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Show 4 The Salt Lake Tribune NATION/WORLD Thursday May 27, 1999 House Panel Accuses TwoSatellite Makers of Aiding Chinese communicationssatellite The committee acknowled Report says Hughes and Loralillegally passed onsensitive information; companies say panel is ignoring evidence tothe contrary t ansen, before providing THE WASHINGTON POST WASHINGTON — A House select ommittee that probed China's alleged zi rets id other & theft of U.S. nuclear built a detailed jefense technology hi Ase against two leading U.S. satellite mak 7 passing sensitive information t she C chinese about threerocket failures without government approval. In a glossy, three-volume report released Tuesda: the committee concluded that Hughes Sp e and Communications Co. “engaged in deliberate efforts to cir- cumvent” State Departmentlicensing re quirements andprovidedinformation the __noredother evidence that the companies Chinesecould use to improve commercial ® launches andthus military missiles. mmittee, headed by Rep. Christopher Cox, R-Calif., also concluded that provided the committee staff. Richard Dore, Hughes’ director ofcor porate communications. called the Cox report a worst-case scenario” and pre- Loral Space & Communicationsag’ eed to a viewat the request of the Chineseandthenillegally faxedthe tech. nical conclusions to China. Both companies offered extensiv re- torts Wednesday, arguing that the Cox committee misinterpreted their actions. misconstrued much of the limited infor mation they provided the Chineseandig- dicted Hughes would be exonerated of al wrongdoing when all the The Cox committee's conclusions come atacritical juncture for both companies whichfor more thana year have been the subject of a Justice Department criminal investigation for possibly passing prohib: itedsensitivedata to the Chinese without the required export licenses. An ind ment andconviction couldbar the comp atellites for three nies from exportin: years, depriving them of a geoning world market in communicati satellites that they now dor Inits report, the Cox corr Air Fore the Defens ate. nittee quoted Lt. Col Al Coates, a monitor at ‘echnology Security Admin- istration, as saying hedid not recal ing Hughes permission to provide the Chinese with detailed technical informafailure of a Long tion about the March ro ket carrying a Hughes-built Hughes obtained approval from merce Department official. Ge with similar informati ch rocket carrying a satellite crashed in19: tee quotes Christianse approval was “a mis partment authorization should have obtained A Loral spokesman ackn edged tl there is nodisputing that report, th was not supposedto besent to the Cl nese was inadvertentlyfaxedto them But contrary to the Cox committ conelusion, the spokesman said, the + port into the cause of yet another | March rocket failure in January 1996 not contain any sensitive data Lawmakers Move To Fix Security At Weapons Labs SSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON — Responding toa House report on Chineseespi- onage, members of Congress pledged Wednesday to pushproposals increasing security at U.S. weapons laboratoriesandtighten ng controls on technology exports to China. In the Senate,the defensebill is expected to be used to advance plans to increase monitoring of Phinese rocket launches and to beef up security and background checks at the Energy Department’s nuclear-weaponslabs. Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., alluding to the reports of Chinese espionage, said that while “I don’t think we should rush to judgment we should understand the full ramifi- ations of what happened here Lott proposeda packageof pro- posals he would like includedin $288.8billion defense spend- bill for 2000 that the Senate debating on Wednesday. It would @ Require the president to noify Congress aboutinvestigations f satellite-technology transfers nd give the CIA morepowerto eview technology export li- censes. @Put the FBI in charge of background checks for DOE eapons laboratory workers. Require the Defense Depart- 1ent to strengthen its program nonitoring Chinesecivilian rockt launches, Sen Bob Graham, D-Fla.. said re would propose a bipartisan commission that would conduct a vernment-wide review of all junterintelligenceactivities One proposal under consider yuld requirethat a newse- nior official at the Energy Departnent oversee all department research labs and report directly ) Congress Thelabs traditional. I had widespreadindepen The Clinton administra tion has si aledit would oppose ich plan. Meanwhile, the two principal of the 871-page House ect committee report on Chi 0-year campaignto steal Ameri as nuclear secrets made the rounds of Capitol Hill with brief. ngs before Senate and House The report was re sday mation “about every lear] weapon in the U.S. arse nal.” Rep, Christopher Cox, R Calif, told lawmakers. But he aid Congress might be able to orestall China from being able to onvert the U.S. warhead design nformation into deploy weapons The question is,” added K man Dicks, D-Wash »ined Cox in the briefings, “can a] take what they have and produce an actual eapon We've got to watch this ty see what happens ‘e the House In tions subcommit tee on Asia and the Pacific, the awmakers urged Congress to tighten controls on the sale of iigh-power computers and satel lite technology to China. Both ould aid China in using stolen weapon design material te create a new generation of nucle ar missiles, Cox and Dicks said Restrictions on technology sales to China must comein con junction with America’s allies, in ctuding Europe and Japan, Cox said For the UnitedStates to impose restrictions unilaterally “would possible be the worst of all be ause China gy elsewhere. U.S. businesses and would be harmed, Cox said worlds” get the technolo, OMNISERVE 560 minutes only $19.95 per month 60 minutes anytime & 500 weekend long distance minutes 4 ~ OR COPY i yet do more Cards |
