DOWNSIDE LEGACY AT TWO DEGREES OF PRESIDENT CLINTON
SECTION: RED FLAGS OF TREASON
SUBSECTION: MISSILE LAUNCH AND GUIDANCE
Revised 8/15/99
USA Today 5/19/99 "...In 1996, the Administration transferred the licensing authority for exporting satellite technology from the State Department, which had opposed giving new technology to China, to the Commerce Department, which immediately approved the transfer. Given the green light by the Commerce Department, Loral Corporation provided China with missile technology to improve its satellite launch and guidance systems. This same technology can be used to improve the performance of missiles aimed at the United States. Loral is headed by Bernard Schwartz, one of the largest Democratic donors in the '96 election cycle...."
World Net Daily 7/21/98 Charles Smith ".President Clinton signed a SECOND part to the waiver for Loral's Globalstar system in July of 1996. The second part of the Clinton waiver was not for satellites to Russia but allowed Loral to sell an encrypted telemetry control ground station to China for the Loral Globalstar satellites. The station has already been built and has opened just outside of Beijing.."In March 1996," wrote Reinsch in his recent letter to Spence. "The export of a ground station which contained encryption would have been under the jurisdiction of the State Department." In 1996, encrypted telemetry was a separate item -- not controlled by the Commerce Department. The only way to dodge the State Department sanctions on the export of satellite encryption to China was by obtaining Bill Clinton's signature. On July 9, 1996, Bill Clinton signed the waiver for Loral."
Capitol Hill Blue 4/22/99 Doug Thompson "...In 1996, the Clinton administration, over the objection of the CIA and the Defense Department, approved the sale of sensitive satellite technology to China by Loral, a company headed by Clinton campaign contributor Bernard Schwartz. That technology, intelligence analyst Owen says, was a key component in developing the missile technology that China is using to developing a delivery system for its new nuclear weapons. "Countries spy on each other, that's a fact of life," Owen says. "But usually the country that is being spied on doesn't give the one doing the spying this much help." ..."
Wall Street Journal 4/14/98 Editorial "…President Clinton approved the transfer of missile guidance technology to China at the behest of the largest personal contributor to the Democratic Party. He granted the needed waiver despite an ongoing Department of Justice criminal investigation of the same company's earlier transfer of similar technology: a Pentagon study concluding that in the earlier episode "United States national security has been harmed." That is the essence of a report yesterday by Jeff Gerth of the New York Times (who also reported the original Whitewater story in 1992) concerning satellite launch technology provided by Loral Space and Communications and Hughes Electronics, a subsidiary of General Motors. Loral Chairman Bernard L. Schwartz topped the personal contributions list in 1997; his 1994 trip to China with Commerce Secretary Ron Brown was quickly followed by a memo to the President from Harold Ickes saying Mr. Schwartz "is prepared to do anything he can for the Administration." Lobbying jointly with Hughes Chairman C. Michael Armstrong, who has gone on to head AT&T, Mr. Schwartz succeeded in softening licensing requirements for export of guidance technology to China…."
Newsmax.com 3/11/99 Chris Ruddy "…Another oft cited example of the administration's method of reclassifying military secrets surfaced in a 1998 New York Times report by Jeff Gerth. Gerth revealed that in 1996, Loral, an American aerospace company, had, without a license, provided China with ballistic missile technology that enabled China to improve its rocket guidance systems. When the Justice Department began a grand jury probe of this apparent illegal transfer, President Clinton quickly reclassified the technology and approved its transfer, effectively undermining the Justice Department's case against Loral…."
Wall Street Journal 3/11/99 Editorial "…On their own the security lapses would be serious enough….. But the story's context invites an even more chilling conclusion. The Clinton Administration's inaction, after all, did not occur in a vacuum. It came in the thick of a 1996 re-election effort we now know included campaign contributions from those with ties to the Chinese government, its military and even its intelligence organizations In other words, at the same time the FBI and CIA were investigating the source of the Los Alamos leak, Vice President Al Gore was passing the hat among inexplicably wealthy Buddhist nuns, Mr. Clinton was serving coffee at the White House to PLA arms dealer Wang Jun and the Administration responded favorably to a request from a man who would be the Democratic Party's largest donor in 1996--Loral Chairman Bernard L. Schwartz--to transfer authority over licensing of satellite technology from the State to Commerce Department. Two years later Loral would be granted a Presidential waiver to export its technology to China, even though it was under criminal investigation by the Justice Department for previous technology transfers….More to the point here, neither of Mr. Clinton's predecessors involved their foreign policy people in campaign politics the way this Administration has. What makes Sandy Berger's lack of action on the espionage front so scandalous is that as deputy National Security Adviser in 1996 he sat in on the weekly White House meetings about the re-election campaign. And he wasn't alone. The President himself chaired a September 13, 1995, meeting after which Johnny Huang--Lippo's man at the Commerce Department--was transferred to the Democratic National Committee. The result was that a man suspected of having compromised national security continued at his post, and foreign scientists were allowed to visit lab facilities without background checks. Indeed, the White House began to tighten things at Los Alamos only late last year, after the arrival of Bill Richardson at Energy and after a bipartisan committee convened by Rep. Chris Cox looked into issues of Chinese espionage and technology transfer. Over at Justice, meanwhile, the Attorney General resolutely refused to follow the recommendations of either FBI director Louis Freeh or her handpicked prosecutor, Charles La Bella, to appoint an independent counsel to look into any Chinese connection to the 1996 campaign…."
Softwar 3/10/99 Charles Smith "…COSTIND Lt. General Shen met with Ron Brown and CEO of Loral Bernard Schwartz in 1994. General Shen's son, Shen Jun, was also the lead engineer for satellite software at Hughes. …"
Omaha World Herald 3/10/99 Editorial Board "…Bereuter has said before that two American companies, Loral Space and Communications and Hughes Electronics Corp., have broken the law in the 1990s by giving China access to unauthorized technological materials. Both companies contract with China to launch satellites. China uses the same type of missile for commercial and military launches, Bereuter said, so Loral and Hughes are subject to restrictions on how much they can help China improve its missile technology. He said the companies are required to keep satellite technology to themselves. Bereuter suspects that Loral and Hughes shared prohibited missile and satellite technology. He said he believes Loral was especially brazen in violating national security laws in order to curry better business relations with China. When congressional investigators tried to pursue the matter, Bereuter said, the Justice Department told them to back off, that Justice was conducting its own criminal investigation. That, Bereuter said, does not inspire confidence. He said Justice may be shielding Loral rather investigating it. He noted that Bernard Schwartz, Loral's chairman, was the largest individual donor to the Democratic Party last year and has given the party more than $1 million in recent years…."
Capitol Hill Blue 3/17/99 Doug Thompson "… The Clinton administration, busy approving the sale of sensitive technology to China, ignored warnings in 1996 from a senior Energy Department Official who said security at the nation's nuclear weapons labs were lax and needed to be tightened immediately, department sources tell Capitol Hill Blue. The official, Deputy Secretary of Energy Charles Curtis, ordered a tightening of security at the national labs, but his orders were never implemented and were also ignored by incoming Secretary of Energy Fredrico Pena when he took office in March, 1997. The White House was also aware of Curtis's order, but chose to ignore it, DOE sources say. At the time, President Clinton was approving the sale of sensitive nuclear technology to China by Loral, a company headed by one of his largest campaign contributors. The revelations directly contradict earlier claims by administration officials that they first learned of the lapses in security in the summer of 1997, more than eight months after Curtis tried to take action. Pena claims he was unaware of the order by Curtis, who left the agency shortly after he became Secretary of Energy, but other Energy Department sources say the new Secretary was fully briefed on the concerns about security at the national labs. "If Pena says he didn't know about this, he's a goddamned liar," an angry DOE official said Tuesday. "There is no way an incoming secretary of energy wouldn't be briefed on something as important as this. I know for a fact that this information was part of his initial briefing materials." …"
FoxNews 3/17/99 Crier report interviews Timperlake author of Year of the Rat – Freeper Jobim reports "…Why did Clinton sell out? For the money. A quest for power. Then you need to cover your tracks. Riadys had John Huang working with them for a long time. Riady $ was to get Huang in the government. Hubbell was at ground zero in the entire conspiracy. Huang got clearance 5 &1/2 months before he showed up for work. Huang received documents that were stamped: COULD LEAD TO HANDLERS DEATH. 1996 - Clinton needed money. Loral sends committee over to help the Chinese. Berger gave Loral a get-out-of-jail-free card. 20 missiles have ready capability to go to 200 with miniature nuke tips…." "…Bob McMillan: "unorthodox procedures" allowed China to take control of both Panama Canal ports. Chinese investments are continuing to grow in Panama. 12/31 are troops are gone and 80% of Panamanians want us there. Why?…"
FoxNews 3/17/99 Crier report interviews Timperlake author of Year of the Rat – Freeper ohmlaw98 reports "..Hubbell at center...Enter Riady hush money Huang ....no record of actual birth date.....39 cia biefings.....109 meetings with CI...."Release to unauthorized source could result in death" Huang...$5.00 charged to US taxpayer from residence in PRC Pass secrets to Lippo through Stevens & co. after briefings with CI Loral..donations total 2.2 million severe opposition for justice... "get out of jail free " W-88 space launch vehicle 200 thermnuclear devices in near future... severe deterrence problems and proliferation problems with China in near future.....Timperlake served on Rules Committee investigation team with Solomon..Johnny Chung....Background identification? [B R E A K] Robert McMillan..Panama Canal control by China/PLA via Riady....Johnny Chung brought individuals from China..Liu Chioying....Marswell...300,000...been to spy schools....Triplett co-author....Have 2 ports at each end due to unorthodox procedures by Ambassador ?....Liu involved in Panama deal for $22,000,000...McMillan...Clinton "absolutely asleep" negotiating the continuation of troops in panama 80% of citizens in Panama wanted US Troops to remain.....Timperlake.....Arms running.....Administration has not invoked any proliferation laws....N Korea & China sharing "overheads" with missle tech. Chinese military curve accelerating upward on Clinton's watch..He took the money and said I don't care...."
Washington Weekly Carl Limbacher 6/1/98 "… According to a Scripps Howard report by Michael Hedges, which ran on the front page of the March 14, 1997 edition of the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, the Clinton administration granted Wang Jun's Poly Technologies importation permits to flood America with over 100,000 semi-automatic weapons and millions of rounds of ammunition -- despite the president's own cherished gun ban.
That was on Feb. 2, 1996 -- just days before Clinton issued the first satellite waivers for Loral Corp…. …"Insight 4/19/99 Timothy Maier "…
But Clinton and Gore have much explaining to do. Both knew about the Los Alamos espionage in 1995, yet they continued to entertain Chinese generals by allowing them to tour nuclear facilities and gladly received financial donations from Beijing and its friends. A year after the theft of nuclear secrets was discovered, instead of exposing the spies, Clinton made it easier for Beijing agents. He transferred licensing requirements from the State to the sales-oriented Commerce Department. This accelerated the pace at which Beijing obtained dual-use technology to build nuclear weapons and missiles.. . Next came the most significant damage to U.S. security since the days of the Rosenbergs. Dr. Wah Lim, then a Loral Space and Communications scientist, headed a team of scientists studying Beijing's rocket failures when he called his assistant to fax to China a sensitive accident-analysis report that intelligence agents say greatly enhanced the accuracy of Beijing's missiles. Lim's attorney calls it a "technical violation." But Lim, now with Hughes Electronics, is the target of a U.S. Justice probe…."I've heard from people who have seen the Cox report," says Henry Sokolski, a former Pentagon nonproliferation official who now heads the Washington-based Nonproliferation Policy Education Center, "and the damage goes far beyond the W-88 issue. It's pretty bad." Some have jumped the gun by claiming this espionage is comparable to the Rosenberg case, but it is not yet at that level, Sokolski says. "The Rosenbergs helped confirm our worst fears and validated the hard line towards Russia. The jury is still out as to whether this is as important as the Rosenbergs because we haven't seen any change in policy toward China. Not yet."….."For the longest time U.S. analysts on China have emphasized how small China's nuclear forces have been and how they have remained that way," says Sokolski. "The significance of this latest incident shows that it is much more sophisticated and significantly larger.". Indeed, the whole South China Sea region, including the Republic of China on Taiwan, the Philippines, Malaysia and Japan, is at risk of nuclear bullying or even attack. Many of these countries have been in a serious dispute with China concerning the Spratley Islands, believed to be rich in oil reserves. A 27-page Pentagon report obtained by Insight anticipates an attack by China against Taiwan in 2005. The report, requested by Sen. Frank H. Murkowski, an Alaska Republican, describes the current relationship between China and Taiwan as "calm" in the wake of Beijing's test launch of missiles in March 1996 but projects a very serious situation within six years….."Creators Syndicate 3/2/99 Linda Bowles "…Why did this administration obfuscate, stonewall, and cover up this devastating breach of national security? Let's set the stage. The 1996 election campaign was in full swing. Despite warnings from the FBI that the Chinese were planning to buy influence in the elections, "For Sale" signs had been hung up on the White House, and various Chinese hustlers, gun runners and communist officials were rubbing shoulders with the president of the United States. Millions of dollars from various Asian sources were being funneled to Democrats. Some of the money came directly from the Chinese People's Liberation Army…. The same year, hundreds of Chinese "visitors" without security clearances toured Los Alamos, some of them, no doubt, on their way to White House receptions. Background checks for visitors at Los Alamos were not required until early in 1999, a full 17 months after a recommendation by the FBI. In 1996, against the advice of then Secretary of State Warren Christopher and experts in the Defense Department, Bill Clinton lifted a long-standing policy of severe restrictions on the export of American satellites to China for launch on Chinese rockets. He moved control over such decisions from the security-oriented State Department to the let's-make-a-deal Commerce Department run by the late Ron Brown….. But when the dust cleared, the Democrats got money from satellite companies and from Chinese communists; China got supercomputors, advanced production equipment and missile technology; Loral got its satellites launched at bargain basement prices; and the American people got shafted. The theft from Los Alamos gave the Chinese the capability to produce highly sophisticated nuclear bombs. And on Clinton's watch, the transfer of sensitive missile technology gave them the capability of depositing the bombs on American cities…."
Investors Business Daily 3/30/99 Paul Sperry "…In auditing former Energy Secretary Hazel O'Leary's bloated travel budget in June 1996, House Commerce Committee investigators didn't really focus on her China trip any more than her other three overseas ''trade missions.'' ….Fast forward to 1999. Committee investigators now know that: Chinese spies stole the U.S.' latest nuclear missile secrets from Los Alamos and possibly other labs that Energy owns, thanks in part to the security cuts O'Leary made in February 1995 - the same month she went to China….. Beijing bagmen -including John Huang, Charlie Trie and Johnny Chung - beat a path to the White House during the 1996 campaign, raising millions in illegal cash. Chung claims to have bribed O'Leary into meeting with a Chinese petrochemical industry official in October 1995. Former Commerce Secretary Ron Brown allegedly ''sold'' tax-paid seats on his own China trip to big Democratic Party donors like Loral Corp. CEO Bernard Schwartz, who cut a controversial satellite export deal with Beijing officials.….. Schwartz, for one, joined Brown's key China mission just two months after writing a check to the DNC for $100,000 …….. Some experts fear there might be a link between recent Chinese espionage and the administration's trade trips to China. Computer encryption, satellite and energy secrets would be the three most likely things compromised on the trips, they say. Officials with both Commerce and Energy assert that business delegates got ''counterintelligence briefings'' at the airport before takeoff. But according to Layton's report, the China group wasn't briefed until ''the secretary met (them) in Shanghai,'' their first stop, on Feb. 19, 1995. …."
WorldNetDaily 3/30/99 Charles Smith "…People's Republic of China Premier Zhu Rongji and President Bill Clinton are scheduled to meet in the White House on April 8, 1999….Zhu is so well known in the White House that this author had to use a lawsuit in federal court to obtain information on the Chinese leader. The material on Zhu was provided directly to Bernard Schwartz by President Clinton in 1994 just prior to the now infamous August 1994 trade trip to Beijing with Ron Brown. ….in 1994, Zhu was also the Communist inner party backer of General Ding Henggao, commander of COSTIND (the Chinese Commission of Science Technology and Industry for National Defense). In 1994, Schwartz, then the CEO of Loral Aerospace and a million-dollar donor to the DNC, requested to meet with Lt. General Shen Roujun, vice minister of COSTIND, and various other members of the Communist government. Vice Minister Shen (a.k.a. Lt. General Shen) was then working for the mastermind of Chinese espionage, General Ding Henggao, the commander of COSTIND. Schwartz also met with the prime political backer of COSTIND General Ding inside the all-important Communist Central Committee (CCC), Zhu Rongji. The PLA obtained various advanced technologies from Schwartz and his Loral Corporation with the blessing of Ron Brown. General Shen, General Ding, and Schwartz all made themselves rich on western technology, while passing advanced military technology to the Chinese Army. Schwartz, of course, passed some of that money back to Bill Clinton in the form of political donations…."
WorldNetDaily 3/30/99 Charles Smith "…General Ding and the PLA also passed money directly to Clinton through various agents such as Johnny Chung and Charlie Trie. In exchange, the PRC warlords got access to U.S. secrets other than W88 nuclear bombs. For example, Lt. General Shen's son, Shen Jun, was the lead software engineer for Hughes on all Chinese satellites. Loral provided the PLA with radiation-hardened encrypted telemetry control systems such as the missing board of chips from the 1996 Intelsat crash. In fact, according to the State Department, Loral satellite CDMA communications technology was preferred by the PLA. According to a 1996 Department of State cable to President Clinton by Beijing Ambassador Sasser, the PLA was using money from Chinese billionaire Li Ka-Shing to finance Chinese army communications systems….."
WorldNetDaily 3/30/99 Charles Smith "…Loral's Schwartz also decided to purchase a low-cost Russian rocket to put the CDMA Globalstar system into orbit. Schwartz had to get Clinton to personally sign a waiver in July of 1996 that Commerce official William Reinsch worked on in 1995, prior to Commerce oversight of the Loral satellites. The 1996 presidential waiver for the Loral export included two fully operational, encrypted, telemetry control stations to be built inside China. Loral even requested the presidential waiver be held back and then modified during the FBI investigation of the missing encryption chips from the Loral satellites. The modified waiver included the new telemetry stations for Beijing….. Both Clinton and Zhu would like you to forget about the August 1994 meeting with million-dollar DNC donor Bernard Schwartz and Lt. General Shen. Both Clinton and Zhu would rather carry out their plans in secret, behind closed door, negotiations. ….."
The Union Leader 4/23/99 Richard Lessner "...The link between the Clinton-Gore campaign and Red China's military intelligence chief, however, may only be the tip of the illegal contribution iceberg. Millions in Asian money flowed into the Clinton-Gore campaign and the Democratic Party from sources connected to Beijing. The money trail suggests that the Communists used various corporations and business figures as cut-outs to conceal the real source of the contributions. It is this fund-raising nexus between Red China and the Clinton-Gore campaign that elevates Beijing's nuclear spying above the level of a garden variety espionage affair. Was the Clinton administration's inattention to security, and failure to act when informed of Red China's spying at our top secret nuclear weapons labs, related to the campaign funds that were flowing in from Asia? Already one Energy Department official has testified under oath that, when he tried to blow the whistle on lax security at the Los Alamos lab, he was warned off by a Clinton appointee, who ordered the man to withhold from Congress what he knew about possible espionage. The man was told that those investigating possible espionage were interested only in damaging President Clinton and his policy toward China. It also is highly suspicious that the President personally waived export restrictions on the transfer of missile guidance technology to China for two U.S. aerospace firms - Loral and Hughes - whose executives were among the largest contributors to the Clinton-Gore campaign....No, it's not espionage that is troubling; the Clinton administration's lackadaisical attitude toward security is the concern. That and the possibility our secrets were compromised for political motives and campaign contributions. So far, however, this scandal has yet to spark much public outrage. One reason for this, we suspect, is that the affair has been almost totally neglected by the major TV networks. Contrast this with the Iran-Contra scandal, which led the network evening news shows night after night, the Chinagate affair has been conspicuous in its absence. And imagine for a moment the media firestorm had Ronald Reagan or George Bush taken an illegal campaign contribution from the military intelligence chief of a right-wing dictatorship that was simultaneously stealing our nuclear weapons secrets! ..."
Commentmax.com 4/29/99 Tony Snow "... The trouble began when Clinton effectively abolished export controls on China in 1994. The decision invited American businesses to get rich by trading away our security….. Satellite and rocket companies also jumped on the gravy train. Hughes sold rockets to China -- and solved a gyroscopic problem that had reduced the accuracy of Beijing's long-range nuclear weapons. Now, thanks to Yankee know-how, China can aim its city-buster bombs directly at U.S. population centers. The Loral Corp. made hay, as well. The company's chairman, Bernard Schwartz, evidently bought his way onto a 1995 trade mission to China and sealed a deal that enabled him to sell sophisticated communications satellites to our former Cold War foe. Loral satellites now guide the Chinese air force, and China reportedly has acquired a Loral computer chip that holds the key to decoding communications between U.S. satellites. ...."
Washington Times 5/7/99 Helle Bering ".... Meanwhile, it is now quite clear, while China was stealing U.S. nuclear secrets, the White House and the Commerce Department were aggressively transferring dual-use technology to China, including supercomputers capable of testing stolen nuclear-weapon design information. In March 1996 President Clinton himself overruled then-Secretary of State Warren Christopher's decision to retain control within the State Department of satellite exports to China. Against the advice of the Pentagon and U.S. intelligence agencies, the president transferred that authority to Commerce. Two months after that decision, the Loral space-launch firm was involved in the unauthorized transfer of missile guidance-and-control technology to China. Loral's chairman, Bernard Schwartz, had actively lobbied the administration to switch satellite-export licensing from State to Commerce while he was pouring money into the Democratic Party...."
Washington Post 5/16/99 Walter Pincus and Vernon Loeb "...The long-awaited document, which could be released this week, concludes that U.S. national security has been damaged by China's theft or acquisition of nuclear warhead secrets, satellite and missile technology, supercomputers, telecommunications equipment, jet engines and sophisticated machine tools..... The investigation initially focused on two leading U.S. satellite makers, Hughes Electronics Corp. and Loral Space & Communications, under criminal investigation by the Justice Department for allegedly sharing unauthorized information with China about the failure of two Chinese Long March rockets in 1995 and 1996 carrying U.S.-built satellites. Loral's chief executive officer, Bernard Schwartz, was the Democratic Party's largest single donor in the 1996 campaigns. Both companies have denied wrongdoing. But the Cox committee, with a staff of 45 and a $2 million budget, soon broadened its investigation to include the transfer of all sensitive technology to China, from satellites to supercomputers. Last fall, staff investigators learned of an FBI criminal investigation into suspected Chinese espionage at Los Alamos National Laboratory and soon came to focus on China's theft of nuclear secrets....."
Koenig's International News 5/18/99 Charles Smith "...Another Commerce Dept. document shows that in 1996, Loral Defense Systems (then an arm of Loral Aerospace) actively solicited Commerce Secretary Brown to intervene in getting approval from the White House to sell advanced radar technology to China. Loral wanted very badly to sell Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) to China. SAR is a sophisticated ground-looking radar essential to the newly deployed Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (JSTARS) used by the U.S. military to track ground-based vehicular movement on the battlefield. SAR radars also equip the USAF F-15 Strike Eagle and the Predator unmanned aerial reconnaissance vehicle. A letter discovered in the previously unreleased files of Ron Brown shows that Loral Defense Systems President, Jerald A. Lindfelt, wrote Brown in March of 1996. Lindfelt sought Brown's help in the export of SAR technology to the Beijing Institute of Remote Sensing. According to the Defense Department, the Chinese "Institute of Remote Sensing" is actually a front for the Chinese Army missile guidance design laboratories. The Institute of Remote Sensing is "a developer of precision guidance systems for surface-to-air missiles." Loral's 1996 appeal also included a direct request for Ron Brown to over rule the Department of Defense, the State Department and even Brown's own Commerce Department, which had all previously denied SAR radar exports to China. "We've worked hard trying to resolve these problems with the Department of State, the Department of Commerce and the Defense Technology Security Administration (DTSA)," Loral's Lindfelt wrote to Brown. "But someone in these organizations always manages to block our participation... Over the years we have found that this type of obstacle often comes from lower levels of management rather than by people willing to look at the bigger picture. Could you help us by identifying someone in the Commerce Department high enough in the organization to help us resolve these issues and open this marketplace..."
Washington Times 5/18/99 Bill Gertz "...The United States had imposed sanctions against China in 1993 for selling M-11 missile components but lifted them the next year at the urging of Mr. Brown and C. Michael Armstrong, chairman of Los Angeles-based satellite maker Hughes Electronics. Mr. Armstrong had written a terse letter to President Clinton on Oct. 29, 1993, first highlighting how he had done what the president requested by supporting his economic and trade policies and calls for looser export controls. "I am respectfully requesting your involvement to resolve the China sanctions," Mr. Armstrong wrote, noting that he had spoken to a Chinese official who informed him Beijing was "positive" about the idea. But when then-Secretary of State Warren Christopher told the Chinese that the United States needed to see "some sign of movement" by China on curbing weapons proliferation, a National Security Council memorandum reported, "The Chinese were not forthcoming." The memo said Mr. Armstrong and Hughes Electronics "lobbied aggressively" to be allowed to sell satellites to China. In 1995, the president named Mr. Armstrong to the influential Export Council, where he worked hard against trade controls designed to protect national security. The council produced a lengthy paper arguing against imposing sanctions on foreign trading partners that engaged in illicit weapons sales. Bernard L. Schwartz, chairman of Loral Space & Communications Ltd., also lobbied hard to ease restrictions on satellite sales to China. Mr. Schwartz denied that his large donations to the Democratic National Committee (DNC) were meant to influence Mr. Clinton's policies on satellite exports...."
Investor's Business Daily 5/21/99 Daniel J. Murphy "....Timperlake and Triplett lay out several cases where Berger intervened to affect decisions with a connection to China. ....Export controls.... Berger lobbied to transfer authority to the Commerce Department..... Waivers of trade rules. Berger failed to object to presidential waivers for Hughes Electronics Corp. and Loral Corp. - aerospace firms that illegally transferred technology related to Chinese rocket tests. The requests for waivers came as Justice Department investigators were closing in on the companies. ....."
FoxNews Carl Cameron 5/24/99 "...Documents obtained by Fox News show for the first time a connection between China's illegal contributions to President Clinton's re-election campaign and Beijing's attempts to acquire U.S. military technology. The evidence also indicates that China had an elaborate effort to obstruct investigations into both.....At the center of the investigations is Johnny Chung, a former Democratic fund-raiser who recently told Congress he felt pressured to keep silent about taking money from Chinese spies to be used for the Clinton campaign. ....When Chung was eventually charged, he was contacted by Robert Luu - who according to documents obtained by Fox News was operating on behalf of Chinese intelligence. Luu gave Chung orders: Above all protect Loral Space and Hughes Electronics, U.S. satellite firms whose business deals with China were arranged by Liu Chaoying, who also heads China Aerospace, the state-owned firm that lofts satellites into orbit. Loral and Hughes, which regularly launch their satellites on Chinese rockets via China Aerospace, are under federal investigation for - and accused in a forthcoming congressional report of - helping China improve its missile technology. While Chung thought receiving money from Chinese intelligence would be the biggest problem, FBI surveillance tapes show Luu was more interested in concealing something else. "All those things are not important," Luu told Chung in a wiretap transcript obtained by Fox News. "The important part is not to touch Hughes and Loral. ... Matters about Hughes and Loral ... they (Chinese superiors) don't want to see any information that is disadvantageous to them." Chung agreed to wear a body wire and cooperate with investigators, who grilled Luu for spying. An FBI agent says in the transcript: "You only want to meet him (Chung) in places where the CIA cannot enter, you're giving codes." Luu: "Oh yeah, that's right." FBI: "That sounds like spy work to me." Luu: "Yeah, that's, uh, you know." FBI "It's very, very, typical of what a spy, spy-like activities." Luu: "Yeah sounds like spy, spies, yeah." Hundreds of pages of transcripts of wiretaps and interrogation show that Chinese intelligence tried repeatedly to derail the Justice Department investigation. Chinese intelligence even came up with a cover story: The illegal contributions were to be blamed on so-called Chinese princelings...."
Washington Post 5/25/99 Juliet Eilperin and Vernon Loeb Page A01 "...As for stolen U.S. military technology, the committee reports that China has stolen guidance technology now being used in U.S. missiles and fighter aircraft, including the F-14, F-15, F-16 and F-117 fighter jets. The committee concludes that this guidance technology is of enormous value to China in its development of intercontinental ballistic missiles and short-range CSS-6 missiles, which China test-fired over Taiwan's main ports in 1996. The committee, which began its probe last July by focusing on missile and satellite technology transfers, concludes that U.S. satellite manufacturers gave China missile design information without obtaining required U.S. government licenses that enabled Chinese engineers to improve the reliability of Chinese rockets used for commercial and military purposes. The committee concludes that Hughes Electronics Corp. and Loral Space & Communications passed sensitive technical information to China as part of a 1996 investigation into the failure of a Chinese Long March rocket carrying a Loral-built commercial satellite without an export license, even though both companies knew they needed a license.... Loral's chief executive officer, Bernard Schwartz, was the Democratic Party's largest single donor in 1996. C. Michael Armstrong, Hughes's chief executive from 1994 to 1997, strongly lobbied for the Clinton administration's March 1996 transfer of licensing authority over commercial satellites from the State Department, known for its focus on national security concerns, to the Commerce Department, with its emphasis on promoting U.S. exports. ...."
AP 5/24/99 "...."Loral and Hughes showed the PRC how to improve the design and reliability of the guidance system used in the PRC's newest Long March rocket,'' the report said. The report singled out Hughes for transfers of information in 1993 and 1995 that the committee alleged might assist China's MIRV missile "if the PRC decides to develop them'' and said the company acted without getting proper U.S. clearance. "Hughes deliberately acted without seeking to obtain the legally required licenses,'' the report charged...."
NewsMax 4/7/99 Debra Saunders "... A bipartisan House committee headed by Rep. Christopher Cox, R-Calif., reportedly determined that Hughes Electronics Corp. and Loral Space & Communications Ltd. shared sensitive U.S. technologies with Chinese entities. Cox doesn't believe that Chinese biggies funneled money through Chung because they wanted to assure Clinton's re- election. No matter how much they like him. Cox sees a wilier motive. "General Ji runs the People's Liberation Army's military intelligence department, which is responsible for collecting science and technology info with military applications. Colonel Liu is quite evidently in the same business," Cox said yesterday. "There is reason to conclude that the PLA was more interested in using their U.S. political connections for technology acquisition than they were in influencing the outcome of an election with campaign contributions." Put another way: It's the military secrets, stupid. And stupidly, greedily, Team Clinton got cozy with the bad guys...."
Hotline 5/25/99 Fox - Carl Cameron Special Report 5/24/99 "....Cameron continues: "Chung's network with Chinese intelligence was well known to Luu. Chung's contact was Lieutenant Colonel Liu Chao-Yang of the Chinese military, she answered to General Ji Shengde, China's military intelligent chief, who provided Chung with $300,000. Robert Luu told Chung never to tell investigators about two U.S. satellite firms, Loral Space and Hughes Electronics, or their relationship with Liu Chao-Yang, who had negotiated their Chinese contracts. Loral and Hughes launch U.S. made satellites on Chinese rockets. They are under federal investigation for illegally helping China improve its missile technology. Sources say China wanted to keep the companies out of the scandal, to protect its business arrangements and its ability to acquire U.S. technology." ..."
Hotline 5/25/99 Fox - Carl Cameron Special Report 5/24/99 "....Cameron again: "Another former Clinton fundraiser, Charlie Trie, has now also pleaded guilty and has agreed to cooperate with Justice Department investigators. Sources say they have reason to suspect that Trie also may have been involved with Loral and Hughes and their export relationship with China. The Pentagon concluded more than two years ago that Loral and Hughes had quote, 'harmed national security,' by helping China with its missile technology. Despite that, the president went ahead and has continued to allow Loral and Hughes to launch its satellites in China. That is what prompted a congressional investigation that on Tuesday will release its long awaited report, including revelations of nuclear espionage. And Fox News has learned that the investigators had no idea that Johnny Chung was told, above all else, to keep silent about Loral and Hughes" ("Special Report," FNC, 5/24)...."
Capitol Hill Blue 5/25/99 "... Hughes Electronics and Loral Space illegally transferred technology that helped China improve its military rockets and operations, including the design and reliability of its ballistic missiles and nose cones...China has obtained "exploding bolts" from the U.S., which burst and help multistage rockets jettison stages. China also has obtained U.S. "kick motor" technology, which positions satellites in their proper orbits and can be used to deploy multiple warheads from a single missile. These are called Multiple Independently Targetable Re-entry Vehicles (MIRVs). The technology allows multiple warheads to be mounted on one missile and fired at several cities in one launch. China knows how to miniaturize warheads and deploy several at a time from a single missile. It is technically "on par" with the United States, but China has not built or tested these weapons yet. That begins this fall...."
Fox News 5/26/99 Carl Cameron and Matt Gross "...A government ethics investigation has been launched into allegations that a Defense Department weapons expert faced reprisals from superiors for offering key testimony to the Cox Committee's investigation of Chinese espionage, Fox News has learned. Dr. Peter Leitner, a Pentagon technology analyst, testified in secret last August that Loral Space and Hughes Electronics had harmed national security by helping China improve its missile techonology. Within the DOD, Leitner had complained about the damage to national security for some time, and even before his Cox Committee appearance he told Fox News he'd been pressured to keep quiet and had been passed over for promotions. "I was castigated and told I was untrustworthy," Leitner said. Leitner's outspoken criticism of national security policy is nothing new. Last fall, he openly criticized a plan to merge the Defense Technology Security Administration (DTSA) into the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA)...Much of Leitner's criticisms of export-control policy have been borne out by the recently released Cox Report, which makes some of Leitner's points and provides recommendations for enhancing national security, including beefing up export controls. Discussions and arguments over how to implement those recommendations are already under way in the Capitol...."
WorldNetDaily 6/1/99 Charles Smith The JL-2 explains why the Chinese were so interested in American space contractor, Hughes, upgrading PLA rockets with "nose-cone" or "shroud" technology. The Cox report details Chinese Lt. Gen. Shen Rougjun and his penetration of Hughes through his son, Shen Jun. In May 1994, Shen, was second in command at COSTIND -- the Chinese Commission for Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense. Shen served underneath the PLA spy-master, Gen. Ding Henggao. In 1994, COSTIND Gen. Shen attended several business meetings with Hughes. During a 1994 visit, Shen's son, Shen Jun, attended a business lunch with his father and Frank Taormina of Hughes. Taormina later assisted Shen Jun in obtaining a job at Hughes. The Cox report details "son" Shen played a significant role in the interaction between his PLA general-father and the highest of Hughes executives, including CEO Michael Armstrong. In 1994, Hughes executives were scrambling to avoid a major expense. Hughes helped PLA engineers after the failure of a PLA Long March rocket carrying a Hughes-built satellite. Hughes, anxious not to see a hike in their satellite insurance rates, eagerly pinned the failure on the PLA nose-cone "shroud" design and not on their satellite. The help included Hughes proprietary software for nose-cone design and analysis derived from years of ballistic missile tests in America. Although, Shen Jun was hired at Hughes in August of 1994, according to the Cox report, "a division of Space Systems/Loral was also considering hiring Shen for a position that would have allowed him access to classified information." In August 1994, Lt. Gen. Shen also met and consummated a series of satellite deals with Bernard Schwartz, the CEO of Loral. The Beijing meeting was arranged by President Clinton and included Commerce Secretary Ron Brown. The technology obtained from Loral is also detailed by the Cox report, including rocket guidance and encrypted satellite telemetry systems...."
Jewish World Review 6/1/99 Mona Charen "...It was also Clinton's decision to transfer authority over technology transfers from the somewhat vigilant Department of State to the anything-goes Department of Commerce. Bernard Schwartz, chairman of Loral Corporation, donated $100,000 to the DNC and was then provided with a technology-transfer waiver, according to the Cox report. The Loral technology has helped China dramatically improve the accuracy of its missiles. And as the Cox report documents, the Chinese government has been able to steal pretty much all of our nuclear secrets, thanks to docility of the Clinton administration...."
JimRob Received via email 5/31/99 Garland "...Those familiar with the Burton and Thompson Committee evidence, know that the Cox Committee basically confirmed in more detail what was already known from their investigations. This evidence was also defined by the Senate investigators in a book entitled Year of the Rat. The real question that now begs to be answered is "How complicit were organizations and individuals within our government in giving them the information?". About 100 pages that answer this question in the classified Cox report were left out of the declassified version for reasons of 'national security'. A disturbing, but good start at answering this question can be found in the declassified report appendices, which may be the most intriguing chapter in the entire report. Here, the report mentions how Loral employees were instructed by their lawyers not to answer questions and how three Loral lawyers claimed attorney certain client privileges, after Loral waived the privileges for voluntary disclosure. The report then goes on to describe three top government agencies that similarly hampered the investigation. First, the CIA impeded the investigation by tipping off Hughes with a 'courtesy' notice that the Cox Committee might interview Hughes employees. The CIA even detailed to Hughes the potential lines of questioning. The Cox Committee did not agree to the 'courtesy' notification and was concerned that the CIA had given Hughes the opportunity to destroy evidence and pressure employees to be less candid. Second, Chairman Cox testified that the Justice Department attempted to insert itself as an intermediary for information requests between the committee and all government agencies because an investigation was in progress...."
Reuters [OL] 3/9/99 Tabassum Zakaria "…Our report focused in substantial part on PRC (People's Republic of China) espionage across a wide variety of fronts,'' Cox said. The panel, the House Select Committee on U.S. National Security/Commercial Concerns with the People's Republic of China, was set up after allegations that Hughes Electronics Corp. and Loral Space & Communications Ltd. had transferred technology to China after satellites belonging to Hughes and Loral were destroyed in Chinese rocket explosions. The two companies had been using Chinese missiles to launch commercial satellites into space. The committee's five Republicans and four Democrats unanimously approved the report in December. …For example, the Commerce Department and State Department ''have often been left out of the loop when it comes to our own intelligence information about PRC espionage,'' Cox said…"
WorldnetDaily 3/2/99 Charles Smith "…Defense experts are already tracing the vast array of advanced U.S. military technology sold to China in the missile arsenals of Iraq, Iran and North Korea. In Feb. 1999, the repercussions of the Chinagate scandal shot-down $500 million worth of satellites for communist China. The cancellation of the HUGHES sale to Asia Pacific Mobile Telephone (APMT) is a victory for western national security. APMT, the buyer of the Hughes satellites, is reported to be half owned by COSTIND, the same Chinese Army unit that penetrated the White House. According to the Defense Dept., the Hughes satellites were equipped with a sophisticated 40 foot antenna that could intercept U.S. military communications. The APMT satellites sales also included secure, encrypted, voice and data communications…."
NBC NEWS Mike Viqueira Robert Windrem "…One congressional source says that the two committees that investigated the campaign contributions missed the point if they concluded the contributions were an attempt to influence the election. "It wasn’t even a thumb on the scale," the source said….The sources said Liu was working in conjunction with her father, who was then the Chinese equivalent of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and a man with enormous influence in China. Sources said the two wanted to set up phony companies and register them in the United States, so they could circumvent the need for some export licenses. This would have allowed stolen technology to be shipped to China with no questions asked….When asked if Hughes and Loral violated the law intentionally, one key congressional source would only refer to Cox’s comments that the companies "have harmed national security." ….While the Chinese were unable to glean sensitive material from the Loral Corp.’s analysis of a Chinese rocket failure, the hotel rooms where the Loral employees stayed were bugged and the Chinese were privy to their conversations, sources told NBC…. He said that Hughes gave the Chinese information that helped the accuracy and reliability of their rockets, while Loral helped with guidance. Hughes also helped with the design and shape of the Chinese rocket nose cone and atmospheric problems, the sources said. They said Hughes gave the Chinese information on how to build a "shroud" to cover satellites during launch, while knowing full well that the shroud is essentially the same thing as a "faring," used to cover nuclear warheads during flight…. "
WorldNetDaily 3/23/99 Charles Smith "…Li Ka-Shing owns the vast shipping enterprise, Hutchison Whampoa, Ltd. Li works closely with the official PRC shipping carrier, COSCO. Li and COSCO own both ends of the Panama Canal. Li and COSCO tried to buy the former Navy port at Long Beach. Li financed several satellite deals between Hughes and China Hong Kong Satellite (CHINASAT), a company half owned by the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA). Li Ka-Shing and the Chinese navy nearly obtained four huge roll-on/roll-off container ships, financed by loans backed by U.S. Treasury notes…… The reason for the resistance becomes all too clear when Li Ka-Shing's bio is compared to the accompanying materials forced from the grips of the White House. Li was the only so-called "civilian." Li's bio was included by the White House along with the entire leadership of Communist China from Jiang Zemin to the mayor of Shanghai. The Long Beach affair demonstrated that Li Ka-Shing is an agent of Beijing. The White House material clearly shows that Mr. Li Ka-Shing is a member of the Communist government. The Long Beach deal led by Li Ka-Shing was clearly a national security threat. It was canceled after U.S. intelligence sources revealed that Li Ka-Shing's empire is used for PRC espionage. Li Ka-Shing provides fronts for Chinese military operations and "civilian" covers for PLA soldiers to enter the U.S. under "commercial" camouflage…."
WorldNetDaily 3/30/99 Charles Smith "…General Ding and the PLA also passed money directly to Clinton through various agents such as Johnny Chung and Charlie Trie. In exchange, the PRC warlords got access to U.S. secrets other than W88 nuclear bombs. For example, Lt. General Shen's son, Shen Jun, was the lead software engineer for Hughes on all Chinese satellites. Loral provided the PLA with radiation-hardened encrypted telemetry control systems such as the missing board of chips from the 1996 Intelsat crash. In fact, according to the State Department, Loral satellite CDMA communications technology was preferred by the PLA. According to a 1996 Department of State cable to President Clinton by Beijing Ambassador Sasser, the PLA was using money from Chinese billionaire Li Ka-Shing to finance Chinese army communications systems….."
World Net Daily 4/2/99 Jon Dougherty "...A former stockholder in a now--defunct commercial space company said, "there is every indication" that the current crisis involving the transfers of U.S. military technology to China had its roots in the late 1980s. The source, who requested anonymity, told WorldNetDaily that the company -- Space Commerce -- tried unsuccessfully "back during the Reagan and Bush years" to get contracts to launch U.S. satellites in the former Soviet Union. The source said Space Commerce had a partnership arrangement with a Soviet space counterpart called Glavkosmos, which he said was "akin to our version of NASA." Though there were "a number of organizations in the Soviet Union that were related to their space program," Glavkosmos "had the ability to sell satellite sights on Soviet Proton rockets -- in other words, to sell launches," explained the source.....Sometime in the late 1980s, the source said, Hughes Electronics -- now implicated in the Clinton administration "Chinagate" scandal -- approached Space Commerce with a proposal to launch two commercial satellites. Hughes made a "substantial down payment to buy these two launches," and the source said company executives informed shareholders that the Hughes satellites only "contained technology that was already readily available." "They told us you could go down to the local library and get the technology," the source said The deal between Space Commerce and Hughes specified that the launches would take place aboard Proton rockets in the Soviet Union, so the space company applied for the necessary permits from the U.S. government. However, the Bush administration would not allow Hughes to export the satellites to the USSR for launching because of a possible compromise of technology. For years afterward," the source continued, "because of a concern about a transfer of technology, the company could not get an export license to export the satellites to Russia." As a result, "Space Commerce spent a great deal of time, effort and all our money trying to lobby to get those permits." The source said, "I believe that Hughes also tried to lobby the government to get them as well," but neither company was successful. When it was over, the satellites could not be launched and "the company went belly-up," the source said, having spent all of its money lobbying for permission to launch. Shortly after Space Commerce went defunct "in the early 1990s," Hughes was finally granted permission to launch those satellites instead "on the Chinese Long March rocket" in mainland China...."
WorldNetDaily 5/4/99 Charles Smith "... Iridium is not the only venture that Great Wall shares with Motorola. Great Wall has joined with Chinese billionaire Li Ka-Shing and Motorola to provide CDMA mobile phone networks to China. American CDMA technology, according to several documents from the Commerce Dept. and the State Dept., is the preferred cell phone of the Chinese Army signals branch. "CDMA or Code Division Multiple Access, is an advanced technology that permits high-volume communications in a small area, with limited interference from other traffic. It was originally designed for military communications applications in rear areas. Motorola will deploy 30 of its SC2450 base stations and an EMX 2500 E large capacity switch for the CDMA network". In Feb. 1999, the Clinton China-Gate scandal shot-down $500 million worth of satellites for the Chinese Army. APMT, the reported buyer of the Hughes satellites, is half owned by COSTIND, the same Chinese Army led by General Ding in 1995......"
Washington Weekly 6/20/99 ROBERT STOWE ENGLAND "...The Cox Report concluded that two U.S. satellite manufacturers -- Hughes Space and Communications International Inc. and Loral Space and Communications, Ltd. -- transferred sensitive missile design information and know-how to the People's Republic of China in the aftermath of three failed commercial satellite launches on Chinese rockets in 1992, 1995 and 1996. This led to subsequent successful launches of China's Long March rockets, immediately improving China's military satellite programs. The report's bipartisan analysis, incorporating some of the findings of earlier Pentagon and State Department reviews, found that the transfer posed the danger of future harm if the technology is adapted to deliver nuclear weapons through land-based mobile missiles, submarine-launched missiles and multiple warhead missiles...... "I think that the Cox Report on Hughes and Loral, which is the part people paid the least attention to, is in many ways the most scary part of all," says Michael Ledeen, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, and a former Reagan Administration technology control official. "Espionage is after all foreigners stealing from us," says Ledeen, "but Hughes and Loral is the story of American corporations enthusiastically arming what may turn out to be our most dangerous enemy," he says. Congress's most vocal and persistent critic of Hughes and Loral -- Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) -- offers similarly pointed criticisms. "There was massive deadly weapons technology that was transferred to one of the most ruthless dictatorships in the world, and it was done intentionally," he says...... "
Washington Weekly 6/20/99 ROBERT STOWE ENGLAND "...The Cox Report, however, found that both Hughes and Loral failed to obtain legally required State Department licenses in all three rocket failure investigations and for the subsequent exchange of information and expertise that led to a resolution of the problems that caused China's Long March 2E and Long March 3B rockets to explode, crash or miss orbit. In the case of Hughes, the Cox Report reveals that the company failed to obtain State Department licenses for its rocket failure analyses conducted in 1993 and 1995. In the second instance, Hughes improperly sought, and the Commerce Department improperly granted, permission for Hughes to provide China with sensitive information about design deficiencies in the nose cone of its missile, it concludes. This finding came from its failure analysis of the rocket.By law Hughes should have cleared the information transfer with the State Department. During its rocket failure analysis, Hughes also helped correct deficiencies in China's coupled loads analysis, a critical rocket design technology, the Cox Report claims...."
Washington Weekly 6/20/99 ROBERT STOWE ENGLAND "...The Cox Report found that the improvements Hughes helped the Chinese achieve for the missile nose cone -- also known as the fairing or shroud -- could be adapted for use in future multiple warhead missiles developed by China, including the MRV (multiple re-entry vehicles) and the MIRV (multiple independent re-entry vehicles). It can also be used in future submarine-launched missiles. Current Chinese single-payload missiles do not use a shroud. In the case of Loral, the Cox Report found that a sensitive report on a Loral-led investigation of a failed 1996 rocket launch of an Intelsat satellite was forwarded by a Loral official to Chinese authorities without the required license from the State Department. The Loral-led investigation, in which Hughes also participated, found flaws in the Chinese rocket's inertial navigation systems as the source of the rocket failure. The Cox Report concluded that both Hughes and Loral helped China improve its rocket guidance system. The improved guidance system can be adapted for use in future Chinese road-mobile intercontinental ballistic missiles, the Cox Report states...."
Washington Weekly 6/20/99 ROBERT STOWE ENGLAND "...The divergence between the conclusions of the Cox Report and the denials made by both Loral and Hughes breathtaking -- and appear to be impossible to reconcile. "The Cox committee has their views and we have ours," explains Tom Ross, a spokesman for Loral. Virtually the same words were stated by Richard Dore, a spokesman for Hughes. Congressman Rohrabacher, who recently visited Hughes facilities in his district, sees the Loral ad and insistence by Hughes executives that they are "patriots" as an indication that top corporate executives at the two companies are "in denial" about what they have done. "It's very difficult for some one to say, to admit to themselves that they've transferred technology that can incinerate everyone in their family and their neighbors, to a group of people that hate the United States and that represent everything we despise as Americans, this vicious dictatorship there. They may find themselves just like alcoholics and everyone else who have trouble admitting they're doing bad things to themselves and everyone they love," says Rohrabacher..."
Washington Weekly 6/20/99 ROBERT STOWE ENGLAND "... There's little doubt Hughes and Loral violated laws against technology, Goure says. "I would argue that it's hard not to read the laws, have the expertise of experienced people [in these matters] and not know this was not in excess of what was permitted," he says. For Hughes the violations are more serious than those for Loral, Goure says. In particular, Hughes' explanations for why they went to Commerce instead of State, as the law requires, are unconvincing, Goure says. Other national security experts have also found the explanation wanting.... The tale of Hughes' licensing end-run began on March 3, 1995, with a meeting between five Hughes officials and two Commerce officials -- Jerry Beiter, the Chief Technology Officer at the department, and licensing officer Gene Christiansen. The two ranking Hughes' officials were Peter Herron, co-leader of the Hughes' failure investigation team, and Donald Leedle, Hughes' Technology Export Control Coordinator.....Leedle told the Cox committee that both Hughes and Commerce officials agreed at the March 3 meeting that any data that could improve the Chinese missile would require a State Department license. A subsequent memo by Leedle on March 9 makes no mention that Hughes officials had advised Christiansen about the actual cause of the rocket's failure. On April 28 Herron, Leedle and a third Hughes employee met at the Commerce Department to update Christiansen on the failure investigation. Notwithstanding the fact that Commerce and Hughes officials claim they had recognized that missile design required a State Department license a month earlier, the Hughes officials presented Christiansen with charts outlining the inadequacies of China's Long March 2E rocket's fairing design -- clearly a rocket issue. Leedle told the Cox committee that he was aware at the time that improvements in the Chinese rocket would require a State Department license. He stated, however, that he and Herron decided to rely on Christiansen's determination of Commerce's jurisdiction in the matter. After reviewing the charts, Christiansen advised the Hughes officials that the fairing-related charts could be passed to China, according to the Cox Report...."
Washington Weekly 6/20/99 ROBERT STOWE ENGLAND "...Loral participated in an independent review team that the Cox Report claims ultimately helped China upgrade its rocket guidance systems. That committee also include representatives from Hughes, British Aerospace Space Systems Group, General Dynamics, Intelsat, and DASA Daimler-Benz Aerospace. There were five Loral officials and two Hughes officials on the review committee. On May 10, at Wah Lim's instruction, Nick Yen, Loral employee and secretary of the review committee, faxed the draft preliminary report of the findings of the review committee to China Great Wall Industry Corporation, the Beijing-based consignee for the satellite being launched for Asia Pacific Tel Sat. No State Department license had been sought for the activity of the independent review committee or for sharing the draft report with China. Yen told the Cox committee investigators that Lim asked him later in the day of May 10 if he had faxed the draft report as he requested. When Yen replied he had done so, Lim told him that Loral might have to apply for a license for the activity of the independent review committee. The draft report contained the review team's conclusion that the most probable cause of the failure was the inner frame of the inertial measurement unit. The report also identified two other possible sources of the failure: the inertial measurement unit's follow-up frame and an open loop in the feedback path.... The draft report had been first distributed to the members of the review committee two days earlier, on May 7..."
Washington Weekly 6/20/99 ROBERT STOWE ENGLAND "... Two days later on May 9 a copy of the draft report landed on the desk of Loral General Counsel Julie Bannerman, presumably for her review, she told the Cox committee investigators. This was one day before Wah Lim instructed Nick yen to fax it to China. Bannerman did not call Lim after first seeing the draft report on May 9, recalling that she had assumed that because the draft was in her possession, it would not be disseminated outside Loral, according to the Cox Report. On May 10 -- the day the draft report was wrongly faxed to China -- "Bannerman believes that she may have called Lim and told him not to disseminate the report," the Cox Report states. There is no indication in the Cox Report whether this call to Lim occurred before or after the fax was sent to China by Nick Yen on Lim's orders. ...... Loral officials have claimed that "confusion" at Loral during the days leading up to May 10 led inadvertently to the faxing of the draft report to China. National security experts find that claim less than convincing. "I don't think you can explain it just on the basis of internal confusion," says Ledeen. The whole matter became public knowledge overnight in a bombshell disclosure in the May 13-16, 1996 issue of Space News, an industry publication. An article in that issue stated that Wah Lim had faxed the committee's report of the failure review to China. Robert Kovac, an expert analyst at DoD's Defense Technology Security Administration was alarmed on May 14 to read about the fax in Space News, the Cox Report states. Fearing the information transfer had not been licensed by State, Kovac called Loral's Washington representative and arranged a May 15 meeting that included licensing personnel at the State and Defense Departments. ....."
Washington Weekly 6/20/99 ROBERT STOWE ENGLAND "..."When the in-house counsel [Bannerman] discovered what was happening, she sent out code red faxes all over the company saying, 'Do not do this. Do not do this. This can shut down this company,'" Ledeen says. Bannerman's efforts failed to reach someone who could stop the fax from going out, possibly by a matter of minutes, he suggests The fact that high level internal objections could be over-ridden by other employees suggests that authority for sending the draft report to China came from the top, Ledeen says. "It seems clear that someone at Loral was told by somebody higher up some place, 'Don't worry about it. Go ahead and do it.' because the level of concern within Loral was certainly sufficient to slow it down," Ledeen says. Ledeen thinks that Loral agreed to the voluntary disclosure as part of a strategy of "damage control." The hope was to minimize the expected harsh punishment for breaking the law. "They've been quite surprised, I understand, that they've not been savagely punished," Ledeen says. Ledeen declined to identify his source for the information, but indicated strongly he could vouch for the reliability of the source, whom he described as someone inside the company who had a first-hand account of what happened. A Loral spokesman declined to comment on Ledeen's reporting from the Loral source...."
Summer, 1996 Institute for Astronaustics Information of China Aerospace Corporation Mr. Ding Henggao, Minister of the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence "...While fully affirming the great achievement of China's Space industry, we should ve ry clearly understand that generally, China's space technology industry is still far behind the advanced countries in the technical level, development scale, the scope and quality of the application of space products, etc., and cannot meet the demands of our modernization and national defence.... The country will also make necessary investment and actively support them. In order to support the development of space technologica l industry, some people suggested that the country should set up space industry development funds and make full use of foreign investments. I think we should st udy the suggestion and do our best to carry out this important policy.....The principle of 'Centralized leadership, the combination of military-civili an production, overall pl anning, comprehensive utilization and coordinated development' is our successfu l experience which has been carried out for over 30 years and borne out by the fa c ts.... It is very important to make full use of present favorable domestic and international environment, and to actively make international cooperation and exchanges . The development of space technology and its application means the exploration and utilization of space resources, which is the global mission. Because of its complexity and large investment needed, one country or one region cannot solely do it. International cooperation is becoming an important way to the development of space technology and its application. We will try to use more foreign capitals, resources and technologies. On the basis of our common satellite platform to be completed, we will establish cooperation relationship with the foreign countries and organizations who have higher technological basis, such as America, Russia, Europe and Japan to shorten the development period of new products and improve development technology of the satellite.... We will offer good foreign satellite launching and piggyback services. We should make full use of our own advantages, actively participate in the international competition, enter the world market, study the laws, stipulations, standards and specifications of international space industry and market, organize technical visits and academic exchanges actively, analyze and use the experiences of other countries for reference and make full use of foreign satellite technology, space achievements and application satellite resources to speed up the development of China's satellite technology and its application. The time for the great development of space technology is coming. Now, we have a solid foundation for the great development. Under the leadership of the Party Central Committee, State Council and the military commission of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and with the help and support of all related departments, we must take a good opportunity, emancipate our minds, deepen reform and work hard to make a still greater contribution to China's space technological industry.
WorldNetDaily 6/28/99 Charles Smith "...Wang Jun's fellow CITIC board member is Li Ka Shing, chairman of Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. Li is so close to the Chinese government that the Clinton White House included his bio along with Chinese President Jiang Zemin to the CEO of Loral Aerospace, Bernard Schwartz, just prior to the 1994 Ron Brown trade trip to Beijing. According to documents provided by the Commerce Department, Brown and Schwartz were to meet both Li and Gen. Shen Rougjun of COSTIND. Serving as a middleman for PLA satellite purchases, Li has financed several satellite deals between the U.S. Hughes Corporation and China Hong Kong Satellite, a company owned by the PLA unit, COSTIND. Besides trying to buy satellites for the PLA, in 1997, Li and the Chinese navy nearly obtained four huge roll-on/roll-off container ships from America. These ships were intended to transport PLA military cargo. The ships were part of a multi-million dollar deal that would have been financed by U.S. taxpayers. A man with considerable clout, Li has invested more than a billion dollars in China and owns most of the dock space in Hong Kong. In an exclusive deal with the People's Republic of China's communist government, Li has the right of first refusal over all PRC ports south of the Yangtze River. Furthermore, Li currently owns both the Pacific and Atlantic ports on the Panama Canal. And it was Li who attempted to purchase the military port of Long Beach, Calif. for COSCO and the Chinese navy...."
WorldNetDaily 6/28/99 Charles Smith "...A June 1997 Rand report ("Chinese Military Commerce and U.S. National Security") stated, "Hutchison Whampoa of Hong Kong, controlled by Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka Shing, is also negotiating for PLA wireless system contracts, which would build upon his equity interest in PLA arms company Poly Tech-owned Yangpu Land Development Company, which is building infrastructure on China's Hainan Island." In 1998, Li attempted to issue $2 billion in bonds in the U.S. through his Hutchison company. According to the Dow Jones Newswire, Hutchison revealed that 50 percent of the bonds would be used through a subsidiary known as Chung Kiu Communications Ltd., which had signed agreements to provide cellular services and equipment to joint ventures between the PLA and the Chinese Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications. In June 1999, Li and his PLA partners bought their way into the communications grid of northeast America, bringing PLA signals intelligence (SIGINT) operations inside the United States. Hutchison Telecom and the PLA are now major players in the American mobile-phone business with the recent investment of nearly $1 billion into VoiceStream Wireless.....The $957 million deal, the PLA biggest investment yet in America, will allow funding of VoiceStream's merger with Omnipoint. Omnipoint provides a service to more than 100 million subscribers, predominantly in the northeastern cities of the U.S., including critical military, commercial and diplomatic sites in New York, Boston and Philadelphia. The opportunity for PLA profits and communications espionage now spans the massive East Coast of America...."
ROBERT STOWE ENGLAND 6/30/99 "..."I think that the Cox Report on Hughes and Loral, which is the part people paid the least attention to, is in many ways the most scary part of all," says Michael Ledeen, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, and a former Reagan Administration technology control official. "Espionage is after all foreigners stealing from us," says Ledeen, "but Hughes and Loral is the story of American corporations enthusiastically arming what may turn out to be our most dangerous enemy," he says. Congress's most vocal and persistent critic of Hughes and Loral -- Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) -- offers similarly pointed criticisms. "There was massive deadly weapons technology that was transferred to one of the most ruthless dictatorships in the world, and it was done intentionally," he says. Rohrabacher has been spurred on, he says, partly by the shock of learning a few years ago that Hughes aerospace workers in his own Congressional district were involved in helping the Chinese develop the technology that could "incinerate" Americans with nuclear weapons. "It's clear that the national security interests of our country have been violated and our people have been betrayed. And the people who betrayed it had dollar signs in their eyes so they couldn't see how much damage they were going to create for their fellow Americans," says Rohrabacher. Both Hughes and Loral deny that they broke any laws. They deny they transferred sensitive information to China. And, they further deny that any transferred information has allowed China to improve its rocket-launch capabilities beyond what they would have been able to do on their own from available unclassified sources. Chinese authorities have heatedly attacked the Cox Report and denied charges of espionage and illegal technology transfers...."
ROBERT STOWE ENGLAND 6/30/99 "...All three allegations of violations of export license laws controlling sensitive technology were referred to the Department of Justice for criminal investigation, the earliest in 1996. The investigation, which a Justice Department source claims got underway in late 1997, has led to no arrests and no charges so far. ..."
ROBERT STOWE ENGLAND 6/30/99 "... Some observers are dismayed that the Cox Report revelations on Hughes and Loral have not sparked more media coverage and criticism. "Why is there no outcry?" asks Ledeen, who then answers his own question. "Because a large part of the media and the Democratic Party have resolved never to give any credence to any criticisms of the Clinton Administration. It's the most amazing thing I've ever seen," he says. Criticisms of Hughes and Loral, Ledeen explains, are seen by some as surrogate attacks on Clinton..... "
ROBERT STOWE ENGLAND 6/30/99 "..."The Cox Report's only allusion to campaign finance involves Hughes, not the big-time campaign donor Loral. Hughes's name surfaced in notes written in Mandarin on stationery from the Hong Kong International Hotel. The notes were found when Justice Department investigators searched Trie's Little Rock office. The handwriting on the Mandarin notes has not been analyzed to identify its author. Among 16 separate items in the notes are these three cryptic lines: Hughes U.S. Government Export Control Licenses Bribery Problem -- Government Official ....Cox committee investigators attempted to contact Trie through his attorney, the Cox Report states, but Trie refused to provide any information or testimony as he was facing trial on conspiracy charges to obtain benefits by circumventing election laws....."
ROBERT STOWE ENGLAND 6/30/99 "..."There's little doubt Hughes and Loral violated laws against technology, Goure says. "I would argue that it's hard not to read the laws, have the expertise of experienced people [in these matters] and not know this was not in excess of what was permitted," he says. For Hughes the violations are more serious than those for Loral, Goure says. In particular, Hughes' explanations for why they went to Commerce instead of State, as the law requires, are unconvincing, Goure says. Other national security experts have also found the explanation wanting.... Leedle told the Cox committee that he was aware at the time that improvements in the Chinese rocket would require a State Department license. He stated, however, that he and Herron decided to rely on Christiansen's determination of Commerce's jurisdiction in the matter. After reviewing the charts, Christiansen advised the Hughes officials that the fairing-related charts could be passed to China, according to the Cox Report. Christiansen now says it was "a mistake" to approve the charts, according to a Commerce Department spokesman...."
ROBERT STOWE ENGLAND 6/30/99 "..."National security experts also fault Loral's explanation of how it came to pass information to China about the findings of an investigation of a rocket failure by an independent review team headed by Wah Lim, Loral's Vice President and General Manager of Manufacturing..... Loral participated in an independent review team that the Cox Report claims ultimately helped China upgrade its rocket guidance systems. That committee also include representatives from Hughes, British Aerospace Space Systems Group, General Dynamics, Intelsat, and DASA Daimler-Benz Aerospace. There were five Loral officials and two Hughes officials on the review committee. On May 10, at Wah Lim's instruction, Nick Yen, Loral employee and secretary of the review committee, faxed the draft preliminary report of the findings of the review committee to China Great Wall Industry Corporation, the Beijing-based consignee for the satellite being launched for Asia Pacific Tel Sat. No State Department license had been sought for the activity of the independent review committee or for sharing the draft report with China. Yen told the Cox committee investigators that Lim asked him later in the day of May 10 if he had faxed the draft report as he requested. When Yen replied he had done so, Lim told him that Loral might have to apply for a license for the activity of the independent review committee...."
Reuters 6/12/99 Sam Cadware "...The Clinton administration says it did nothing wrong -- or even out of the ordinary -- when it waived sanctions against China and approved the launch this year of a communications satellite made by Loral Space & Communications Ltd. (LOR - news) The fact that Loral's president was the single biggest donor to Democratic candidates in the last election cycle had no bearing on the decision, the White House contends. Nor did a $100,000 campaign donation reported to have originated with a Chinese general's daughter who used to run a satellite launching business, White House officials say. The White House Thursday unveiled a set of declassified National Security Council memos, which ran from 1993 through 1996, to document its contention that Clinton followed the same standards used by previous presidents in granting the waivers. But congressional Republicans have started hearings to see whether political considerations affected the administration's judgment, and whether Loral gave away missile guidance secrets to the Chinese after a 1996 satellite launch went awry. The chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Richard Shelby of Alabama, said closed hearings featuring CIA testimony showed China tried to influence the outcome of the 1996 U.S. elections. Whether China succeeded was not clear, Shelby said. ...The United States makes about two-thirds of the world's commercial satellites, but simply cannot launch them all, according to the Satellite Industry Association. And even if that were technically possible, it might be a bad idea, the association's Clayton Mowry said..... "
THE WASHINGTON TIMES Jerry Seper 7/8/99 "…At a June 24, 1998, meeting at Chung's office, Chung told Mr. Luu he had kept quiet about the Chinese connection, but now faced sentencing and the government wanted proof he was going to cooperate to avoid 37 years in prison. "You've told me several times when you came here that being Chinese, I was to keep my mouth shut and that way I'll be safe," Chung said. "I've followed your advice accordingly. . . . However, in the upcoming four weeks, unless I am going to receive something that I know will certainly safeguard me, please understand I'm going to take the route I deem appropriate." Mr. Luu told Chung that much information already had surfaced and he should proceed as he saw fit, but that Chinese intelligence officers "don't want to see any information" that would damage Loral and Hughes. "I can understand how you feel; 37 years is a long time. However, this problem does not lie with you," Mr. Luu said. "The important part is not to touch Hughes and Loral. . . . Do you understand what I'm saying? This cannot be touched." U.S. officials say Loral and Hughes improperly shared data with China about a 1996 explosion of a Chinese rocket carrying a U.S. satellite. The Pentagon concluded that the data helped China improve the reliability of its strategic missiles and that the transfer harmed U.S. security. The Justice Department also is investigating the two companies about the transfer. Loral and Hughes have denied any wrongdoing….
Michael Chapman Investor’s Business Daily 6/19/98 "…While at Commerce, Sockowitz held a top-secret clearance and kept classified files in a safe. Among these papers was "A Study of the International Market for Computer Software With Encryption." The CIA marked portions of this report "secret" and the U.S. Bureau of Export Administration said disclosure could "damage the national security by revealing export control problems that could be exploited to the detriment of the United States." The secret sections could reveal weaknesses in U.S. encryption defenses, David Sobel, general counsel of the Electronic Privacy information Center, told IBD. Other papers Sockowitz locked away covered "remote sensing satellites," presidential waivers for satellite launches, "space commerce," and country files on China, Russia and India. Sockowitz also got documents on satellite encryptions from Hoyt Zia, chief counsel for Commerce's Bureau of Export Administration…"
Michael Chapman Investor’s Business Daily 6/19/98 "…Zia is a former Democratic National Committee fund-raiser and close friend of Huang. In May '96, Sockowitz's boss, Lew, moved to the Small Business Administration. He followed as her senior adviser on May 27. Three days after he moved to the SBA, Commerce OK'd a Sensitive Compartmentalized Information clearance for Sockowitz, a level above top secret. It let Sockowitz view the government's most tightly classified papers on encryption. Sockowitz didn't get an SBA top-secret clearance until July 29. The agency never gave him SCI. Sockowitz returned to Commerce for a visit on Aug. 2, 1996. While his successor there, Jeffrey May, was out of the office, Sockowitz removed 136 files from his old safe. He told a secretary only that he was gathering some personal items. Sockowitz wasn't debriefed when he left Commerce, something that would have required him to return any classified papers he held. Commerce says Sockowitz violated his clearance by not returning the files. But Sockowitz says his clearance traveled with him to the SBA and that nothing in the security manual prevented him from taking files. Sockowitz also says he never disclosed the papers and they never left his possession. He claims he needed the files for his SBA job. But the SBA told the conservative weekly Human Events that it knew of no projects that Sockowitz was working on that involved encryption, remote-sensing satellites or China…"
Michael Chapman Investor’s Business Daily 6/19/98 "… Sockowitz left the SBA In November '96. Again. he was not debriefed. He now works for the Strategic Planning Group in Bethesda, MD, an international business consulting firm. The company didn't respond to repeated requests by IBD to speak with Sockowitz. Justice stopped looking into the matter in December '96 without ever talking to Sockowitz, Lew or May. Hill told Judge Lamberth in March of this year that Brown worried that Sockowitz might have "funneled information to others." Larry Klayman, chairman of Judicial Watch, told IBD some of the files may have made their way to "a consortium like Iridium." Iridium is a global satellite mobile-phone business with partners such as China Aerospace. It competes with Loral's partly owned subsidiary Globalstar. At least four of Sockowitz's ex-Commerce colleagues work for Iridium. "Sockowitz was the first evidence that there may be an espionage element to this," Klayman said, adding that "Hill can confirm a lot that went on on those trips that dealt with matters that were not legal." For her part, Hill has said that Brown talked to her about how Commerce wanted to end satellite-export controls and how "encryption was a big issue," Klayman said. "Hill can confirm that this whole transfer of satellite technology (abroad) was a major initiative of the Clinton administration, and particularly in the encryption area," Klayman said. "All these companies were competing. And we know from Hill that satellites were what they were after -- the big bucks. Brown was very interested." …"
Investors Business Daily 8/10/99 Joseph Guinton "..."Loral and Hughes undermined national security and now the whole satellite industry is suffering as a consequence." --Rep Dana Rohrabacher, (R-Calif) ...In March, Congress shifted responsibility for approving satellite exports from the business-friendly Commerce Department to the security-minded State Department. Since then, customers have openly questioned whether U.S. manufactueres will be able to get their exports approved in a timely manner, if at all. And, foreign rivals of U.S. firms are now angling to get a bigger share of the commercial satellite business by trumpeting their lighter regulatory burdens. The bottom line for the U.S. satellite industry: $1 billion in lost revenue or additional compliance expense, according to the Aerospace Industries Association. "This is an Achilles' heel for the U.S. satellite industry," said Vijay Savant, managing director and satellite industry analyst at Bear, Sterns & Co. For the industry, the switch from Commerce to State comes at a time of record profits. Merrill Lynch analysts say the $35.6 billion global satellite industry is growing at nearly 20% a year. Much of that growth comes from U.S. companies. Revenues are projected to reach $171 billion in 2008....While Commerce has more than 100 people processing export reviews, State has just 14 in its Office of Defense Trade Controls, which handles exports of products that have military uses. That office already processes 45,000 export licenses a year. To that work-load, they'll have to add the 3,000 export license applications filed by commercial satellite makers annually. Commercial satellite makers want State to get more money to hire more people...."