Obama's China Cabinet Controversy

Presidential cabinet members are seldom without their critics, but the nomination of Gov. Bill Richardson as Commerce Secretary has sparked controversy from an unexpected source: Chinese Americans./span>

Over 4,000 have pledged their support of an online petition protesting Richardson/st1 :city>'s appointment in any cabinet position, due to his actions as energy secretary during the 1999 case of Wen Ho Lee./span>

Lee was abruptly fired from his job as an atomic scientist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory on the grounds that he was a Chinese spy leaking state secrets.  He was put into solitary confinement for 270 days, and indicted on 59 charges related to leaking classified government documents to Chinese spies./span>

As Secretary of Energy at the time, Richardson/st1 :place> played a direct role in this case, since he fired Lee from his job and accused him of spying for the Chinese government.  Many claim Richardson/st1 :city> leaked negative information about Lee to the press, but he has denied these allegations.  /span>

Ultimately, Lee was found guilty on only one of the fifty nine accounts; he downloaded classified data to his computer.  His defendants note that much of that material was already available to the public, and the downloaded data was "restricted," not "top secret." /span>

While downloading restricted government information is a serious crime, many question whether the pre-conviction treatment of Lee was justified.  Even Judge James Parker, who presided over the case, apologized to Dr. Lee at the end of the trial.  He said, "I feel that the 278 days of confinement for your offense is not unjust; however, I believe you were terribly wronged by being held in custody pretrial . . . under demeaning, unnecessarily punitive conditions." /span>

"I sincerely apologize to you, Dr. Lee, for the unfair manner you were held in custody by the Executive Branch."/span>

He received a public apology from Bill Clinton for mistreatment during the trial, but Richardson/st1 :city> wasn't quite as remorseful.  In 2005, he told Democracy Now, "I stand by everything that I said, and I did before in that case.  . .  I believe that we acted properly in safeguarding our nuclear secrets." /span>

For many Chinese Americans, however, the issue isn't just about protecting nuclear secrets; it's about racial profiling.  They maintain that Lee was unfairly targeted for his ethnic Chinese background. /span>

In his San Francisco Chronicle editorial, George Koo attributes Richardson/st1 :city>'s actions to ongoing racial profiling of ethnic Chinese. He says they "legitimized racial profiling as practice then, and now, by the law enforcement agencies.  To this day, the FBI continues to assert that ethnic Chinese are potential spies for China/st1 :country-region>."/span>

Richardson/st1 :city> claims this case had nothing to do with racial profiling, and simply dealt with "the issue of protecting our nuclear secrets."  In 2007, during a Democratic debate he had slightly softened his stance on the Wen Ho Lee situation.  He says that Wen's tenure in solitary confinement "was wrong.  I tried to change it, but I didn't work hard enough. . . I wish I had been stronger, but I don’t apologize for trying to protect our nuclear secrets, and we should have done a lot more."/span>

At this point, many Chinese Americans simply want Richardson/st1 :city> to apologize and admit some type of wrongdoing in the trial, but it's unlikely that will happen, since it's now nearly a decade after the event.  /span>

Even without an apology, this incident will probably not prevent Richardson/st1 :city> from being confirmed as Secretary of Commerce.  On the other hand, it's definitely readdressed a difficult memory for many Chinese Americans./span>

Despite this controversy, if Richardsonis confirmed as Secretary of Commerce, the emphasis on his Chinaconnections will probably shift away from the Wen Ho Lee case and towards commercial and trade interests with China/st1 :place>.