See http://www.senate.gov/~inhofe/fl031599.html for the full text (30 minutes) of these remarks. The opening paragraphs are attached. Relevance to y2k: If they didn't tell you this, what else aren't they telling? Y2k is about the real world, here and now, and potential threats to citizens' lives and health as well.

CHINAS THEFT OF NUCLEAR SECRETS Senate Floor Statement March 15, 1999 Mr. President, I want you to listen. I am going to tell you a story of espionage, conspiracy, deception and cover-upa story with life and death implications for millions of Americansa story about national security and a President and an administration that deliberately chose to put national security at risk, while telling the people everything was fine.

If it was written in a book, it wouldnt sell, because no one would believe it. If it was fictionalized in a novel, few could conceive it. But it is true.

Now for the sake of my statement today, I am stating that the President withheld information and covered up the Chinese theft of our technology. But Im realistic enough to know that a person with the history of deception this president has will have provided himself with some cover in case he gets caught. So Im sure there is a paper trail that he can allege. The way the President probably covered himself was to include tidbits about this theft buried in briefings on 40 or 50 others items, so the significance of it would not be noticed. But a paper trail would be established.

Anticipating that, I talked to the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Porter Goss, and the Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee at the time of the discovery of this information, Sen. Arlen Specter. Neither chairman was notified of the W-88 nuclear warhead technology theft. And these would have been the first to be notified. There can be no doubt that President Clinton engaged in a cover up scheme.

Let me read three paragraphs from last weeks op-ed article by Michael Kelly in the Washington Post, entitled Lies About China.

In April 1996, Energy Department officials informed Samuel Berger, then Clintons deputy national security advisor, that Notra Trulock, the departments chief of intelligence, had uncovered evidence that showed China had learned how to miniaturize nuclear bombs, allowing for smaller, more lethal warheads... The Times reports that the House Intelligence Committee asked Trulock for a briefing in July 1998. Trulock asked for permission from Elizabeth Moler, then acting energy secretary. According to Trulock, Moler told him not to brief the committee because the information might be used against Clintons China policy... The White Houses secret would have remained secret had it not been for a select investigative committee headed by Republican Christopher Cox...

But even using the Presidents fictitious paper trail, the earliest either chairman could have known about it would have been late spring of 1997, years after the Clinton administration learned of it and, of course, after the 1996 elections. I start, Mr. President, by listing a few things which we now know to be true, factual, incontrovertible...and not classified.

For years, the Clinton administration covered-up Chinas theft of top secret U.S. nuclear weapons data. They never informed the Congress or American people about what had happened or its significance to our national security.

Let me tell you what President Clinton did during this period time:

During this period of time, the President misled the American people on numerous occasions about the threat posed by strategic nuclear missiles in the post cold war era.

During this period of time, President Clinton made statements on over 130 separate occasions, such as the following: For the first time since the dawn of the nuclear age, there is not a single solitary nuclear missile pointed at an American child tonight. Not one. Not a single one.

During this period of time, he knew that China was targeting up to 18 intercontinental ballistic missiles at American children.

During this period of time, President Clinton signed export control waivers which allowed his top campaign fundraisers aerospace company to transfer sensitive U.S. missile guidance technology to China.

During this period of time, he shifted the prime satellite export responsibility from the State Department to the Commerce Department, making it easier for China and others to get sensitive military-related U.S. technology .

During this period of time, President Clinton hosted over 100 White House fundraisers as part of a larger aggressive scheme to raise campaign contributions, many from illegal foreign sources, primarily including sources in China. Among guests permitted to attend these White House fundraisers were a convicted felon and a Chinese arms dealer.

During this period of time, John Huang, Charlie Trie, Johnny Chung, James Riady and others with strong ties to China were deeply involved, with the Presidents knowledge, in raising Chinese-tainted campaign cash for the Clinton campaign.

During this period of time, John Huang, who had been given a security clearance without a background check, was permitted to receive numerous classified CIA briefings, both during and after his stay at the Commerce Department.

--And during this period of time, President Clinton was successfully stopping the deployment of a national missile defense system, exposing every American life to a missile attack, leaving us with no defense against an intercontinental ballistic missile.

Mr. President, Chinas theft of secret data on the so-called W-88" nuclear warhead may be one of the most serious breaches of national security in our lifetimes.....More serious than Aldrich Ames. Perhaps more serious than the Rosenbergs.

The public needs to understand that this story is true. This is not about partisanship. This is not about some ancient history of some long gone Cold War.

This is about the real world here and now. This is about national security in its most important aspects. This is about protecting our freedom and our existence as a nation. This is ultimately a matter which concerns the life and death of every citizen.

(snip)

-- (li'ldog@ontheporch.com), March 22, 1999

Answers

He forgot to add the "T" word.

-- Greybear (greybear@home.com), March 22, 1999.

It's amazing that this doesn't get splashed all over the front pages. Nobody puts it together: 1) Clinton knew about the warhead leak. 2) Clinton went ahead and sold the missile guidance technology, completing the package for effective MIRV ICBMs. 3) Clinton was taking campaign contributions from the Chinese during this time. Hello?

-- Nope (not@thistime.com), March 23, 1999.