Ehrlich on Washington column, June 26, 2000

MEWS FROM Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr. Second Congressional District of Maryland 1 407 York Road, Suite 304 3 1 5 Cannon House Office Building Lutherville, Maryland 2 1 093 Washington, D.C. 205 1 5 EHRLICH ON WASHINGTON Week of June 26, 2000 By Congressman Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr. Who’s Protecting America’s Security Secrets? The Clinton Administration appears to have compromised United States national security. Recent developments within the Department of Energy and the State Department on stolen nuclear and foreign policy secrets are outrageous and threaten the security of every single American. We should be shocked at the woeful lack of concern and skill President Clinton, Vice President Gore, Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson, and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright have displayed in failing to protect our nation’s hard-earned top secret information. Most recently, Energy Secretary Bill Richardson, who has been busy campaigning for the vice presidency, announced that two Energy Department hard drives with nuclear secrets from the Los Alamos Nuclear Laboratory had been misplaced and found weeks later under suspicious circumstances - behind a photocopier in a room that had already been searched. Secretary Richardson claims he is doing all he can to shore up our leaky national secrets. Instead of accepting the responsibility for security failures, however, he publicly blamed the University of California, which helps operate the lab, saying, “they’re in charge of security.” These revelations follow the firing of Los Alamos Chinese scientist Wen Ho Lee last year, who was suspected of stealing American nuclear secrets and relaying them to foreign sources. Moreover, Secretary Richardson apparently did not think endangering American families is worthy of investigation, since he knowingly missed the Congressional hearing on stolen secrets last week. Secretary of State Madeline Albright is no better at security than Richardson. At the State Department, sixteen laptops, at least one containing classified material, remain missing after months of investigation. Moreover, a Russian spy loitered right outside the State Department for months last year collecting secret information from listening devices planted in the building - within feet of Albright’s office. Days after stating that security is the top priority at the State Department, Albright discovered more missing information. President Clinton and Vice President Gore have eliminated long-standing security protocols at the Department of Energy that have led to the Richardson mess. Further, with respect to foreign policy, generally, the Administration’s collective low regard for security protocols is underscored