Ex-LANL scientist settles case

Wen Ho Lee, the Los Alamos National Laboratory physicist who in 1999 was accused by the FBI of spying for China (see Physics Today, April 2000, page 53 ), has won a $1.65 million settlement in his suit against the federal government.

Lee sued the government for leaking details to the media about his employment history, finances, travels, and polygraph tests. Although only the federal government was named as a defendant in the suit, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the Associated Press, and ABC News together are covering nearly half of the settlement costs. According to a statement by the five news organizations, their $750 000 share will go directly to Lee. The $895 000 from the government will cover Lee’s legal fees and taxes.

The news organizations became involved in the case because of their refusal to reveal who leaked them information about Lee. On 5 June, two days after the settlement was reached, the Supreme Court rejected the news organizations’ final appeal to keep their sources under wraps. The rejection is viewed by the organizations’ lawyers to be a warning not to expect favorable treatment in similar cases in the future.

In the run-up to his trial, Lee spent nine months in prison, largely in solitary confinement. The espionage charges against him were eventually dropped, but he did plead guilty to one count of mishandling classified data.