clean da house!! geezzuzzz krah-ist!
keeps getting worst...
send these spies to a jail in an Allied 3rd world country....they dont even deserve a Federal Penn!.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A5634-2003Apr10.html
-------------------------------------------------
Ex-FBI Agent Resigns Post at Nuclear Weapons Lab
Officials Examine Link to Spy Case
-------------------------------------------------
By Dan Eggen and Susan Schmidt
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, April 11, 2003; Page A03
One of two retired FBI agents linked to an emerging Chinese spy scandal yesterday resigned his post as a senior counterintelligence official at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, which stripped him of his security clearances and launched an investigation of his nine-year tenure.
William Cleveland Jr., who has been head of security at the nuclear weapons research facility in Livermore, Calif., since retiring from the FBI in 1993, is referred to anonymously in FBI affidavits unsealed Wednesday in the espionage-related case that has resulted in the arrests of another former agent, James J. "J.J." Smith, and Los Angeles socialite Katrina M. Leung.
Numerous sources familiar with the case confirmed yesterday that the anonymous former agent referred to in the affidavit is Cleveland. He has not been charged in connection with the case.
Laboratory officials, without identifying Cleveland by name, said in a statement that his access to the laboratory was revoked and that "due to the seriousness of the situation, a thorough review of his work is now underway."
The court papers reveal that Cleveland admitted having a sexual relationship with Leung from 1988 until he retired in 1993, and that the intermittent affair resumed in 1997 and 1999. He maintained the relationship even after discovering that Leung had unauthorized contact in 1991 with the Chinese intelligence service, court documents say.
During both periods, Cleveland had security clearances that provided him access to classified information, first at the FBI and later at Livermore, home to some of the most sensitive atomic secrets held by the United States, according to court documents and officials.
Authorities stressed that Cleveland is cooperating in the FBI's ongoing espionage probe. Officials also said they have not determined whether any secrets were compromised as a result of Cleveland's relationship with Leung.
Cleveland did not respond yesterday to messages left in telephone calls and e-mails as well as through Lawrence Livermore representatives.
The revelations of Leung's ties to Cleveland and the Livermore nuclear weapons facility indicate another area of concern for law enforcement investigators, who already are investigating Leung's alleged theft of FBI intelligence data, including a 1997 secret FBI memorandum on Chinese fugitives; two directories of FBI personnel; and a telephone list related to an espionage investigation of a former TRW employee who pleaded guilty to passing secret information to China.
One incident cited by investigators occurred in November, when the FBI used a clandestine warrant to search Leung's luggage before she flew to China. According to the court papers, agents discovered a fax from Smith and pictures of six former FBI agents; the items were gone on Leung's return.
Leung, who is being held without bond, is accused of serving as a double agent for the People's Republic of China who passed classified information to the government there. Smith, who has been released on bond, had recruited Leung to spy for the United States but is charged with giving her access to large amounts of classified material during a 20-year sexual relationship. Both face maximum 10-year sentences if convicted, and authorities have said additional charges may be levied.
The arrests came after a 14-month investigation by a special FBI task force.
The case is the latest in a long series of spy scandals to rock the FBI, including the 2001 conviction of Robert P. Hanssen for spying for Moscow, the bungled investigation of former Los Alamos nuclear scientist Wen Ho Lee and the 1986 conviction of Los Angeles FBI agent Richard W. Miller for allegedly passing information to Moscow through his lover.
William H. Webster, the former FBI and CIA director who sharply criticized the FBI's "pervasive inattention to security" in a 2002 report, said the latest espionage-related case raises "legitimate questions" about the bureau's ability to police its agents and human sources.
An FBI spokesman said Smith, like Hanssen, was never subjected to a polygraph examination prior to his retirement. The official could not say whether Cleveland had taken one while working at the bureau. Since the Hanssen case, regular polygraphs have been implemented for FBI agents and other employees with access to sensitive material.
Mueller told lawmakers yesterday that he is confident the Leung case "is an isolated event."
"I cannot minimize the problems in the Los Angeles program, but we have moved firmly to correct those problems," he said.
The nation's intelligence community is assessing not only what damage could have been done by Leung passing on classified information to the Chinese government, but also whether voluminous information about China that she provided as an FBI intelligence "asset" is flawed or inaccurate, officials said.
Among the issues Leung may have given or obtained information about is the Chinese government's suspected attempt to influence U.S. political races in 1996 through illegal political contributions. Smith was the FBI's contact for fundraiser Johnny Chung, a central figure in the Democratic fundraising scandal who agreed to cooperate with federal prosecutors after pleading guilty to charges of tax evasion and violating campaign laws.
Cleveland is described by many former and current FBI officials as extremely well regarded among his peers. His father was a veteran bureau figure who served as assistant director before his retirement in 1976.
Tom Parker, former assistant special agent in charge of the criminal division of the FBI's Los Angeles office, said he knew and liked Smith.
"I've always found him to be a good guy," Parker said. "He always seemed to be diligent in his work, sociable. He's the kind of guy you wouldn't mind having a cup of coffee or a beer with. . . . This is a shock to everybody."
Leung is a well-known Republican activist in Los Angeles, who, with her husband, contributed $27,000 to the GOP and its candidates over the past decade.
In 1997, Leung, then president of the Los Angeles-Guangzhou Sister City Association, came to the defense of California businessman Ted Sioeng, a major target of the fundraising inquiries. She was quoted in the Los Angeles Times as saying that reports that Sioeng might be working for China were "nonsense."
"If China needed a good agent, why would it turn to someone who doesn't know the United States and doesn't speak English well?" Leung asked. "If there is one criticism I can make of him, it is that he got himself in the limelight for so long that he attracted . . . rumors and speculation."
Sioeng's attorneys denied any illegality, and he left the country.
Law enforcement sources say dissatisfaction with the inaction on the Smith and Leung cases contributed to the decision in January 2002 by FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III to demote Sheila Horan, then acting head of the bureau's national security division, which handles espionage investigations. They portrayed Mueller as seizing control of a haphazard probe.
But Horan, who has since retired from the bureau, said yesterday that "there was a great deal of meaningful investigation and a great deal of inquiry and concern about this case prior to Mr. Mueller coming to the FBI."
One FBI official said yesterday that there had been as many as four specific incidents since 1991 involving Leung that raised concerns about her reliability as an intelligence asset. Another official said officials at FBI headquarters were not aware of any questions about Leung until after Smith retired in 2000, ending his nearly 20-year relationship as her FBI handler.
Mueller created a special task force in February 2002 to investigate the Leung affair and has asked for an outside review of the bureau's performance by Justice Department Inspector General Glenn A. Fine. The FBI is also in the midst of reviewing the credibility of all of its informants and intelligence sources, while also restructuring the way such "human assets" are handled, officials said.
Staff writer Dana Priest, special correspondent Kimberley Edds and researcher Madonna Lebling contributed to this report.
"a·ri·a (n.)
1)A solo vocal piece with instrumental accompaniment, as in an opera.
2)An air; a melody.
3)The act of leaving one's capitalization lock on(i.e. Pulling an Aria)
" - Planck's Incontinent
keeps getting worst...
send these spies to a jail in an Allied 3rd world country....they dont even deserve a Federal Penn!.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A5634-2003Apr10.html
-------------------------------------------------
Ex-FBI Agent Resigns Post at Nuclear Weapons Lab
Officials Examine Link to Spy Case
-------------------------------------------------
By Dan Eggen and Susan Schmidt
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, April 11, 2003; Page A03
One of two retired FBI agents linked to an emerging Chinese spy scandal yesterday resigned his post as a senior counterintelligence official at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, which stripped him of his security clearances and launched an investigation of his nine-year tenure.
William Cleveland Jr., who has been head of security at the nuclear weapons research facility in Livermore, Calif., since retiring from the FBI in 1993, is referred to anonymously in FBI affidavits unsealed Wednesday in the espionage-related case that has resulted in the arrests of another former agent, James J. "J.J." Smith, and Los Angeles socialite Katrina M. Leung.
Numerous sources familiar with the case confirmed yesterday that the anonymous former agent referred to in the affidavit is Cleveland. He has not been charged in connection with the case.
Laboratory officials, without identifying Cleveland by name, said in a statement that his access to the laboratory was revoked and that "due to the seriousness of the situation, a thorough review of his work is now underway."
The court papers reveal that Cleveland admitted having a sexual relationship with Leung from 1988 until he retired in 1993, and that the intermittent affair resumed in 1997 and 1999. He maintained the relationship even after discovering that Leung had unauthorized contact in 1991 with the Chinese intelligence service, court documents say.
During both periods, Cleveland had security clearances that provided him access to classified information, first at the FBI and later at Livermore, home to some of the most sensitive atomic secrets held by the United States, according to court documents and officials.
Authorities stressed that Cleveland is cooperating in the FBI's ongoing espionage probe. Officials also said they have not determined whether any secrets were compromised as a result of Cleveland's relationship with Leung.
Cleveland did not respond yesterday to messages left in telephone calls and e-mails as well as through Lawrence Livermore representatives.
The revelations of Leung's ties to Cleveland and the Livermore nuclear weapons facility indicate another area of concern for law enforcement investigators, who already are investigating Leung's alleged theft of FBI intelligence data, including a 1997 secret FBI memorandum on Chinese fugitives; two directories of FBI personnel; and a telephone list related to an espionage investigation of a former TRW employee who pleaded guilty to passing secret information to China.
One incident cited by investigators occurred in November, when the FBI used a clandestine warrant to search Leung's luggage before she flew to China. According to the court papers, agents discovered a fax from Smith and pictures of six former FBI agents; the items were gone on Leung's return.
Leung, who is being held without bond, is accused of serving as a double agent for the People's Republic of China who passed classified information to the government there. Smith, who has been released on bond, had recruited Leung to spy for the United States but is charged with giving her access to large amounts of classified material during a 20-year sexual relationship. Both face maximum 10-year sentences if convicted, and authorities have said additional charges may be levied.
The arrests came after a 14-month investigation by a special FBI task force.
The case is the latest in a long series of spy scandals to rock the FBI, including the 2001 conviction of Robert P. Hanssen for spying for Moscow, the bungled investigation of former Los Alamos nuclear scientist Wen Ho Lee and the 1986 conviction of Los Angeles FBI agent Richard W. Miller for allegedly passing information to Moscow through his lover.
William H. Webster, the former FBI and CIA director who sharply criticized the FBI's "pervasive inattention to security" in a 2002 report, said the latest espionage-related case raises "legitimate questions" about the bureau's ability to police its agents and human sources.
An FBI spokesman said Smith, like Hanssen, was never subjected to a polygraph examination prior to his retirement. The official could not say whether Cleveland had taken one while working at the bureau. Since the Hanssen case, regular polygraphs have been implemented for FBI agents and other employees with access to sensitive material.
Mueller told lawmakers yesterday that he is confident the Leung case "is an isolated event."
"I cannot minimize the problems in the Los Angeles program, but we have moved firmly to correct those problems," he said.
The nation's intelligence community is assessing not only what damage could have been done by Leung passing on classified information to the Chinese government, but also whether voluminous information about China that she provided as an FBI intelligence "asset" is flawed or inaccurate, officials said.
Among the issues Leung may have given or obtained information about is the Chinese government's suspected attempt to influence U.S. political races in 1996 through illegal political contributions. Smith was the FBI's contact for fundraiser Johnny Chung, a central figure in the Democratic fundraising scandal who agreed to cooperate with federal prosecutors after pleading guilty to charges of tax evasion and violating campaign laws.
Cleveland is described by many former and current FBI officials as extremely well regarded among his peers. His father was a veteran bureau figure who served as assistant director before his retirement in 1976.
Tom Parker, former assistant special agent in charge of the criminal division of the FBI's Los Angeles office, said he knew and liked Smith.
"I've always found him to be a good guy," Parker said. "He always seemed to be diligent in his work, sociable. He's the kind of guy you wouldn't mind having a cup of coffee or a beer with. . . . This is a shock to everybody."
Leung is a well-known Republican activist in Los Angeles, who, with her husband, contributed $27,000 to the GOP and its candidates over the past decade.
In 1997, Leung, then president of the Los Angeles-Guangzhou Sister City Association, came to the defense of California businessman Ted Sioeng, a major target of the fundraising inquiries. She was quoted in the Los Angeles Times as saying that reports that Sioeng might be working for China were "nonsense."
"If China needed a good agent, why would it turn to someone who doesn't know the United States and doesn't speak English well?" Leung asked. "If there is one criticism I can make of him, it is that he got himself in the limelight for so long that he attracted . . . rumors and speculation."
Sioeng's attorneys denied any illegality, and he left the country.
Law enforcement sources say dissatisfaction with the inaction on the Smith and Leung cases contributed to the decision in January 2002 by FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III to demote Sheila Horan, then acting head of the bureau's national security division, which handles espionage investigations. They portrayed Mueller as seizing control of a haphazard probe.
But Horan, who has since retired from the bureau, said yesterday that "there was a great deal of meaningful investigation and a great deal of inquiry and concern about this case prior to Mr. Mueller coming to the FBI."
One FBI official said yesterday that there had been as many as four specific incidents since 1991 involving Leung that raised concerns about her reliability as an intelligence asset. Another official said officials at FBI headquarters were not aware of any questions about Leung until after Smith retired in 2000, ending his nearly 20-year relationship as her FBI handler.
Mueller created a special task force in February 2002 to investigate the Leung affair and has asked for an outside review of the bureau's performance by Justice Department Inspector General Glenn A. Fine. The FBI is also in the midst of reviewing the credibility of all of its informants and intelligence sources, while also restructuring the way such "human assets" are handled, officials said.
Staff writer Dana Priest, special correspondent Kimberley Edds and researcher Madonna Lebling contributed to this report.
"a·ri·a (n.)
1)A solo vocal piece with instrumental accompaniment, as in an opera.
2)An air; a melody.
3)The act of leaving one's capitalization lock on(i.e. Pulling an Aria)
" - Planck's Incontinent