Alleged spy wins $1.6mn case against US govt, media

WASHINGTON, DC: Wen Ho Lee, a US nuclear scientist who was under investigation for allegedly leaking nuclear secrets to China, has won a case against the government and five news organisations for invasion of privacy.

He has been awarded $1.645 million — $895,000 by the federal government and $750,000 by the media companies — The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, ABC News and AP.

Lee had filed the suit in 1999 after the government and the five media outlets had disclosed his name as being part of a spying investigation. He had alleged in the lawsuit that senior officials in the Bill Clinton administration had leaked his name to the media that he was under investigation for spying for China while working at the Los Alamos Laboratory.

Lee, who was fired from his job in 1999 after the investigation began, was held in solitary confinement for nine months and released in 2000 without being charged with espionage, though he pleaded guilty to mishandling important computer files.

If the case had not been settled through money, Lee’s lawyers would have asked the court to direct the reporters to reveal their sources in government.

US District Judge Rosemary Collyer had threatened stiff sanctions against reporters who refused to name their sources. She said they would have had to pay a hefty fine from their own pockets.

Lee’s lawyer, Betsy Miller, told reporters: “Our aim was never to punish journalists.” She said the defence wanted to seek redress for Lee who had suffered because of an unlawful leak.