With many thanks to Ohmlaw98!

Abbreviations:
Iran-Iraq Arms Nonproliferation Act (IIANA)
Arms Export Control Act (AECA)
Export Administration Act (EAR)
Nuclear Proliferation Prevention Act (NPPA)
Director of Central Intelligence (DCI)
China's People's Liberation Army (PLA)
Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR)
Nonproliferation Treaty (NT)
Export-Import Bank Act (EIBA)

1997

General Accounting Office found lax controls over foreign visitors at weapons labs had gotten worse.

1995 & 1997 China: C-802 anti-ship cruise missiles and C-801 air launch cruise missiles , again to Iran. Violation: IIANA - no sanctions. . - Congress

China: Chemical precursors, production equipment, and production technology for Iran's chemical weapons program including a plant for making glass-lined equipment. Violations IIANA, AECA, EAR - no sanctions. . - Congress

China was the subject of ongoing investigation into illegal campaign contributions to DNC and Clinton/Gore - many witnesses left the country, claimed the 5th or had memory lapses.

Stonewalling occurred at most every turn (see the complete list.)

Perkins Coie (PRC legal representative) represented Richard Sullivan (DNC) in Senate Campaign Finance Hearings and another 6 witnesses as well.

Lippo (Riadys) signed a memorandum of agreement for a $1-billion deal to manage and expand a 1,200-megawatt power plant in China. Its partner is America's Energy Corp, parent company of Arkansas Power & Light.

Beijing said it intended to buy some Sovremennyy-class destroyers. The vessels carry supersonic S-N-22 Sunburn cruise missiles. As of June, 1998 China is close to concluding the deal, with delivery expected in about 18 months.

1996-1997 A report by the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs in January 98 noted that "not a single supercomputer export to China of 47 had either a pre-license check or a post shipment verification from January 1996 to March 1997 ."

1996-1998 A team headed by Loral (Hughes in attendance) produced a technical report identifying a problem in the flight-guidance system as the cause of the crash in February 1996 (Long March.) The report also identified other weaknesses in the rocket. The American experts didn't check with the State Department, the report was given to the Chinese. Several months later, they ``turned themselves in'' to the State Department, after which, the Pentagon launched an investigation, and concluded in its report, labeled ``secret,'' that ``United States national security has been harmed.'' Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R., Calif.), Chairman of the House Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee, said that U.S. expertise has ``perfected'' China's Long March rockets, which are identical in design to Chinese strategic nuclear missiles. A Loral employee said "The most interesting aspect of the accident was this: engineers who reviewed the recovered payload debris noticed something special that was missing: encryption hardware."

Panama secretly turned over the American-built port facility at Balboa, which controls shipping on the Pacific side, and at Cristobal, which controls shipping on the Atlantic side, to Hutchison [China] - Adm. Moorer THE NEW AMERICAN Freeper report dated 4/11/99

"Corrupt Indonesian officials may have pocketed or diverted more than 20 percent of World Bank development funds to the world's fourth most populous country, according to an internal World Bank document from 1997. The World Bank, which is investigating separate reports of corruption among its own staff, confirmed the contents of the year-old Indonesian memorandum yesterday Washington Times Adam Entous 8/20/98 Reuters

Suspecting Lee at Los Alamos to be a spy for China, FBI agents in 1997 alerted the White House and went to the Department of Justice's Office of Intelligence Policy Review to request application to a special court for a wiretap under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. But Acting Director Gerald Schroeder and his aide Alan Kornblum decided the evidence was insufficient and refused to apply. The FBI then went over Schroeder's head to the office of Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder, and was turned down again. The FBI never returned with new evidence to Schroeder. Did Freeh appeal to Janet Reno about "overlawyering" in a national security case, or was he too browbeaten to try? The bureau learned that when it comes to China, Reno's Justice Department assigns only its most incompetent operatives and penalizes prosecutors who target Asian financing of the 1996 election. Houston Chronicle 4/29/99 William Safire

The Department of Justice declined an FBI request to seek court approval to gain surreptitious access to Wen Ho Lee's office computer, officials said. Once the request was rejected, officials of the bureau and the Energy Department determined that they needed Lee's approval to examine his office computer. New York Times 4/28/99 James Risen and Jeff Gerth

Commerce Report: Clinton administration gave the Chinese "fine images of rural China and Beijing as well as Siberian port cities, Seoul and Kadena Air Force Base on Okinawa." From US Commerce in Beijing: the Chinese obtained satellite images in order to "help demonstrate that Tibet has enough arable land to feed itself.".... Dept. of Commerce documents shows the Chinese "remote Sensing Center" was supplied with "world class remote sensing data acquisition, processing, archive and distribution" equipment - Koenig's International News 5/18/99 Charles Smith

Commerce Report: "The most troubling potential transfer to China is Rockwell's proposed joint venture deal with the Shanghai Broadcast Equipment Factory and the Shanghai Avionics Corporation, the latter of which is a key enterprise of the Aviation Industries of China." "Rockwell Collins Navigation and Communications Equipment Company, Ltd.," states the 1997 report. "Will design, develop, and build Global Positioning System (GPS) navigation receivers systems for the Chinese market." "These components have serious dual-use applications, since the acquisition of reliable GPS data can enhance, to varying degrees, the capacity of militaries to field highly accurate cruise and ballistic missiles, such as those used to intimidate Taiwan during March 1996." ..."More accurate GPS systems would enhance the PLA's ability to carry out attacks against Taiwan's military and industrial facilities," states the report. "Potentially reducing the ability of the Taiwanese military to defend itself against PRC coercive diplomacy." However, the most chilling conclusion was reserved for the effects on U.S. military forces, especially U.S. Naval Forces. "The use of GPS to enhance the accuracy of long-range Chinese cruise missiles, coupled with long-range sensors, would raise serious concerns for the U.S. Seventh Fleet in the Pacific, and possibly circumscribe their ability to provide an effective deterrent in a crisis over Taiwan." ... the Chinese may have obtained the "long-range sensors" from the Clinton administration as well. - Koenig's International News 5/18/99 Charles Smith

Remember the political environment in early 1997. Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.) had just launched his heralded probe of campaign finances and predicted that he would find a deliberate plot by the Chinese government to influence the American election. What remained obscure was China's motive. The Democrats loudly derided Thompson for his suspicions of a Chinese plot. If Thompson had been aware of major and systematic Chinese spying and theft of our most vital secrets while he was conducting his hearings, there would have been hell to pay. Reno did a great political service to the president and disservice to America in not allowing the FBI to proceed. Between the time of her rejection of the FBI request for access and the actual inspection of Lee's computer last month, reports indicate that upwards of 300 files have been transferred and deleted - New York Post 5/11/99 Dick Morris

In 1988 and again in 1997, GAO reported that foreign visitors were allowed into DOE's nuclear weapons design laboratories with few background checks and inadequate controls over the topics discussed. ….. UPI 7/11/00 Ashley Baker

"…In early 1997, with the FBI's investigation making scant progress and the Energy Department's counterintelligence program in limbo, Trulock and other intelligence officials began to see new evidence that the Chinese had other, ongoing spy operations at the weapons labs…. But Trulock was unable to quickly inform senior U.S. officials about the new evidence. He asked to speak directly with Pena, the energy secretary, but had to wait four months for an appointment…. Pena immediately sent Trulock back to the White House -- and to Berger…."In July 1997 Sandy was briefed fully by the DOE on China's full access to nuclear weapons designs, a much broader pattern" said one White House official. Officials said Berger was told that there was evidence of several other Chinese espionage operations that were still under way inside the weapons labs…. Berger quickly briefed Clinton on what he had learned and kept him updated over the next few months, a White House official said. As Trulock spread the alarm, his warnings were reinforced by CIA Director George Tenet and FBI Director Louis Freeh, who met with Pena to discuss the lax security at the labs that summer…." New York Times 3/06/99 Jeff Gerth

Edward McCallum ...the chief security officer for the Department of Energy-the man charged with safeguarding the nation's nuclear-weapons plants and research facilities-was preparing to issue a scathing report accusing the institutions of not doing enough to protect against spies and terrorist attacks - Newsweek 5/3/99 Mark Hosenball

China: Dual use biological items to Iran. Violation: The BWC, IIANA, the AECA, the EAR - no sanctions. . - Congress

Judicial Watch filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court accusing the president of appointing Charlie Yah Lin Trie to the Commission on United States-Pacific Trade and Investment Policy as a quid pro quo for Trie bringing in more than $600,000 for the Clintons' legal defense fund. – Judicial Watch

* Moscow confirms it is now in violation of another key component of the Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) treaty. Gen. Dmitri Kharchenko tells Interfax that Russia failed to meet the December 31 deadline to destroy tanks, armor, and other weapons based east of the Ural mountains. Kharchenko says more money is needed to comply. Russia is also violating the CFE's provisions against massing troops and heavy weapons near Norway, Finland, the Baltic states, and Turkey.Russia Reform Monitor, No. 86. Jan. 4, 1996

* Iran's pending purchase of 12 Tupolev-154 airliners and a deal to build a Russian-designed plant to manufacture Ilyushin-114 aircraft domestically will increase Teheran's debt to Moscow from $500 million to $1.2 billion, the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reports. This figure does not count the $800 million nuclear reactor deal. Russia Reform Monitor, No. 86. Jan. 4, 1996

* START II faces a Senate challenge. Senators James M. Inhofe (R-Oklahoma) and Robert Smith (R-New Hampshire) inform Majority Leader Robert Dole that they will "object to any unanimous consent agreement that would call up START II for final Senate action" if the treaty or the Clinton administration prevent the U.S. from deploying a ballistic missile defense system.

January 7, 1997
President Bill Clinton asked former Watergate prosecutor Charles Ruff to become his next White House counsel, succeeding Jack Quinn, who announced his resignation last month. Ruff, who was the corporation counsel for the District of Columbia, will become the fifth White House counsel. Before Quinn, Bernard Nussbaum, Lloyd Cutler and Abner Mikva served in the troubled office.

January 9, 1997
In an interview with CNN, Suma Ching Hai, leader of a worldwide religious sect, talked at length for the first time about why she and her followers raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to help pay Clinton's massive legal bills. Ching Hai said that Charlie Trie came to see her and discussed money and offered to set up a meeting with the president. "So he thinks I should meet Mr. Clinton," Ching Hai recalled. Trie later delivered nearly $640,000 in manila envelopes to the Clinton legal trust, money the trust eventually rejected because of suspicious-looking checks and too many questions.

O'Neil releases to internal investigators the hard drives and two of the six data storage cards. [re Deutch] UPI 2/23/00

CIA computer experts begin recovering lost documents from cards and hard drives. [re Deutch] UPI 2/23/00

Al Gore admits in a television interview that he knew the fund-raiser at the Buddhist monastery was a "finance-related event."

Administration sources announce that President Bill Clinton has decided to recommend Colorado Gov. Roy Romer as the new general chair of the Democratic National Committee, replacing Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.)

Secretary of State Warren Christopher leaves office and is replaced by Madeline Albright.

January 15, 1997
Congressional sources obtain newly-released Commerce Department documents which indicate that former DNC fund-raiser John Huang was considered an expert on Asian affairs when he worked at the Commerce Department and had a voice in U.S.-Asia commercial policy, despite Clinton Administration assertions that his duties were largely administrative.

The Boston Globe reported a possible connection between an Asian fund-raiser and a presidential flip-flop on immigration. In 1995 President Bill Clinton strongly endorsed a package of reforms that included ending the preference that allowed brothers and sisters of naturalized U.S. citizens to enter the U.S. automatically. In February of 1996, former Democratic National Committee fund-raiser John Huang staged a $1.1 million fund-raiser at the Hay-Adams Hotel, a block from the White House. In preparation, he wrote a memo to the president that said the top Asia-Pacific American priority was to keep the sibling preference in place. A month later the president withdrew his support for the package that included ending sibling preference, astonishing some observers.

In another revelation related to John Huang's activities, a Commerce Department spokesman requesting anonymity said that Charles Meissner, then assistant secretary for international economic policy at Commerce, had requested that Huang stay on as a consultant to the department even after he assumed a fund-raising position with the Democratic National Committee. That request, which was overruled, would have allowed Huang to keep his security clearance.

The Washington Post reported that the Clinton Administration did not conduct background checks on many invitees to DNC fund-raising coffees at the White House, asking only for birthdates and Social Security numbers.

January 20, 1997
Al Gore admits it was a mistake to attend the fund-raiser at the California Buddhist monastery.

Experts find that the two hard drives contain classified material and that "cookies" - contact data from Internet sites viewed by Deutch - were accessed by the operators of the Web sites after the classified material was placed on the drives. More than 40 complete documents - classified or top secret - are recovered by the experts. Jan. 30 - O'Neil talks to FBI's general counsel, who declines to investigate. UPI 2/23/00

January 23, 1997
The New York Times reported that Maria Haley, a longtime associate of Bill Clinton who works at the Export-Import Bank, lobbied for a $6.5 million financing deal on behalf of Thai businesswoman Pauline Kanchanalak, whose family last year donated more than $200,000 to the DNC. The deal, intended to finance a Bangkok video store franchise, ultimately didn't go through, and most of the $200,000 in contributions was returned because its origins were unclear. John Huang, a longtime associate of Haley, raised part of the $200,000.

On Jan. 23, answering a written question from Senator Bob Bennett, the Utah Republican, Secretary Albright said the U.S. had received "reporting" about "transfers" from China to Iran of material that could be used in biological warfare. No sanctions were planned, she said. But she did offer the Senator a "classified" briefing. That's nice -- unless you think the American public should know, since the Chinese and Iranian dictatorships already do. On My Mind, New York Times, A. M. ROSENTHAL, 01/28/97

The White House releases documents showing that both Bill Clinton and Al Gore were at the very heart of a massive fund-raising scheme which raked in nearly $100 million in soft money donations. Documents show that at least 100 coffees arranged by the DNC were held at the White House, some of which were attended by Clinton and Gore. Of particular interest is one held last May with more than a dozen executives of the nation's biggest banks, and attended by the president, Secretary of the Treasury Robert Rubin, and Comptroller of the Currency Eugene Ludwig, the nation's top financial regulator. Former DNC chairman Don Fowler acknowledges Feb. 10 that the DNC routinely solicited attendees of White House coffees for funds, and that they collectively donated $27 million.

Documents released indicated that White House Director of Public Liaison Alexis Herman was at the center of foreign trade missions organized by the late Commerce Secretary Ron Brown which were linked to Democrat fund-raising operations.

Al Gore changes his story for the fifth time about the fund-raiser at the California Buddhist monastery saying, "I did not know that it was a fund-raiser."

January 27, 1997
(Washington, D.C.) -- Congressman Dan Burton, Chairman of the House Committee on Government Reform & Oversight, called upon the President to assign a new attorney to the task of gathering White House documents requested by Congress in the John Huang case, citing potential conflicts of interest of Deputy White House Counsel Bruce Lindsey. In an exchange of letters with the White House, Burton questioned Lindsey's role in collecting documents requested by the committee because Lindsey was a participant in several key meetings of interest to investigators, and has been accused of making misstatements to the public about important events. Outgoing White House counsel Jack Quinn responded by asserting that, in his opinion, Lindsey did not have a conflict and would not be removed from the document-production process.

Republican Asks For Spy Investigation Of John Huang And Lippo

The Systematics - Lippo Connection revealed

Security at Rocky Flats was so bad, McCallum warned President Clinton in a January 27, 1997 report, that terrorists could easily penetrate the facility and steal weapons-grade plutonium, or construct and detonate a nuclear bomb on the site without DOE security teams being able to prevent it. Budget reductions and other "disturbing trends" had turned DOE security into a " hollow force that goes below the bottom line and makes it more difficult to fulfill National Security mandates," McCallum wrote - The American Spectator 6/99 Kenneth R. Timmerman

January 30, 1997
Arousing speculation that payments to Webster Hubbell from Clinton allies were being investigated, Starr issued subpoenas to the White House for documents on 14 people and six companies with connections to the wealthy Riady family, which controls the Indonesia-based Lippo Group.

February 1997
Long Island's Newsday reported that California's Silicon Graphics was under investigation for selling to Russia a high-powered supercomputer that was twice as powerful as anything that was legal for an American firm to ship overseas. The unit ended up in the Chelyabinsk-70 nuclear weapons laboratory. SGI delivered the computer without even getting the required license. According to the report, the Russians had been very anxious to acquire the high tech equipment. And they made no bones about how they intended to use it. In a Sept. '96 letter to then Energy Secretary Hazel O'Leary, Russia's Nuclear Energy Minister Viktor Mikhaylov explained that he wanted the high performance computer to "guarantee the reliability of....Russia's nuclear stockpile."

Lt. General Kui Fulin, Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Chinese People's Liberation Army PLA visited the United States. – Chinese Embassy

A naval-intelligence report released in February warned of Beijing's emphasis on obtaining a sophisticated blue-water navy technology to achieve four objectives: First, safeguard what the PRC calls China's territorial integrity and national unity - this includes China's claim over Taiwan; second, conduct a possible blockade of Taiwan; third, defeat seaborne invasions; and fourth, create intercontinental nuclear retaliatory forces. Meanwhile, two Red Chinese fleets patrol the area - one within 20 nautical miles of the coast targeting the first tier of islands, and another patrolling the outer reaches of the East China Sea in the area of the Taiwan Strait, the February report says. Insight Magazine Vol. 13, No. 17 5/12/97 By Timothy W. Maier

DOE dispatched a new security director to Rocky Flats, a former Air Force weapons officer and trained engineer, David Ridenour. After just three months at the job, Ridenour resigned "in disgust," sending a scathing letter to then-Energy Secretary Federico Pe. In it he complained of no government oversight--a criticism reinforced by the April 1999 GAO report--and said he had been told not to let security concerns interfere with the contractor's schedule or profits. "In my professional life as a military officer, as a registered engineer and as a technologist with the contractor operating the Department of Energy's Fernald, Ohio site, I never before experienced a major conflict between loyalty to my supervision and duty to my country and to the public," Ridenour wrote. "I feel that conflict today." - The American Spectator 6/99 Kenneth R. Timmerman

Stimulated by press reports of "the Asian connection" to the Clinton-Gore campaign, the Bureau teletyped all field offices for reports on foreign attempts to influence U.S. political campaigns. On Washington's Birthday the F.B.I.'s counterintelligence chief, John Lewis, delivered a packet of those top-secret reports to Janet Reno. "The Attorney General gave the packet of teletypes to then Deputy Attorney General Jamie Gorelick," reports Michael Bromwich, the in-house Inspector General. At the same time, White House Counsel Charles Ruff made two calls to Justice seeking to find out what embarrassment was in store. Never told by Ms. Reno of F.B.I. restrictions on the documents, Ms. Gorelick bucked them to the Office of Intelligence Policy and Review. They then blithely passed them on to Laura Ingersoll's Justice "task force," selected for its ineptitude. Nothing doing, said the F.B.I., which "retrieved the packet shortly after the Task Force received it," according to Bromwich. When I asked the F.B.I. Director, Louis Freeh, yesterday if he had been aware of the confrontation -- an unprecedented dispatch of agents to snatch back evidence from Main Justice -- he replied, "I knew about it and certainly approved of it." - New York Times 7/16/99 William Safire

February 1, 1997
The White House conceded it was inappropriate for a New Jersey stock promoter convicted of fraud to be invited to sip coffee with the president. Eric Wynn bilked millions from investors and had already served two years in prison when he sat down for coffee at the White House with President Clinton and seven other guests in September 1995. He served his time after a 1989 guilty plea on theft and tax charges. Moreover, his fraud scheme may have benefited an alleged Mafia associate. Citing court records, the Post said the New Jersey promoter ran a stock-manipulation scheme and had set up an account for a member of the Bonanno organized-crime family. . An associate of Wynn's, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Wynn is trying to win a pardon for his July 21, 1995, stock manipulation conviction. "Eric will do anything to stay out of jail," the source told the Post.

In the expanding probe of questionable Democratic campaign fund-raising, Justice Department lawyers and a federal grand jury requested records on more than 40 people and corporations. USA Today, citing an internal Democratic National Committee memorandum, said investigators have subpoenaed contribution records and records relating to former Democratic fund-raiser John Huang. Among the subjects of the inquiries, USA Today reported, are lobbyist Paul Berry of Little Rock, Ark., and Global USA, Inc., a Washington lobbying firm with Japanese and South Korean business firms as clients. Berry, who sometimes plays golf with President Bill Clinton, is a consultant to Global USA and once was a vice president at the firm. A Global vice president, Lottie Shackleford, serves as a vice chair of the Democratic National Committee. Berry also has ties to the Lippo Group.

Washington Post discovers Lippo Bribe - One Year Late

The Democratic Party Under Scrutiny For Foreign Infiltration

Former Deputy Chief of Staff Harold Ickes comes under fire after CNN obtains a memo showing Ickes advised a major DNC contributor, Warren Meddoff, on how he might best distribute more than $1 million in contributions, and how he might receive beneficial tax treatment. Ickes later says he shouldn't have used a government fax machine and telephone, but that he didn't violate any laws. http://cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1997/09/19/thompson/hearings.main/

O'Neil releases four remaining data storage cards to CIA computer security experts. [re Deutch] UPI 2/23/00

* The Washington Times disclosed that a report published recently in the classified Military Intelligence Digest confirms that "Russia is producing a new generation of deadly chemical weapons using materials, methods and technology that circumvent the terms of [that] treaty it signed outlawing such weapons."

Excerpts:

* "Under a program code-named 'Foliant,' a Russian scientific research organization has created a highly lethal nerve agent called A-232, large quantities of which could be made 'within weeks' through covert production facilities...."

* "A-232 is made from industrial and agricultural chemicals that are not lethal until mixed and that never had been used for poison gas."

* "'These new agents are as toxic as VX [a persistent nerve agent], as resistant to treatment as Soman [a non-persistent but deadly poison gas] and more difficult to detect and easier to manufacture than VX.'"

* "The report says A-232 and its delivery means have 'passed Moscow's rigorous military acceptance testing and can be quickly fielded in unitary or binary form.'"

* "Russia's State Scientific Research Institute of Organic Chemistry and Technology created the agents and novel ways of making them to avoid detection by international inspectors. 'By using chemicals not specified in the CWC schedules, the Russians can produce A-232 and its ethyl analog A-234, in unitary and binary forms within several chemical complexes.'"

* "The Russians can make the binary, or two part, version of the nerve agent using a common industrial solvent acetonitrile and an organic phosphate compound 'that can be disguised as a pesticide precursor.' In another version, soldiers need only add alcohol to form the agent, the report says."

* "'These various routes offer flexibility for the agent to be produced in different types of facilities, depending on the raw material and equipment available there. They also add complexity to the already formidable challenge of detecting covert production activities.'"

* "The Russians can produce the new nerve agent in 'pilot plant' quantities of 55 to 110 tons annually,' the report says. Several Russian plants are capable of producing the chemicals used in making A-232. One factory in Novocherboksarsk 'is capable of manufacturing 2,000-2,500 metric tons of A-232 yearly.'"

* "Several pesticide plants 'offer easy potential for covert production,' the report says. 'For example, substituting amines for ammonia and making other slight modifications in the process would result in new agents instead of pesticide. The similarity in the chemistry of these compounds would make treaty monitoring, inspection and verification difficult.'"

Russia's Covert Chemical Weapons Program Vindicates Jesse Helms' Continuing Opposition to Phony C.W. Arms Control (No. 97-D 19, 4 February 1997).

February 5, 1997
The White House conceded that President Clinton had stamped "The President Has Seen" on a memo listing attendees at a White House coffee that included the comptroller of the currency, DNC national chairman Don Fowler and finance chairman Marvin Rosen

February 6, 1997
(Washington, D.C.) -- Representative Dan Burton, Chairman of the House Committee on Government Reform and Oversight, announced that he was issuing subpoenas to the White House and the Justice Department, as well as a document request to the FBI, regarding the Justice Department's investigation of the Chinese Embassy's alleged involvement in campaign fundraising in the last election and White House requests for information on that investigation. He also issued subpoenas to the White House and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) for other records relevant to the Committee's investigation. Some of the requests, such as records relating to John Huang, were requested as early as October 1996 under the previous Committee Chairman. It has been reported in the press that the Justice Department has obtained electronic intercepts that point to possible involvement by the Chinese Embassy in political fundraising during the last election. It is also a matter of public record that the White House requested and received information related to the Embassy intercepts.

* The IMF released money to Russia. On the same day, the Finance Ministry announced that it had come up with cash to pay the Russian State Center for Nuclear Shipbuilding, averting a strike. Construction of the Yuri Dolgoruki continued. Once in service, the main targets of the submarine's nuclear missile complement will be American cities. (In the same port, the new Severodvinsk-class of attack submarines has also begun production. Its advanced features are forcing the U.S. Navy to revise its defensive strategy.)

February 10, 1997
The Boston Globe reports that in an interview, former DNC Chairman Don Fowler confessed that the DNC routinely solicited campaign donations from people after they attended White House coffees with Clinton saying, "We never tried to mask that these coffees were sponsored in one way or another by the Democratic Party[. ...] These coffees were just part of a larger program." White House spokesman Mike McCurry confirms the Boston Globe report saying, "The president would wonder why he was doing all those coffees if they hadn't had some follow-up." McCurry said Clinton expected the committee to call people "who might contribute" after the meetings.

Convicted Whitewater figure Webster Hubbell walked out of a federal halfway house a free man, saying he had nothing new to tell investigators.

From his jail cell in Texarkana, Texas, David Hale told The Associated Press he had only told investigators "a small, small part" of the whole Whitewater saga, and that "a lot more information will come out by the time this investigation is all over."

(Washington, D.C.) -- Representative Dan Burton (R-IN announced that key witnesses in the Committee's investigation into the White House/DNC fundraising controversy have declined to respond to Committee document requests and that subpoenas would be issued to former Associate Attorney General Webster Hubbell, former Commerce Department official and Democratic National Committee fundraiser John Huang, former senior White House aide Mark Middleton, and Presidential appointee and former member of the DNC Finance Board of Directors Charlie Trie.

The Washington Post reports the Justice Department investigation into illegal Democrat fund- raising activities uncovered evidence that representatives of Communist China sought to direct contributions from foreign sources to the DNC before the 1996 presidential campaign..

Clinton called for a "vigorous" and "thorough" investigation into reports that representatives of the People's Republic of China tried to direct financial contributions from foreign sources to the DNC. Rep. Gerald Solomon tells reporters, "The potential finding is that our foreign policy has been sold for a price, national security has been sold for a price."

February 14, 1997
A top Democratic Party lawyer filed papers to incorporate James Carville's fund-raising group to attack Whitewater independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr. "We're at about Defcon [defense condition] 2 preparing for battle here," Mr. Carville said in an interview Thursday. The political adviser to President Clinton said he was "gearing up" because he believes Mr. Starr is "starting to take his missiles out of the silos." Robert F. Bauer, longtime lawyer for the Democratic congressional and senatorial campaign committees, filed incorporation documents on Thursday for Mr. Carville's Education and Information Project Inc., according to D.C. government records. Mr. Bauer also served as counsel for Rep. Richard A. Gephardt when the Missouri Democrat, currently the House minority leader, was majority leader. Two of Mr. Bauer's partners at Perkins Coie law firm, including another lawyer for Mr. Gephardt, also are incorporators, and a third partner is listed as the group's registered agent. Mr. Carville's name is not listed on any documents filed for the nonprofit corporation, but three of the political consultant's employees -- a former Democratic National Committee research aide and two other former Democratic operatives -- are listed as directors. They have named Mr. Carville as the group's president.

Investigators issue memo concluding that there is "no clear evidence" that classified information on Deutch's unclassified computers was compromised. UPI 2/23/00

February 15, 1997
The Washington Post reports the White House released records showed that Al Gore's office knew the illegal, John Huang-organized Buddhist monastery function was a fund-raiser and was warned to proceed with "great, great caution" by the National Security Council.

February 16, 1997
The Washington Post reported that six months after Hillary Rodham Clinton visited Guam in September 1995, residents of the commonwealth donated nearly $900,000 to the DNC. The White House denied that a subsequent change in Guam's immigration policy was connected in any way.

February 20, 1997
A leader of an Asian-American business group in suburban Washington, D.C., said fund-raiser John Huang asked him to funnel more than $250,000 to the Democratic National Committee by pretending the money was contributions from the group's members, according to a report in the Washington Post. Rawlein Soberano, claims Huang offered to pay the Asian American Business Roundtable $45,000 as a fee for the deal, but Soberano refused. The business association has 700 small business members. "I said no. I knew when you do this kind of thing, it's no different from laundering money from the drug lords," Soberano told the Post.

(Washington, D.C.) -- Chairman Dan Burton announced that he was preparing to seek contempt of Congress charges against John Huang and Webster Hubbell if they do not comply with Congressional subpoenas to turn over records related to their role in the White House/DNC fundraising scandal. "We're moving forward to compel a full and complete response to the Committee's subpoenas for documents from Mr. Huang and Mr. Hubbell. We are pursuing all legal channels in our attempt to obtain these subpoenaed records," Chairman Burton said. Earlier in the week, Huang and Hubbell both responded to the Committee's subpoenas with letters from their attorneys claiming a Fifth Amendment right not to turn over documents in their possession. Hubbell refused to turn over any documents. Huang turned over a limited number of documents and withheld others.

The newly installed DNC head, Colorado Gov. Roy Romer, conceded that following an audit, the DNC would return another $1 million in questionable contributions.

Articles: HUBBELL AND HUANG TAKE THE FIFTH, TRIE DEFECTS Fundraising scandal moves into another phase Lippogate Reaches Into The Justice Department Probe has been compromised from the outset From Whitewater to Chinagate The latest fortune cookie suggests a re-orientation of American foreign policy may have lucrative prospects for the DNC. But Bill Clinton should be wary of insincere friendships, this being the year of the rat.

Deutch testifies on Capitol Hill that he is "particularly concerned about the growing ease of penetration of our interlocked computer and telecommunications systems, and the intelligence community must be in the future alert to these needs." UPI 2/23/00

February 25, 1997
The White House releases documents indicating that Clinton personally approved aggressive use of the White House for fund-raising and initiated over-night stays for $50,000 and $100,000 contributors. Representative Dan Burton (R-IN released the following statement regarding documents released by the President regarding political events at the White House: "It is now abundantly clear that President Clinton decided to exploit the White House for campaign fundraising. The President's own handwritten notes confirm that the highly questionable overnight stays in the Lincoln Bedroom occurred at his direction. At a minimum, this is a highly unethical use of government property for political purposes." "It is evident from the President's handwritten notes that he wanted other names of contributors for $100,000 or more that were not listed in the memo. Therefore it is clear that the President was willing to sell access to places like the Lincoln Representative Dan Burton (R-IN announced that a key witness in the Committee's investigation into the White House/DNC fundraising controversy, former White House aide Mark Middleton, has made an assertion of Fifth Amendment privilege in response to a Committee subpoena for documents. Through his lawyer, Mr. Middleton informed Chairman Burton that he "asserts his Fifth Amendment privilege against self incrimination with respect to the subpoena."

DNC General Chairman Governor Roy Romer announces the DNC will return an additional $1.5 million in illegal, questionable or improper campaign donations owed to felons, individuals under indictment and companies with criminal backgrounds.

The House Gov. Reform & Oversight Committee's ranking minority member, Congressman Henry Waxman, wrote in a New York Times op-ed , "Attorney General Janet Reno should appoint an independent counsel to investigate the serious but unproven allegations against the Clinton campaign, including its acceptance of inappropriate donations."

Air Force, National Air Intelligence Center, Found that national security had been damaged by disclosures contained in the report about the 1996 Chinese missile crash.

Wall Street Journal revealed that Bank of China wired in increments of $50,000 and $100,000 to Trie who then donated to DNC and Clinton's Legal Defense Fund.

A Flotilla consisting of two warships and one supply ship of the PLA Navy made a port call visit to San Diego U.S. Naval Base. This is the first time for the PLA Navy ships to visit a port on the American continent.

Chung gives access to his Hong Kong bank account to federal investigators to assist their efforts to trace the $300,000 to its origins.

Adm. Joseph W. Prueher, chief of the U.S. Pacific Command, testified before a House National Security Committee in March that China is not yet a threat because its military is about 15 years behind that of the United States. In light of the blow that the U.S. military might have delivered even 15 years ago, say defense experts, that hardly is comforting. And, Waldron says, this can be a dangerous presumption because history indicates it didn't stop Japan in 1941 or Saddam Hussein during the Persian Gulf War. In 1994, a war game at the Naval War College conceptualized a sea battle between the U.S. Navy and the PLA navy off of China's shores in the year 2010. The battle hypothesized that China continued to acquire military technology at a rapid pace. The game, which Pentagon officials have refused to talk about, ended with a PLA victory, according to reports in Navy Times. Insight Magazine Vol. 13, No. 17 5/12/97 By Timothy W. Maier

DOE - The annual reports [Annual Report to the President on the Status of Safeguards and Security] for 1994 and 1995 did not go out until March 1997 - USA Today 5/19/99 Peter Eisler

Anthony Lake withdrew his name from nomination to Director of CIA, Tenet appointed by Clinton – Freeper Thanatos 2/1/00

Communist China takeover of Panamanian ports by Panama Ports Company, who are 10 percent owned by China Resources Enterprise (CRE), which is the commercial arm of China's "Ministry of Trade and Economic Co-operation." . Sen. Fred Thompson's summary of hearings into 1996 campaign finance abuses stated: "Lippo group, run by the Riady family which employed (John) Huang, had over the past few years become a major business partner with China Resources, a trading company wholly owned by the Government of the peoples republic of China, and which has reportedly served as an intelligence-collection front for China." U.S. Rep. Bob Barr, R-GA, visited Panama on a recent fact-finding trip in early February 1998. Barr told WorldNetDaily "controlling ports at both ends of the canal will give the Communist Chinese the ability to shut the canal on and off at will. It also raises the possibility that ships could be trapped in the canal for extended periods by closed ports at one end or the other, This situation will dramatically raise the potential for U.S.-Chinese confrontations."

It is reported that the White House discovered in 1995 that its former chief of administration had given inaccurate testimony to Congress but failed to correct the matter with House members until last week. Then-director of White House administration Patsy Thomasson told a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing in March 1994 she was unaware of any volunteers working at the White House who were being paid by outside entities. Last month, the White House disclosed that a handful of volunteers who worked at the White House during President Clinton's first term actually had been compensated by the Democratic National Committee.

Former White House senior adviser George Stephanopoulos says on national television the DNC had set up and paid for "special phones," "special faxes," and "special computers," "for political work, for the fund-raiser work" in government buildings.

The Washington Post's article, part of a four-part series examining the controversies over the DNC's fund-raising in the last presidential campaign, quoted some anonymous donors saying they felt pressured to donate by Gore's call. "There were elements of a shakedown in the call," one businessman, who refused to be identified, told the Post. Another, who also refused to allow his name to be used, said Gore's call was "revolting." The Washington Post reported that Gore's activities raised about $40 million for the Democratic National Committee and the 1996 re-election effort, earning him the nick-name "Solicitor-in- Chief."

March 3, 1997
Al Gore admits to soliciting money for the DNC in the White House using a DNC credit card and claims he did nothing illegal. Gore repeats seven times that, "there is no controlling legal authority" covering his actions. To make it easier for Gore to raise campaign money, the Democratic Party installed special telephone lines in government buildings. Former aide George Stephanopoulos, "of course the vice president was raising money." "You set up special phones, political phones, paid for by the DNC."

Gore says ''no controlling legal authority'' prohibited him from making fund-raising phone calls from the White House. - AP Online 3/26/00

March 4, 1997
White House officials claim that Gore misspoke when he said he used a DNC credit card, when in fact it was a Clinton-Gore campaign committee card.

March 5, 1997
It was reported that Vice President Al Gore gave out bad information when he said he used a Democratic National Committee credit card to make fund-raising telephone calls from his White House office. It turns out that he used a Clinton-Gore campaign credit card. Since Gore was raising money for the party, the party will now have to reimburse the campaign. Another added legal wrinkle: the campaign received matching public funds that are not supposed to be used for party fund-raising.

The Washington Post and Washington Times report that Hillary Clinton's top aid, Margaret Williams, accepted a $50,000 political donation from Johnny Chung at the White House in March 1995.

At a press conference, Clinton could not "rule out" that he made fund-raising calls from the White House. Explaining that he cannot recall every one of the thousands of calls he has made, Clinton said, "I simply can't say that I've never done it."

March 7, 1997
White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry confirmed there was a "routine inner campaign, DNC, White House mail system" in operation at the White House but said he had no information that it was used for collecting any political contributions. The Washington Times quotes DNC General Chairman Roy Romer as saying the White House maintained a special "bin" in which checks for the DNC, including one accepted by Maggie Williams, were deposited. McCurry said the White House is trying to gather information on how many political contributors may have flown on Air Force One. He says so far they do not have details on "who and when." He says he "knows it happened on occasion" -- but claims it was "always at the expense of the people who were flying." There also were occasions, he says, when contributors were included in delegations.

"….Four employees of the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico were fired and 10 others disciplined for allegedly surfing the Internet for pornography, online shopping and other personal sites, a lab spokesman said Friday. …. A similar crackdown at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico, had found visits to pornographic sites by as many as 100 workers, and a computer technician at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California was prosecuted for saving and distributing more than 90,000 pornographic images on a lab computer, lab officials said…." Reuters 3/7/97

March 9, 1997
The FBI last year warned six members of Congress that they had been targeted by China to receive illegal campaign contributions funneled through international corporations, The Washington Post reported. Citing unidentified U.S. officials, the newspaper said the six lawmakers, including Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), were alerted in individual classified briefings based on what the officials called "specific and credible" intelligence information. (Two days prior to the release of this report, March 7, Feinstein returned $12,000 in campaign contributions from individuals connected to the Lippo Group, an Indonesian banking and real estate conglomerate with Beijing ties involved in questionable contributions to the Democratic Party.) Of the six U.S. lawmakers who emerged as major targets, four were from California, where the business community began courting the Chinese soon after Richard Nixon renewed ties in 1972. Democratic Senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer are longtime supporters of China's MFN status. (Feinstein's husband has extensive business interests there.) Representative Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, is a leading opponent. Representative Tom Campbell, a Republican, sits on the House International Relations Committee. Another target was New York Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, a Democrat critical of China's occupation of Tibet. (The sixth has still not been identified.)

The FBI flatly contradicted an earlier statement by the White House with the following statement: "On June 3, 1996, senior officials from the FBI's National Security Division briefed two senior staff members of the National Security Council (NSC), one of whom was an FBI Agent detailed to the NSC, about the possible covert activities of a foreign government in the United States. The purpose of the briefing was to inform the NSC of the information the FBI received. "The FBI placed no restrictions whatsoever on the dissemination up the chain-of-command at the NSC on any information provided to the NSC senior staff by the FBI during the June 3, 1996 briefing."

It was reported by two newspapers that Two impoverished Oklahoma Indian tribes donated more than $100,000 to the Democratic Party in 1996 in hopes of getting the Clinton Administration to return land seized long ago. But nothing happened, and tribal officials have said that Democratic fund-raisers were trying to get more money from them. They say Mitchell Berger, a fundraiser for Gore, told them that they "were players in 1996," but that the tribes were "not responding in '97." They also charge that Nathan Landow, another fund-raiser for Gore, told them that if they did not sign a contract with him to represent them in Washington, and give him royalties on businesses they put on the land, he would make sure their proposal went nowhere.

CNN reported that President Clinton was aware that two political supporters had hired his close friend, former Associate Attorney General Webster Hubbell, after Hubbell was forced to resign from the Justice Department amid a criminal investigation, the White House said. The two Texas businessmen -- Truman Arnold, a former finance chairman of the Democratic National Committee, and Bernard Rapoport, a close political ally of the president's since the 1972 George McGovern presidential campaign -- separately retained Hubbell. A search of White House records showed that Rapoport was an overnight White House guest in April 1994. This was around the time he paid $18,000 to Hubbell for a six-month association with Rapoport's Waco, Texas, insurance company, according to The Associated Press. Hubbell also had been hired by the Riady family's Lippo Group in Indonesia until that was reported in the news media. That was after Hubbell was convicted of defrauding his Little Rock law firm.

The United States Senate voted unanimously, 99-0, to authorize an investigation into improper or illegal campaign activities involving the '96 federal election cycles.

Documents released indicate that the aide who created a taxpayer-funded computer database inside the White House saw it as a tool to reward the president's financial supporters. But the White House says the database was only used for official purposes. "The president has requested that an immediate effort be made to reach out to his friends and early supporters," aide Marsha Scott wrote in a Nov. 1, 1994 memo to Erskine Bowles and Harold Ickes, the two White House deputy chiefs of staff at the time."This is the president's idea and it is a good one," she wrote. "We have already seen results. People are thrilled to be contacted and are already energized ... As these supporters are identified and located, the president has asked that they be included in White House social functions as well as policy briefings." The documents were made available to the House Subcommittee on National Economic Growth, Natural Resources and Regulatory Affairs, chaired by Rep. David McIntosh (R-Ind.) Scott's memo had been previously provided to the committee, but with portions censored. McIntosh labeled the memo's original deletions an "effort to cover up" the database's purpose, and said the newly released portions were the "clearest evidence we have" of what that purpose was.

ICF Kaiser International, the company that employed the lobbyist that recommended the charity for Johnny Chung's illegal $25,000 contribution to forrmer secretary of energy Hazel O'Leary, announced Monday the O'Leary had been elected to its board. Various Government 3/16/99 ohmlaw98

In a statement by James O. Edwards, chief executive of Kaiser he notes: "We particularly look forward to her help and counsel with large projects internationally, in locations as diverse as Russia, China, India, Africa and Latin America," Jim Edwards played host to O'Leary as an "honored guest" during a 1995 Democratic fund raiser at his suburban Washington home while she was still Secretary of Energy. Just a few months earlier, the department had awarded ICF Kaiser--in a joint venture with another company--a $3.5 billion nuclear-cleanup contract.

During Senate confirmation hearings for CIA director-designate Anthony Lake, Senators wanted to know why Lake didn't know more about the briefing that FBI agents gave National Security Council staff regarding possible attempts by China to give money to congressional campaigns. "Wouldn't that have been something that the president (and) you should have known? ... Where was the failure?" Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) the committee chairman, asked Lake. Lake replied that he thought that NSC staff had kept the information from him and President Bill Clinton to avoid the appearance of getting in the middle of an FBI political investigation. White House spokesman Mike McCurry said Clinton thought Lake was off to a "very good start" and expected to see him confirmed.

California businessman Johnny Chung, one of the key figures in the Democratic fund-raising controversy, remains an ardent admirer of Bill Clinton, but is "troubled" by how the Democratic National Committee (DNC) has handled the fund-raising flap. In a live interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, Chung's attorney, Brian Sun, said Chung believes there was a rush to judgment by the DNC, which has returned $366,000 that Chung gave the party because officials were not sure of the money's true source. But Sun insisted that they were proper contributions. Asked if any of the money came from the government of China, Sun said, "Absolutely not." "So the suggestion or notion that has been made in the press and from other quarters perhaps that Mr. Chung is a conduit for foreign money is absolutely untrue," Sun said. "In many respects, Mr. Chung wonders today why it's such a big deal now,"

The Democratic National Committee offered to return $107,000 in contributions from the Cheyenne-Arapaho Indian tribe of Oklahoma, following news reports that the impoverished tribe dipped into a welfare fund for the donation in hopes of influencing Clinton Administration policy.

The Central Intelligence Agency's (CIA) inspector general opens an internal investigation into "extremely serious" allegations of improper contacts between the DNC and the CIA on behalf of DNC donor and international fugitive Roger Tamraz. Administration officials believe Mr. Fowler arranged for a CIA report on Tamraz to be sent to the NSC to try to overturn a recommendation that Tamraz not attend high-level White House meetings.

Press Secretary Mike McCurry announced that no more coffees for supporters will be held at the White House.

Clinton Administration granted Wang Jun’s Poly Technologies importation permits to flood America with over 100,000 semi-automatic weapons and millions of rounds of ammunition.

White House special counsel Lanny Davis admits the Clinton White House held at least 58 receptions, meals and other events, in addition to the 103 coffees, for Democrat Party donors and political supporters over the past four years, than had been previously disclosed by the White House.

Rep. Bob Barr (R-Ga.) asked the House Judiciary Committee to begin the first steps for consideration of impeachment of President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore. Barr drafted a letter to Judiciary Committee Chairman Henry Hyde (R-Ill.) in which he requested a meeting to discuss whether Clinton and Gore's fund-raising activities were impeachable.

It was reported that in 1995, DNC director Fowler tried to persuade the National Security Council (NSC) to overturn a recommendation that a controversial Democratic donor not be allowed to attend White House meetings. International oil financier Roger Tamraz, whose company donated at least $177,000 to the Democratic Party, was reportedly allowed access to the White House four more times, despite the NSC recommendation. The Journal story quoted administration officials who say that in his lobbying efforts, Fowler probably went as far as to arrange for a classified CIA report on Tamraz to be sent to the NSC. Congressional investigators said Fowler's actions raised questions about national security and that it could jeopardize the nomination of ex-national security advisor Anthony Lake to become the CIA director. http://www.spectator.org/archives/97-05_adams.html

Former National Security Advisor Anthony Lake asked President Bill Clinton to withdraw his nomination as director of the Central Intelligence Agency. The president said he would honor the request, with regret.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) told CBS' "Face the Nation" "They [the White House] knew that the Chinese government was going to come into this country and attempt to purchase influence." Hatch said the FBI first sounded a warning about Chinese donations as early as 1995, and suggested the 1996 FBI warning to the National Security Council staff was never passed on to Clinton because people in the administration were already aware of it.

Articles:The Barbados Connection: Coral Reinsurance The Chinese Corruption of the U.S. Government is not limited to the DNC or the Clinton Administration or to Arkansas. It reaches into the ranks of Republican Congressmen as well.

March 18, 1997
House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt (D-Mo.) announced that he would return $22,000 in donations related to the Lippo Group.

March 19

CIA determination based on information seen "up to that time": 1996 Chinese missile crash did not raise "proliferation concerns" that could harm US security.

On a 55-44 vote, the Senate approved a "sense of the Congress" resolution that Attorney General Janet Reno should apply for the appointment of an independent counsel to investigate allegations of illegal fund-raising in the 1996 presidential election.

March 21, 1997
The House allocates $6.5 million for a House Government Reform and Oversight Committee investigation of Democratic fund-raising, although the probe's current budget calls for spending $3.8 million.

The New York Daily News reports that Charlie Trie, traveling the world, has no intention to return to the United States and cooperate with congressional investigators.

The New York Times reports that documents turned over to Congress by the White House's former senior political aide, Harold Ickes, show that coffees which Clinton held at the White House in 1996 had systematic fund-raising targets associated with them, often at $400,000 a session, and both Clinton and Gore were personally kept abreast of each month's fund-raising intake. One Ickes memo showed that there was a plan to have Clinton himself make 18 to 20 personal fund-raising calls. Vice President Al Gore was also scheduled to make 10 calls, all in hopes of raising $1.2 million in the final weeks of 1995.

An African multi-millionaire had to pass up a dinner invitation with President Bill Clinton because he was being extradited from Geneva to Miami that evening, The New York Times reported. The newspaper said a week before the September 6, 1996 dinner at a Washington hotel, Foutanga Dit Babani Sissoko was arrested on a U.S. warrant and charged with trying to smuggle two military helicopters to Africa and offering a $30,000 bribe to a U.S. Customs agent.

March 24, 1997
Vice President Al Gore arrived in China for a four-day state visit.

Articles: Washington Post Targets Chairman Burton Ahead of Chinagate Vote The Threat From Red China The China Network Three Degrees Of Bill Clinton White House Subject of a Counterintelligence Investigation? Chairman Dan Burton (R-IN) on His Investigation of White House Rep. Jim Traficant (D-Ohio) on Chinagate Scandals Breaks ranks with Democrat cover-up attempt.

March 25, 1997
FBI Director Louis Freeh blocked an attempt by White House officials last month to obtain sensitive information about China's possible involvement in the U.S. political process. Freeh was worried that the information would leak, opening the FBI up to criticism for sharing information with the White House, federal officials told the newspaper. In a Feb. 18 letter to Deputy Attorney General Jamie S. Gorelick, new White House counsel Charles F.C. Ruff asked questions about the federal investigation into purported plans by Chinese officials and citizens to make illegal contributions to American campaigns, the Times said, citing sources who have seen the letter.The letter asked for information only about the activities of Chinese nationals and officials, not American citizens.

March 26, 1997
Businessman Warren Meddoff and Texas financier William Morgan testified before a federal grand jury about Democratic fund-raising.

The DNC acknowledged carrying $14.4 million in debt, forcing it to delay returning some $3 million in questionable or illegal donations. Meanwhile, Senate investigators issued nine more subpoenas.

Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, D-N.Y., became the first Democrat in the Senate to call for an independent counsel to investigate campaign fund-raising. "They feel they will get answers from an independent counsel that they wouldn't get from others."

March 28, 1997
House Speaker Newt Gingrich, in a meeting with Chinese leaders, asked for their help in unraveling the accusations that Chinese citizens may have made illegal contributions to U.S. political campaigns.

Los Alamos National Laboratory chose a scientist who was under investigation as a suspected spy for China to run a sensitive new nuclear weapons program, several senior Government officials say. The scientist, Wen Ho Lee, eager for the new post, asked that he be allowed to hire a research assistant, the officials said. Once in the new position, in charge of updating computer software for nuclear weapons, Lee hired a post-doctoral researcher who was a citizen of the People's Republic of China, intelligence and law-enforcement officials said. James Risen – 3/29/99
New York Times

Lee was transferred to a new job at Los Alamos, where he was responsible for updating legacy codes for U.S. nuclear warheads. - The Daily Republican 4/28/99 Howard Hobbs

The House Intelligence Committee released a Department of Defense report called "Selected Military Capabilities of the People's Republic of China" which highlights similar concerns. The report claims China has focused on developing nuclear-weapons systems and advanced intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities to "develop a capability to fight short-duration, high-intensity wars in the region" and defeat the U.S. Navy.. . . . The report concludes that China will have the capacity "to produce as many as 1,000 new [ballistic] missiles within the next decade" and is developing land-attack cruise missiles as a high priority for strategic warfare.- Insight Magazine Vol. 13, No. 17 5/12/97 By Timothy W. Maier

As the agency readied its Annual Report to the President on the Status of Safeguards and Security, officials opted to "eliminate some of the unsupported conclusions" reached by the security office, according to an internal memo by then-Assistant Energy Secretary Tara O'Toole. Those conclusions, she added, did not present "an accurate and balanced picture." The report to the president did include toned-down comments reflecting some of the security office's chief concerns. But like previous reports, which also questioned computer security and physical protections , the legally required assessment was held back from the White House - USA Today 5/19/99 Peter Eisler

In April 1997 prompted by Lee's request to his Los Alamos superiors to hire a Chinese national as his research assistant the bureau finally began preparing a formal FISA request. Congressional Report Blasts U.S. Inquiry of China's Nuclear Espionage 8/5/99

Nearly five months after determining a FISA warrant would be needed, FBI begins drafting a request for OIPR to make FISA application to the court. – Thompson/Lieberman Report 8/99

When Navy Lt. Jack Daly is wounded in the eyes by a laser from a Russian spy ship in U.S. waters, top administration officials cover up the incident and the Navy wages a retribution campaign against the intelligence officer for talking about the matter.- INSIGHT J Michael Waller 10/16/99

* Tony Rodham, the brother of Hillary Rodham Clinton, arranged a White House meeting for Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov at the request of Gene Prescott, who was involved with a start-up company that hoped to bring 'smart' credit-debit cards to Russia with Luzhkov's support. As reports linked Luzhkov to members of the Russian mafia, Tony Rodham's request on his behalf made things very uncomfortable for Sandy Berger, the national security adviser, according to someone familiar with the episode. Nevertheless, in April 1997, Berger agreed to meet with Luzhkov and President Clinton arranged to stop by. Fortune Magazine - Are Hillary's Brothers Driving Off Course? 10/24/1999

April 1, 1997
The White House discloses that two senior officials, Mack McLarty and White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles, assisted former Associate Attorney General Webster Hubbell in seeking jobs after his March 1994 resignation. Hubbell received more than $500,000 in payments from a dozen or so entities in 1994, including $100,000 from the Indonesia-based Lippo Group that is at the center of the campaign financing controversy.

April 2, 1997
The White House releases more documents from the files of former Deputy Chief of Staff Harold Ickes which show that Democrat fund-raisers expected Clinton and Gore to fill empty campaign coffers. Clinton was expected to raise $50 million by attending events both inside and outside the White House. The documents show that Democratic party officials urged that the president, vice president and their respective wives make fund-raising calls. The papers also show the DNC's 1996 budget contained $1 million for potential fines by the Federal Election Commission.

The Washington Post reports that the FBI has obtained substantial evidence that top communist Chinese government officials approved a scheme in 1995 to attempt to buy influence with U.S. politicians as well as influencing the 1996 elections. The communist Chinese planned to spend nearly $2 million on the 1996 elections. At a news conference, President Bill Clinton once again said that if China has tried to exert improper influence on U.S. officials, it would be "a matter of serious concern." "But I think it is important that we not accuse people of something that we don't know for sure that they have done," Clinton said.

Former White House Chief of Staff Thomas "Mack" McLarty was subpoenaed by Whitewater Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr to testify in the investigation related to Webster Hubbell. McLarty was called on to testify about his role in recommending the former assistant attorney general to potential clients, after Hubbell left the Justice Department and before he pleaded guilty to embezzlement charges involving clients at his former law firm.

Bernard Rapoport of Waco, Texas, spent almost two hours before the grand jury discussing his decision to hire Whitewater figure Webb Hubbell for "consulting" work after Hubbell's departure from the Justice Department in April 1994. Rapoport paid Hubbell $18,000 in 1994 at the suggestion of Texarkana, Texas, oilman Truman Arnold, who hired Hubbell after getting a call from McLarty. After Hubbell went to prison in 1995 for tax evasion and mail fraud, Rapoport contributed $5,000 to an education fund for Hubbell's children

DRUDGE REPORT: EVENT REMIT: WEBB HUBBELL ADMITS TO MIKE WALLACE AND CBS' 60 MINUTES THAT HE'S A CON MAN WHO DECEIVED THE CLINTONS, IN HIS FIRST TELEVISION INTERVIEW SINCE HIS RELEASE FROM JAIL. THE INTERVIEW, CONDUCTED AT HUBBELL'S WASHINGTON HOME ON TUESDAY, WILL AIR THIS SUNDAY. X X X X MORE ....

Representative Dan Burton announced that the Committee would issue twenty-five subpoenas. The new subpoenas sought information and records from individuals and corporations relating to financial payments to former Associate Attorney General Webster Hubbell, as well as to the legal defense fund of former White House official Craig Livingstone. New York attorney Susan Thomases was subpoenaed for documents relating to Mr. Hubbell, the Lippo Group, James Riady, and other subjects of interest to the investigation. It was also announced that a document subpoena would be issued to Johnny Chung. Various Government 3/16/99 ohmlaw98 plus

In a White House press briefing Mike McCurry concerning Tamraz/Fowler/CIA "...There is one thing that is happening here, which is Sandy Berger is looking at procedures for making sure that information that needs to be briefed up the chain of command at the NSC absolutely for certain gets briefed up, and you've probably seen some coverage of that...."

April 4, 1997
White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles was issued a subpoena from a federal grand jury in Arkansas, courtesy of Whitewater independent counsel Kenneth Starr. The subpoena required Bowles to produce documents and to testify before the grand jury on April 15 on his actions related to former Justice Department official Webster Hubbell.A day erlier, President Clinton defended their actions and made the following confused statement: "I believe what I said was that I was unaware of the Lippo contract until it became public," Clinton said. "And I believe that's all I said. I rendered no judgment on it one way or the other."

* Lt. Jack Daly, a U.S. Naval intelligence officer, was wounded by a laser fired from a Russian spy ship in U.S. territorial waters. His Canadian helicopter pilot, Captain Patrick Barnes, was also wounded. Both have suffered permanent eye damage. The spy ship was tracking the American submarine U.S.S. Ohio.

"The intelligence community has evidence that the KAPITAN MAN and other vessels owned and operated by the Far East Shipping Company (FESCO) of Vladivostok, Russia are associated with the Russian military....By way of background, the Russian flagged ship, KAPITAN MAN, and others like her, sailing under the flags of China, Cyprus and Panama, et al, transit the Puget Sound on a regular basis, and are suspected by the intelligence community to be conducting surveillance against our Ballistic Missile Submarines (SSBN's) and the Carrier Battle Groups operating out of Bangor and Bremerton/Everett, WA. Evidence exists in the intelligence community that indicates that the FESCO vessels actively support the Russian military. Further, since these vessels also conduct so-called trade in the southern hemisphere as well, ample opportunity exists for them to conduct intelligence collection against U.S Naval exercises and operations in the Southern California operating areas. Similar activity to that in the Pacific Northwest has also been reported in the vicinity of the Kings Bay, Georgia SSBN base, and elsewhere." Statement of Lt. Jack Daly

"The political treatment of the KAPITAN MAN incident was an effort to minimize any detrimental impact that might result in jeopardizing relations with Moscow, agreements reached under the Gore-Chernomyrdin Commission and (at the time) the upcoming Russia-NATO pact. This sent a very dangerous message not only to the crew of the ship and the Russians, but to anyone with an ax to grind with the United States who followed the story in the resulting press coverage. The message that came across was that you can commit a hostile act or crime within U.S. borders, injure U.S. service men and women, and, because of political sensitivities, you can not only get away with it, you will be assisted by the very government you have offended." Statement of Lt. Jack Daly http://www.house.gov/hasc/testimony/106thcongress/99-02-11daly.htm

April 7, 1997
FBI director Louis Freeh was quoted in Newsweek, saying "I have wondered about leaving". President Bill Clinton had openly suggested he was not properly briefed on possible efforts by China to influence U.S. elections.

Article: DNC Received Money Directly From China

* IRKUTSK, Asian Russia -- A high-ranking American diplomat, Thomas Graham, completed a five-day tour of Asian Russia's East Siberian Irkutskregion, his fifth visit to the region in five years. Graham met the governor and other officials, and had conversations with representatives of the local business community - the leaders of industrial and commercial enterprises, banks and small businesses. He also visited Bratsk and told a press conference that the U.S.administration would allocate two billion dollars to be disbursed to Russian regions, including the industrialised Irkutsk region. ITAR-TASS ASIAN NEWS BRIEFS FOR MONDAY, APRIL 7 = 2.. , ITAR-TASS, 04-07-1997.

April 8, 1997
The Washington Post reported that the White House supplied top-secret intelligence information to the DNC to block businessman Grigori Loutchansky, who had alleged ties to Russian organized crime, from attending a $25,000-a-person 1995 fund-raising dinner with Clinton. Political operatives in the White House and the DNC gained access to and disseminated information gathered by some of the nation's most sensitive intelligence-gathering methods.

April 9 1997
A letter from the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee was sent to the White House asking for the production of all documents referring or relating to Charlie Trie's appointment to the Commission on US-Pacific Trade and Investment Policy, and all documents regarding Executive Order #12987 signed on January 31, 1996." On April 21, 1997, the White House produced only a few documents in response to request number 19, but notified the Committee that a substantial number of additional responsive documents had been withheld on executive privilege grounds.

April 10, 1997
San Francisco Chronicle: "In the months leading up to a crucial 1994 decision in Washington on China's trading status, the Chinese government made a very shrewd political move. It spent billions. The money did not go to U.S. lawmakers, lobbyists or public relations firms -- at least directly. The money, in the form of future business deals, went to Boeing, Ford, Time Warner, IBM and other titans of U.S. industry. "

Documents released indicate that the DNC moved large soft money donations through state Democratic parties to obscure their origins. Questions are raised about a large donation from a CEO made shortly after a key Justice Department ruling: It was a $3.4 billion deal. Legal publisher West Publishing was selling out to a Canadian rival. But West's Vance Opperman needed the Clinton Administration's approval. The Justice Department's antitrust division was threatening to sue. Buried in once-secret documents recently released by the White House, a secret ledger sheet at the Democratic National Committee, dated June 4 last year, lists Opperman for eight contributions, totaling $155,000. The money went not directly to the national party; that would attract national attention. Instead, the ledger shows the donations directed to states: $25,000 to the California party, $25,000 to New Jersey, $69,000 to New York, $5,000 to Colorado, $5,000 to Connecticut, $4,000 to Maryland, $11,000 to Rhode Island, and $11,000 to Washington. The deal was subsequently approved by Justice with minor concessions. "I think their goal was to circumvent disclosure," said Kent Cooper of the watchdog group Center For Responsive Politics. "They're moving this money in a way that's a little bit more complicated than if they just wrote one big check to the Democratic National Committee ... They had to go through a few more steps, more complicated ones, basically to hide this money." Democrats also routed gambling money through state capitals, including $250,000 from Mirage Resorts and $150,000 from a Chippewa band seeking a Detroit casino. Also, money from tobacco companies, the Teamsters union, Republican businessmen and even a $5,000 donation from a gay-rights crusader. DNC documents show $2.5 million in such underground money.

The Washington Times reports Al Gore, who claims he did not know an April 1996 visit with Democrat Party donors at the Hsi Lai Buddhist Monastery was a fund-raising event, had been notified more than three months earlier that the event was set to raise $200,000 for the Democrat Party. The latest revelation stems from more than 30 documents turned over to Congress by former Deputy Chief of Staff Harold Ickes, showing the expected take from the fund-raiser was increased to $350,000 after it was held.

The White House, responding to congressional subpoenas and press inquiries, releases 10,000 pages of documents, most from the files of DNC fund-raiser John Huang, detailing DNC fund-raising. Documents showed the DNC and the White House were intimately aware of DNC fund-raising efforts on behalf of the Clinton/Gore re-election campaign. Also included was a memo urging the White House to appoint big donors to ambassadorships and top government jobs and reward donors with rides on Air Force One and invitations to Camp David.

The White House released a list of donors and fund-raisers who were allowed to fly on Air Force One and Two with President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore. In 1995 and 1996, the Clinton Administration allowed 56 contributors who donated $5,000 and more and fund-raisers raising $25,000 or more for the DNC or the Clinton-Gore campaign to fly on the taxpayer-financed Air Force jets. Among the contributors flying on Air Force One: New York businessman Maurice Templesman, labor leaders Lane Kirkland and John Sweeney, Washington lobbyist Tommy Boggs, and Washington lawyer Vernon Jordan. Numerous trips aboard Air Force One were taken by Clinton-Gore chief fund-raiser Terry McAuliffe and DNC fund-raisers Marvin Rosen, Laura Hartigan, Richard Sullivan and Scott Patrick. None of the contributors or fund-raisers were asked to pay for the costs of their airfare on Air Force One and Two for official trips.

With questions surrounding Bill Clinton's use of the Camp David for political reasons, documents were released that identifed guests of Clinton at the resort. Among the president's guests, the White House says only one, close friend and informal advisor Vernon Jordan, was a major Democratic Party fund-raiser.In addition, according to White House deputy communications director Ann Lewis, Jordan also attended a retreat at Camp David with presidential scholars and authors in January 1995. The White House says former Associate Attorney General Webster Hubbell visited Camp David in July 1994, after he was forced to resign his position but before he was sentenced to prison. The White House describes most of the president's guests at Camp David as old friends and family. Among them is Diane Blair of Fayetteville, Ark. She teaches at the University of Arkansas and is married to Tyson Foods lawyer Jim Blair. He did not join her at Camp David. Hollywood producers and close Clinton pals Harry Thomason and Linda Bloodworth Thomason also were guests of the first family at Camp David. In January 1993, the president invited his incoming Cabinet members and senior staff to spend a few days with him at Camp David.

Attorney General Janet Reno once again spurned requests for a special prosecutor, turning aside Republican demands for an independent probe into Democratic campaign fund-raising excesses during the 1996 presidential campaign. In a series of five letters to members of the House and Senate Judiciary commitees today, the Justice Department said its investigation has not found "specific and credible evidence" that a crime has been committed by an individual covered by the independent counsel statute.

Articles: The Untold Story Of Political Fundraising How Dumb Can We Be? Rep. Jim Traficant On America's Arming of China

* GAO Report - Export Controls: Sales of High Performance Computers to Russia's NuclearWeapons Laboratories (Testimony, 04/15/97, GAO/T-NSIAD-97-128) noted that:

(1) Russia has expressed a strong desire to obtain high performance computers from the United States for use at its nuclear weapons laboratories;

(2) according to the Russian Minister of AtomicEnergy, such computers are needed to help Russia maintain its nuclearstockpile, particularly in light of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treatyprohibiting future nuclear explosions;

(3) Russia attempted to obtain high performance computers for its weapons laboratories for "civilian purposes" from two U.S. manufacturers;

(4) the manufacturers, in compliance with the export control laws and regulations, sought an export license for the transaction but the applications were eventually returned by the Commerce Department without action;

(5) the U.S.government said it needed more information about how the computers would be used;

(6) subsequently, press reports began to circulate in Russia and the United States that Russia had obtained U.S. high performancecomputers from other sources, and according to officials from Russia's Ministry of Atomic Energy, the computers would be used for nuclear stockpile maintenance; and

(7) if these press reports are correct, and information supplied by the Russian Minister of Atomic Energy indicates the reports are correct, such a sale would appear to be contrary to the policy underlying U.S export control regulations and to U.S. policy boundaries regarding cooperation with Russia's nuclear weapons program.

Export Controls: Sales of High Performance Computers to Russia's Nuclear Weapons Laboratories (Testimony, 04/15/97, GAO/T-NSIAD-97-128).

Don Denton, the former assistant manager at Little Rock National Airport, who was fired from his job after testifying under a grant of immunity in the trial of Tucker and the McDougals, said that he had been questioned by the independent counsel's office about the possible intimidation of witnesses. In a motion for a grand jury extension written by deputy independent counsel W. Hickman Ewing, it was revealed that new evidence had been uncovered about witness tampering, perjury and document destruction. Airport officials said Denton's job performance, not his testimony, got him fired.

Campaign watchdog group Common Cause president Ann McBride criticized Attorney General Janet Reno for her interpretation of law governing so-called "soft money." "If the Department of Justice allows these practices to go unchallenged, they will become commonplace in future elections, and the department will be writing out of existence fundamental anti-corruption statutes that have been on the books for decades," McBride said.

April 24, 1997
In the first specific indication of what Indonesian business interests may have sought in return for political donations, The New York Times reported that the Riady family wanted to buy a U.S. bank, but abandoned the plan after becoming embroiled in the probe into overseas contributions to the Democrats.

April 28, 1997
The White House failed to meet a noon deadline for delivering all documents relating to John Huang, the Riady family and the Lippo Group that were subpoenaed by the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee. The Committee had been seeking documents regarding Huang since his role was first disclosed in the fall. On October 31, 1996, then-Chairman Clinger first wrote the White House requesting information and documents about numerous visits Huang made to the White House. Six months, several letters and two subpoenas later the Committee has yet to receive all documents from the White House pertaining to John Huang. At a Capitol Hill meeting, Chairman Burton personally presented White House Counsel Charles Ruff with two new narrowly-targeted subpoenas for White House documents related to Huang and the Riadys.

April 29, 1997
The Associated Press reports that Clinton-Gore political appointee John Huang had more access to government secrets than previously disclosed. The Commerce Department identified 109 meetings in 1994 and 1995 attended by Huang, at which classified information was discussed. Previously, the Clinton-Gore administration disclosed that Huang had received only 37 intelligence briefings.

"…Over one year later, after news stories and columns about Clinton's "Asian connection" had stimulated law enforcement officials and a Senate committee to bestir themselves, F.B.I. Director Louis Freeh and Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet went to the office of Energy Secretary Federico Peña. "Louis and George read him the riot act," a meeting participant tells me, "about lax security at Los Alamos." But nothing happened for a year and a half. Senator Fred Thompson's hearings on the Asian connection were politicized and truncated by John Glenn and Tom Daschle. Not until late 1998, when a bipartisan House select committee under co-chairmen Chris Cox and Norman Dicks began asking questions about Chinese espionage, did a new Energy Secretary begin to lock the barn door…" …" NY Times OpEd 3/8/99 William Safire "

Wen Ho Lee – a scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory who was already under investigation as a suspected spy for China, hires a postdoctoral researcher who was a Chinese citizen and who has since disappeared. James Risen - 29 March 1999
New York Times

May, 1997
The full scope of China's American supercomputer bonanza had become public. Under the Clinton "liberalization", The Peoples' Republic of China had acquired no less than 46 of the prized high performance machines. House Judiciary Chairman Henry Hyde was quoted that same month by the Washington Times observing that the computer technology transfers "may have given the PRC more supercomputer capacity than the entire (U.S.) Department of Defense." http://www.etherzone.com/loral.html

General John M. Shalikashvili, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the United States, paid an official visit to China. – Chinese Embassy

May 2, 1997
The financially troubled Democratic National Committee (DNC) said it raised $4 million Thursday night at a Washington, D.C., fund-raiser featuring President Bill Clinton. The president told the donors that he was proud of them. "I wish we could have had this event in the Lincoln bedroom, but there wasn't enough coffee in the White House," Clinton joked. At the time, the DNC was more than $14 million in debt, not counting $1.5 million in questionable donations it has promised to return, and mounting legal bills it has promised to pay.

May 5, 1997
The New York Times reported that the Clintons were warned by their friend Jim Blair in March 1994 about the gravity of Webster Hubbell's legal problems, and that their personal attorney David Kendall was also aware. The White House denied that the report undermined previous assertions by both Clintons that neither they nor any others at the White House were aware of the extent of Hubbell's woes at the time business calls were made on his behalf.

May 6, 1997
In documents released by the federal judge in Little Rock, Independent Counsel Starr "candidly states ... Mrs. Clinton's testimony on several issues under investigation 'has changed over time or differs from that of other witnesses' and that she is a 'central figure' in his investigation."

May 7, 1997
The Washington Post reported that FBI Director Louis Freeh had urged Attorney General Janet Reno to seek an independent counsel, after concluding that the Justice Department faced a possible conflict of interest in examining the actions of several top aides to President Bill Clinton. Reno later downplays it as "a continuing discussion ... I'm not sure you would characterize it as a difference of opinion."

After a protracted struggle over her confirmation, Alexis Herman was formally sworn in as President Bill Clinton's new Labor secretary. Herman's confirmation was delayed for four months, first by questions about her involvement in White House coffees and then a dispute over a proposed executive order on union labor and federal contracts.

In a written statement, Chinese President Jiang Zemin denies Chinese officials ever made political contributions to U.S. candidates in hopes of gaining influence.

In 1994 or 1995, [Peter] Lee applied for another job at Los Alamos, but the FBI, having intensified its investigation of Lee, warned the Energy Department of its counterintelligence concerns, and, according to one official, Lee's application was rejected. In the spring of 1997, Lee made a three-week trip to China as a paid guest of China's Institute of Applied Physics and Computational Mathematics, which handles the design of China's nuclear weapons, according to an FBI affidavit filed in Lee's case. The affidavit was based in part on what it called Lee's "confession" in interviews with FBI officials from October 1997 to early 1998. Lee filed a report with his company, TRW, saying that he planned to travel to China only for sightseeing and pleasure. But before he left, he contacted a Chinese scientist to tell him that he would be giving lectures on laser and nuclear energy at several Chinese institutes, the affidavit states......While in Beijing on May 11, 1997, he gave a lecture about his work on the radar ocean imaging project at the Institute of Applied Physics and Computational Mathematics to a group that included Chinese nuclear-weapons scientists. He was questioned about its applications for anti-submarine warfare, and showed the audience a surface ship wake image that he had brought with him from his lab. After a two-hour, detailed discussion of the physics of his work and its submarine applications, he tore the ship wake image "to shreds" after leaving the meeting, Lee told the FBI, court records show....." - New York Times 5/10/99 JEFF GERTH and JAMES RISEN

A Chinese rocket launched another DFH-3 telecommunications satellite into orbit that was built by China Aerospace Corp. and Daimler-Benz and contained some American parts. It is said satellite never worked.

Federal investigators identified a Los Angeles-based Asian businessman as a possible Chinese agent, sources close to the FBI probe of campaign fund-raising told the Los Angeles Times. Chinese emigre Ted Sioeng, owner of a pro-Beijing newspaper and a variety of other businesses, is the first figure known to be suspected of espionage in the ongoing Justice Department investigation of campaign fund-raising. Sources told the Times that the FBI became interested in Sioeng based on intercepted communications between Beijing and the Chinese embassy in Washington, D.C. Sioeng is a friend of John Huang, the former Democratic National Committee fund-raiser now at the center of the fund-raising scandal. Sioeng sat next to President Bill Clinton at a July fund-raiser, and also attended the controversial fund-raiser at the Hsi Lai Buddhist temple attended by Vice President Al Gore. His daughter, Jessica Elnitiarta, had donated $250,000 to the DNC through Panda Estates Investment Inc., a family company. See LA Times 5/12/97 James Risen

The New York Post reports that John Huang attended up to 146 meetings in which classified information was discussed, including some at the White House. Commerce Secretary William Daley admitted that Huang attended 70 meetings in 1994 and 39 in 1995, along with the 37 previously acknowledged by the Clinton-Gore White House.

A Washington-based federal grand jury investigating Whitewater was dismissed. On May 17, Whitewater investigators disclosed they are using another federal grand jury in Washington to on their probe.

FBI Assistant Director Robert M. Bryant had noted in a May 15, 1997, memo to FBI Deputy Director William Esposito that the White House had taken "direct control" of DNC fund-raising efforts and there were concerns that both "soft" and "hard" money donations had been diverted from foreign donors to the DNC. - THE WASHINGTON TIMES 6/13/00 Jerry Seper

Jeffrey Garten, a former Commerce undersecretary, told Senate investigators that most of the political hires at the department were not held in high regard. In a deposition to the committee, Garten dismissed the flowery evaluations showered on political appointees as "so highly inflated that these are totally worthless, pro forma documents." for example, Garten had misgivings about John Huang. "I was uncomfortable with Huang, because one doesn't have a lot of time in these situations, but my instinct, as someone who had lived and worked in Asia, was that he wasn't the kind of person who ought to represent the American government."

A 20-page report by the Defense Technology Security Administration (Pentagon) concerning security breaches at Loral & Hughes of sharing information with China notes that 3 were major (definitely would have been deleted), 3 were medium ("most likely" would have been deleted) and 12 were minor ("probably" would have been denied to the Chinese.)

May 19, 1997
President Bill Clinton announced he would seek to extend China's favored trade status with the U.S. Clinton had until early June to make the announcement, but aides said he wanted to go forward with the decision today, in part to avoid allowing opposition in Congress to grow.

May 20, 1997
Chairman Dan Burton deferred a May 21 hearing of the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee that was to consider a contempt of Congress citation, pending further cooperation with the White House. Reporting "substantial progress" in negotiations between the Committee and the White House over subpoenaed documents, Burton said "at least for the time being, it will not be necessary for the Committee to hold a hearing involving Mr. Ruff."

May 21, 1997
The Senate Governmental Affairs Committee requested White House WAVES records for Ng Lap Seng. The release of this information, however, was delayed by the White House until the afternoon of July 29, 1997, after the completion of testimony relating to the Ng-funded DNC contributions made by Charlie Trie. (White House WAVES records indicate that Trie visited the White House at least twenty-two times from the period 1993 to 1996 and that Ng Lap Seng also visited the White House ten times between 1994 and 1996.)

US Arms Control/Nonproliferation Sanctions Against China "…-Prohibition of US government procurement of goods or services from the sanctioned entities or persons -Prohibition of the importation into the United States of any products produced by the sanctioned entities -Imposed pursuant to the Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act of 1991 -Imposed against five Chinese individuals, two Chinese companies, and one Hong Kong company for knowingly and materially contributing to Iran's chemical weapons program -The entities and individuals were involved in the export of dual-use chemical precursors and/or chemical production equipment and technology -Imposed against: -Liao Minglong, Tian Yi, and Chen Qingchang (aka QC Chen), Pan Yongming, and Shao Xingsheng (all Chinese citizens) -Nanjing Chemical Industries Group (NCI) (Chinese company) -Jiangsu Yongli Chemical Engineering and Technology Import/Export Corp (Chinese company) -Cheong Yee Limited (Hong Kong company) Duration of a minimum of one year…" – Congress

John Hancock, civilian FAA Deputy Director on International Aviation wrote a memo and summary report on "China ATC (air traffic control) discussions." Hancock wrote, "Attached is a summary of discussions held in Beijing on Wednesday, April 16, 1997, on future civil-military air traffic control cooperation between the United States and China." "As you know, following completion of U.S. Government (USG) policy coordination, a small delegation traveled to Beijing to present our options for FAA-led ATC civil-military programs under the reconfigured ATC initiative. This activity was previously conducted under the Joint Defense Conversion Commission which was dissolved by then-Defense Secretary Perry in July 1996," wrote Hancock – Worlnetdaily 11/16/99 Charles Smith

May 22, 1997
USA Today reported that Vernon Jordan helped Webster Hubbell land a high-paying job after Hubbell left his No. 3 post at the Justice Department. Hubbell received $63,000 between April and December 1994 from MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings, a company owned by billionaire financier Ronald Perelman. He was hired as an outside counsel following an introduction and recommendation by Jordan.

May 25, 1997
Associated Press reports that the Democrat National Committee is invoking attorney-client privilege and is refusing to let the party's top lawyer, Joseph Sandler, testify about conversations he had with White House and DNC officials. Hiding behind the White House and using tricky legal maneuvers, the DNC is attempting to invoke this privilege to block the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee from uncovering the truth about illegal contributions.

May 26, 1997
The Justice Department said it would not prosecute Ex-FBI agent Gary Aldrich for going ahead with his book "Unlimited Access" without FBI clearance. Aldrich's book portrayed the White House as lax on security and alleged that President Bill Clinton was engaged in an affair with a White House employee and would sneak out for sexual trysts at the downtown Marriott hotel. A report in The New Yorker quoted Aldrich as saying, "The Marriott thing was not quite solid. It was hypothetical" but Aldrich said he was misquoted by the author, Jane Mayer.

Supreme Court rules the lawsuit can proceed while Clinton is president. – AP 5/23/00

May 28, 1997
Graham Whatley, a Commerce official, revealed the existence of a "DNC Minority Donors List" in departmental files. It had been turned over to the Justice Department two months earlier, but not to Judicial Watch or the court. – Judicial Watch

May 29, 1997
In a 30-page brief, Starr objected to the White House appeal to the Supreme Court to deny his investigation access to Hillary Clinton's Whitewater notes taken by former deputy White House counsel Jane Sherburne. "What the case presents, at bottom, is a bold assertion of a governmental privilege against a federal grand jury's interest in securing relevant evidence," Starr said.

May 31, 1997
XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT BREAKING 5/31/97 14:08:47 PDT HUBBELL RECORDS SEIZED? There are new reports that Whitewater prosecutor Kenneth Starr has seized the records of a Los Angeles-area broker involving a $3,500,000 account supposedly belonging to Webster Hubbell. Speculation first raised in this space [DRUDGE REPORT 4/22/97], had Hubbell's suspicious earnings far exceeding the press accounts of $700,000. One theory has Starr stumbling upon the account from taped phone talk caught on tape during Hubbell's time in prison...

An Article by Kenneth R. Timmerman in the American Spectator "While America Sleeps" - revealed that Liu Chaoying is the daughter of Lt. Gen Lie Huaging.

William J. Casey warns against the renewal of MFN status for China because: Communist China is utilizing much of the huge trade surplus that it enjoys thanks to this privileged trading status to mount a strategic threat to the United States and its vital interests in Asia, the Middle East and beyond.

"…Then on May 11, 1996, it [China] promised not to do it [nuclear proliferation] again. Mr. Clinton's speech said nothing about China's nuclear deals and treaty-breaking -- or what the C.I.A. told Congress in June 1997. The C.I.A. reported that during the second half of 1996, after the pledge to the U.S., China was still the "primary source of nuclear related equipment and technology" to Pakistan. Also, said the report, China is the world's "most significant supplier of weapons of mass destruction-related goods and technology" -- which means nuclear, chemical or bacteriological. The President did not mention China's breaking its pledge to America after breaking its treaty pledge to the world. Nor did he say that he was planning to reward China by giving it clearance to shop nuclear in America. But he will, unless Congress can block him …." The New York Times 10/28/97 A.M. ROSENTHAL

Charlie Trie himself fled the country and, in an interview with NBC News in Shanghai, boasted that Congressional investigators would "never find me."

By June 1997, concerned that we were helping the PLA to improve weapons design, missile targeting, and nuclear simulation, the House voted to restore licensing requirements on HPCs. But the measure was ultimately defeated under intense industry and administration pressure. - The American Spectator 5/99 Kenneth R. Timmerman

In June, 1997, House Rules Chairman Gerald Solomon had asserted publicly what committee staffs were saying privately--that intelligence intercepts of Huang's phone calls while at the Commerce Department revealed that he had 'committed economic espionage and breached our national security.' (Thompson Blew it…Bull In A China Scandal, The New Republic, September 22, 1997) - Newsmax 8/23/99 Tom Flocco Robin Akers

June 1, 1997
The Washington Post reported that Officials at the Commerce Department do not know why a list of Democratic donors was at the department. The list was considered a "personal document, not a Commerce document," spokeswoman Maria Cardona said. In a deposition taken Wednesday, Deputy Assistant Secretary Graham Whatley said a list of 139 contributors to the Democratic National Committee -- including bankers, union officials and corporate executives -- was kept in the department's files, said Larry Klayman, director of Judicial Watch

June 3, 1997
A woman who worked for controversial fund-raiser Charlie Trie, Keshi Zhan, takes the Fifth Amendment. Zhan gave the Democratic Party $12,500.

June 5, 1997
Nora T. Lum and her husband, Gene, pleaded guilty in federal court to passing $50,000 through "straw donors" to the campaigns of Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and W. Stuart Price, an unsuccessful Oklahoma Democratic candidate for Congress. The Lums agree to assist the Justice Department's criminal investigation. http://www.reagan.com/HotTopics.main/HotMike/document-5.23.1997.1.html

The New York Times reports that at least $200,000 in contributions to the Clinton-Gore campaign came from donors that federal investigators suspect are fictitious, including checks from a number of phony corporations and a $3,000 check funneled through the account of a woman who had been dead for eleven years. Two checks solicited by John Huang offer the most compelling evidence yet of this illegal practice. Both checks arrived at the DNC on the same day in handwriting that appears identical with each check erroneously made out to "Victor 96," a reference to a Democrat organization called "Victory 96."

Howard Shapiro submitted his resignation. This ended any chance of discipline against him for acts he committed while acting as the top lawyer for the FBI. The internal FBI investigation into Mr. Shapiro stated that Mr Shapiro "exacerbated a political problem by contributing to the appearance that the FBI was not sufficiently independent of the White House" and that he made "very serious mistakes" in not coordinating his efforts at the WH with Whitewater Counsel Kenneth Starr. Mr. Shapiro has on many occasions notified the WH in advance of memo's , books, letters being released by the FBI that could be damaging to the WH.

June 10, 1997
The New York Daily News reports that U.S. intelligence officials have informed the White House and Congress that they have collected evidence that former DNC fundraiser John Huang passed classified information to his Indonesian ex-employers while at the Commerce Department. According to a senior government official, the focus of the intelligence information deals with Huang's activities during his last months at the Clinton/Gore Commerce Department in 1995. Huang seemed to step up his interest in classified information in September 1995, just months before he left for the DNC.

The Wall Street Journal reports that a 1996 meeting involving Clinton, DNC contributor Yogesh Gandhi and DNC fundraiser John Huang was arranged by Craig Livingstone, the former White House security office director. Livingstone resigned last year after admitting that his office obtained hundreds of confidential FBI files on Republicans. A previous scheduled meeting between Gandhi and Clinton was canceled by the White House counsel's office after being informed by the FBI that Gandhi was "a fraud." Gandhi donated $325,000 following the Livingstone-arranged meeting, and later testified in court that he was broke and had no assets in the United States.

Sen. Fred Thompson complained that the Democratic Party had willfully obstructed his probe. The chairman fired off a letter Tuesday to Democratic National Committee chairman Roy Romer, charging that DNC lawyers have been blocking the questioning of witnesses "in what seems to be a very calculated and selective process." Thompson said DNC General Counsel Joseph Sandler, under questioning, had invoked a form of attorney-client privilege known as "common- interest" or "common defense" privilege to avoid answering questions about conversations he had with White House lawyers.

Associated Press reports that Rep. Gerald Solomon (R-NY) claimed that electronic intercepts confirm that former Clinton/Gore administration official and DNC fundraiser John Huang committed economic espionage and breached national security by passing government secrets to his former Indonesian employer, The Lippo Group. Among the classified material Huang had access to was at least one briefing on China and another involving a sensitive power plant project in Taiwan.

The New York Times reports that Al Gore's top aides knew that the event at the California Buddhist monastery was for fundraising purposes, despite previous denials by Gore that he knew the true nature of the event. Following a conversation with DNC fundraiser John Huang, Gore's deputy chief of staff, David Strauss, noted in a phone log "lead to a lot of money moving support." Huang also followed up with a memorandum to another Gore top aide proposing a "fundraising lunch" at the Buddhist monastery

Senate Democrats block a motion to grant immunity to 19 witnesses, including monks at the Hsi Lai Buddhist temple, site of a controversial fund-raiser attended by Vice President Gore.

Associated Press reports that as much as $1 million was wired from the Bank of China and other sources in Asia to the account of fundraiser Charlie Trie during 1996 while he was helping the Clinton-Gore re-election effort by raising money for the DNC. Trie has left the U.S. for China and is not cooperating with congressional investigators.

The Dallas Morning Newsreports that five top Texas Democrat donors who attended White House coffees hosted by Clinton, are in line for U.S. ambassadorships. Four of the five individuals under consideration for ambassadorships attended the same coffee klatch at the White House in August 1996. If their appointments come through, it would mean that every fifth person at the coffee eventually won an ambassadorship.

June 14, 1997
U.S. businessman Roger Tamraz was arrested on an Interpol warrant in Tblisi in the Republic of Georgia in connection with charges of embezzling $200 million from a Lebanese bank. American officials were told by Georgian authorities that Lebanon requested that Tamraz be extradited to stand trial on the charges. The Clinton Administration had not honored an extradition request by Lebanon in the past. Tamraz has been investigated in the United States over his contributions to the Democratic Party and his White House visits, and their connection to an oil pipeline he was trying to build to the Caspian Sea.

Roger Tamraz was released by Georgian law enforcement officials Monday evening. Tamraz gave $72,000 to the Democratic National Committee and was a frequent White House visitor in 1995 and 1996, according to the Associated Press. According to the AP, Tamraz described his Caspian Sea oil pipeline plans to President Clinton at a donor dinner on March 26, 1996. U.S. embassy officials offered no explanation why Lebanon's request for extradition was rejected.

Defense Secretary William S. Cohen's plan to shut down additional military bases in order to pay for new weaponry was rejected by House and Senate defense committees in their versions of a $268 billion defense authorization bill for fiscal 1998. Many in Congress complained that Clinton unfairly manipulated the 1995 round of closures for political gain. At issue are two large Air Force maintenance depots -- McClellan Air Logistics Center in Sacramento, Calif., and Kelly Air Logistics Center in San Antonio, Texas -- which were targeted for closure in the 1995 round of base closings. Clinton interfered with the 1995 round by announcing that, while the Air Force would pull out of the two bases, thousands of jobs at the two sites would be saved by having private contractors take them over.

Articles:The Sellout of National Security for Cash -New Evidence of Espionage by John Huang -KGB-Associated Spy paid Democratic Party -Chinese Communists Cooperate with Democrats in Blocking Hearings -Some Call it Treason

The White House denied that First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton was behind the Commerce Department's hiring of controversial Democratic party fund-raiser John Huang, and that the White House pressured the late Commerce Secretary Ron Brown to go to China in 1994 to close a deal that would benefit Huang's previous employer, the Lippo Group of Indonesia. The denials followed allegations from Nolanda Hill, a close associate and friend of Brown, during an appearance on ABC News'"Prime Time Live." Hill, claimed to have had a 10-year love affair with Brown.

The Los Angeles Times reports that two Maryland women funneled $25,000 to the Democrat Party in 1996 at the direction of Ng Lap Seng, business partner of former DNC fundraiser Charlie Trie. The two women were later reimbursed, which is prohibited by federal election law. Seng had asked the two women to donate the money so that he could attend a fundraising dinner to meet Bill Clinton. The dinner, which brought in $1.1 million, was the first event organized by former DNC fundraiser John Huang.

June 20, 1997
The Washington Post reports that the Hsi Lai Buddhist monastery currently under investigation for making illegal contributions to the Clinton/Gore campaign repaid individuals who donated to three Democrat fund- raisers, including the monastery fund-raiser attended by Gore. DNC fund-raiser John Huang organized all three events. Evidence suggests that donation laundering was not limited to the monastery fund-raising luncheon attended by Gore. An additional $23,000 was funneled through similar illegal money- laundering techniques to the DNC.

June 23, 1997
China and Hughes signed a multiple launch agreement.

Articles: COSCO Caught Shipping 87 pounds of Heroin Has Many Connections To Clinton Administration Why China MFN and Long Beach Are Threats to U.S. National Security

About six months into the inquiry [of Far East National Bank], Stipano convened from the Justice Department and other law-enforcement agencies to describe its initial findings. "We were not oblivious to the fact that this could be money laundering, that it could be embezzlement, that it could be campaign-finance related," one official said. The inquiry was completed early the next spring. No charges were brought, and no regulatory actions taken. At the time of the June 1997 meeting, Justice Department and FBI officials were already searching for flows of Chinese money into American political coffers. And they were focusing closely on one of Ms. Xu's relatives by marriage, a Chinese military officer and aerospace executive named Liu Chao-ying. - NY TIMES 5/12/99 TIM GOLDEN and JEFF GERTH

Los Angeles officials report that an audit shows Webster Hubbell overcharged the city for consulting work, and they say federal prosecutors should consider charging Hubbell with fraud. The city hired Hubbell to do airport-related lobbying work in 1994, after his resignation from the Justice Department but before he pleaded guilty to bilking former legal clients in Arkansas.

The Washington Times reports that the DNC's general counsel, Joseph Sandler, is backing down from his position taken in May that attorney-client privilege protected him from answering questions in a Senate deposition about discussions he had with DNC and White House officials. Attorneys for Sandler said he "would be more accommodating in the future."

The Wiriadinatas, who returned to Indonesia in December 1995, are interviewed by Senate Committee staff in Jakarta, Indonesia. In the interview, Arief Wiriadinata made clear that John Huang directed all of their political contributions. Arief acknowledged that Huang's solicitations began in 1995, when Huang was still a Commerce official.

The Wall Street Journal reports that notes from a White House aide indicate that Clinton raised $500,000 for the DNC by telephoning donors from the White House. Such solicitation from federal property is a violation of federal law. Clinton maintains that he "can't remember" if he made the fundraising calls despite evidence demonstrating that Clinton made "15 to 20 calls."

The DNC announces it returned another $1.4 million of illegal donations they had accepted during the 1996 presidential campaign cycle. According to The Washington Post, the DNC claims it has returned $2.8 million to date this year. Of that $2.8 million, three DNC fundraisers --- John Huang, Charlie Trie and Johnny Chung --- were responsible for raising $2.2 million in illegal or improper contributions, or 79 percent of the money returned.

The Washington Post reports a CIA official who was detailed to the Commerce Department testified that he conducted "more than 30" intelligence briefings with DNC fund-raiser John Huang. Following these briefings, or the receipt of classified documents, Huang made numerous telephone calls to the Lippo Group, his former employer. Economic intelligence of the variety Huang received would have been "immensely valuable to a major international bank."

The Washington Post reports that the DNC returned another $1.4 million of illegal donations they had accepted during the 1996 presidential campaign cycle. The DNC claims it has returned $2.8 million to date this year. Of that $2.8 million three DNC fundraisers --- John Huang, Charlie Trie and Johnny Chung --- were responsible for raising $2.2 million in illegal or improper contributions, or 79 percent of the money returned.

June 30, 1997
The Los Angeles Times reports that former DNC Chairman Ron Brown led a 1991 fund-raising exploration mission to Taiwan, Hong Kong and Hawaii. The trip suggests that Brown may have been laying the groundwork for foreign fund-raising by the DNC. While in Taiwan, Brown was met by John Huang and attended a lunch hosted by the Lippo Group while in Hong Kong. During his visit to Hawaii, Brown went to a lunch with Nora and Gene Lum, who have since plead guilty to funneling illegal contributions to Democrat campaigns in 1994 and 1995.

Articles: Tom Brokaw "Interviews" Charlie Trie in Shanghai Rep. Solomon Takes off the Gloves, Blasts Chinese

FBI makes formal request to OIPR for FISA application. – Thompson/Lieberman Report 8/99

* Decontamination work was completed at the Federal Nuclear Centre in Sarov, formerly the secret Soviet city of `Arzamas-16', scene of a massive radiation leak on June 17 that killed researcher Alexander Zakharov. Arzamas-16, as it was once known, was one of a number of ultra-secret cities built by the former Soviet regime for corral scientists working on highly advanced nuclear weapons systems. Secret weapons development continues there. Zakharov died at work in a special bunker at site No. 8, which according to local experts, is normally closed to all except a small number of persons dealing with the so-called `special devices'. For his experiment, which involved some kind of weapons test, Zakharov initiated a controlled nuclear chain reaction using small amounts of uranium.

Another Chernobyl Averted, Inter Presse Services, July 1, 1997

By June 30 the Department of Justice's Office of Intelligence Policy and Review (OIPR) received the FISA request draft from the FBI. OIPR Deputy Council Allan Kornblum immediately forwarded it to the court marked "important and urgent" ....Still the first warrant application was "deemed wanting in probable cause." There was a subsequent appeal which was also deemed inadequate to appro