Biography
Wen Ho Lee is a Taiwanese-American nuclear scientist who worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico for two decades and became the central figure in one of the most discredited espionage prosecutions in U.S. history. In December 1999, after a year of leaks portraying him as a Chinese spy who had stolen the United States most sensitive nuclear weapons design data, he was indicted on 59 felony counts. He was held in solitary confinement at the Santa Fe County Detention Center for nine months — most of it shackled when out of his cell, including for family visits — without bond and without ever being charged with espionage.
The governments case collapsed in the summer of 2000. On September 13, 2000, Lee pleaded guilty to a single felony count of mishandling classified information and was released for time served. The other 58 counts were dropped. Federal District Judge James A. Parker took the extraordinary step of issuing an apology from the bench, telling Lee that the government had embarrassed our entire nation and led me into ordering your detention last December. Lee later won a $1.65 million settlement from the federal government and several news organizations whose reporting had been driven by anonymous leaks from prosecutors.
Photo credit
Wen Ho Lee leaving federal court in Albuquerque on September 13, 2000. AP photograph by LM Otero, published by SFGATE; Lee was cropped from the captioned group photograph. No AI editing.
