CODE NAME KINDRED SPIRIT: Inside the Chinese Nuclear Espionage Scandal

At last, here is Trulock's account of the Wen Ho Lee case, long delayed by foot-dragging on security clearance at the FBI, CIA and Department of Energy; Trulock was the head of DOE's intelligence office during the investigation into whether Los Alamos scientist Wen Ho Lee had given nuclear warhead secrets to China. The government failed to mount a strong case against Lee, and Trulock received the blame, accused of racial bias in choosing Lee as the "only" suspect. But this detailed account reveals that the spy hunt didn't focus solely on Lee, or even on Los Alamos. Lee finally came under heavy scrutiny, according to Trulock, because he had been recognized as a "walking security nightmare who violated nearly every security rule" at Los Alamos and "lied repeatedly" to government officials about his ties to Chinese nuclear scientists. While he denies knowledge as to whether Lee "did it," the author drops hints that Lee and his wife may have been double agents. Trulock frequently exhibits his bitterness at being scapegoated by his superiors for the failure of the government's case, but even at his most objective, he offers a harsh assessment of DOE's leaders' failure to treat the security crisis seriously, of the FBI's "disastrous" management of the Lee investigation and of Lee's continuing ability to download top-secret information for years while competing counterintelligence teams "screwed around." He provides a unique look into the American intelligence community and an unsettling perspective on the lax attitude toward national security. Wen Ho Lee's defensive memoir grabbed plenty of headlines, but Trulock's account has a disturbing ring of truth. (Jan.)