not be so easy. The definition of ''timely resumption'' of testing also bothers some experts. It actually means ''within two to three years'' of the president's order, according to the back pages of Energy's 2000 budget request. A lot can happen in two or three years, critics note. . Investor's Business Daily 4/12/99 Paul Sperry
In December, Lee was subjected to a polygraph for the first time. During that first examination, for reasons that officials could not explain, investigators did not ask Lee to consent to a search of his office computer. Government attorneys had concluded that the earlier Justice Department denial for an FBI surreptitious search required Lee's permission to examine his office computer. New York Times 5/2/99 Jeff Gerth James Risen
December 11, 1998The House Judiciary Committee Votes
December 13, 1998
December 14, 1998
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Democratic fund-raiser Johnny Chung was sentenced to five years probation. Chung plead guilty to funneling more than $366,000 from Chinese business interests to the DNC. Chung has cooperated with a special task force set up to investigate illegal contributions, his attorney (Brian Sun) told the judge.` Various Government 3/16/99 ohmlaw98
December 15, 1998CLINTON TOLD ON AIR FORCE ONE THAT HE CURRENTLY DOES
NOT HAVE THE VOTES TO DEFEAT IMPEACHMENT IN THE HOUSE.
Clinton makes final decision to undertake military action after he had holds a discussion aboard Air Force One [Tuesday] with Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and a half-dozen members of Congress who traveled with them to the Middle East."
December 16, 1998
Impeachment Eve
Clinton orders bombing of Iraq with impeachment vote pending in the House
December 19, 19982:21 PM ET Clinton Impeached on 2 out of the 4 articles. – Jim Robinson
Pentagon To Recommend End Of Iraq Strikes - Officials 5.38 p.m. ET
December 22, 1998
FBI's "Agent A" first informs OIPR Attorney Dave Ryan of additional investigative steps. Ryan not informed of all details. No further action taken. – Thompson/Lieberman Report 8/99
December 23, 1998
Lee took polygraph administered by DOE contractor. – Thompson/Lieberman Report 8/99
Lee is moved by LANL to position without access to classified information, a step FBI Director Freeh had said could be taken in August 1997. – Thompson/Lieberman Report 8/99
December 30, 1998
On Wednesday a special select House committee of five Republicans and four Democrats released a unanimous report which concluded that U.S. technology deals with China have boosted the accuracy of their missiles and harmed America's national security. Network Coverage? Of the broadcast networks, only CBS considered it worth a full story. ABC's World News Tonight gave it a piddling 22 seconds and NBC Nightly News allocated a mere 26 seconds. FNC and CNN also provided full stories, but only FNC reminded viewers that Loral's Chairman donated $100,000 to Democrats just before his company earned a technology transfer waiver. - Media Research Center