Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

NICHOLSON CALLS ON CLINTON TO RELEASE ALL THE DOCUMENTS

"For once, let’s have more, rather than less, sooner, rather than later."

WASHINGTON (MAY 22) -Republican National Committee Chairman Jim Nicholson today called on President Clinton to release all the documents relevant to his decision to transfer U.S. missile and satellite technology to Communist China.

"Mr. President, the American people deserve to know why you overruled the State, Defense and Justice Departments and gave your permission for militarily sensitive technology to be sold to Communist China," Nicholson said. "For once, keep your promise and give the American people more, rather than less, sooner, rather than later."

The White House today announced that it was sending a stack of documents to Capitol Hill and displayed the documents to reporters without letting them keep copies. White House officials claimed the documents contained arguments on the pros and cons of President Clinton’s decision to grant a permit this year to a U.S. high-technology company to use a Chinese rocket to launch a communications satellite.

Nicholson called the White House response "entirely insufficient - and no doubt carefully edited and redacted so as to mislead." He called on the President to release to reporters and the public all the relevant material including:

The 1995 letter from Loral CEO Bernard Schwartz to President Clinton advocating the shift of satellite export responsibility from the State Department to the Commerce Department.

All documentation concerning the Oct. 1995 decision by Secretary of State Warren Christopher to keep satellites on his department’s "munitions" list, and on the agreement among the State and Defense Departments, the CIA and the NSA to keep satellite-export-licensing authority within the State Department.

All documentation concerning the February 6, 1996 decision by Clinton to issue waivers for four launches of U.S. satellite launches by Chinese rockets.

All documentation concerning President Clinton’s March 1996 decision to reverse Secretary Christopher and to take away from the State Department authority over satellite-export licensing and move it instead to the Commerce Department (under the late Commerce Secretary Ron Brown, former Democrat Party Chairman).

All documentation from April-May 1996 concerning the Loral report on the cause of the Feb. 15, 1996 crash of a Chinese rocket. The 200-page Loral report concluded that the crash was caused by a flaw in the rocket’s flight-control system. It was shared with the Chinese without first being vetted by the federal government to prevent the unauthorized transfer of technology dealing with missile guidance and control systems.

The recent CIA report saying that China has 13 of its 18 nuclear-tipped strategic missiles aimed at the U.S.

All documentation concerning the reasons the Clinton administration did not publish the regulations governing the March 1996 decision on satellite-export licensing until November 5, 1996 - the day of Clinton’s re-election and 200 day’s after those regulations were due.

The Pentagon’s 1997 report analyzing the effect of Loral’s release to China of its review of the crash of the Chinese rocket. (According to published accounts, that Pentagon report concluded that U.S. national security was harmed by the improvement in China’s missile capabilities that the Loral review made possible. The Pentagon’s analysis prompted a criminal investigation by the Justice Department and the U.S. Customs Service.)

All documentation concerning the reasons that in February of this year-despite intense opposition from the Justice Department - Clinton gave Loral permission to officially transfer the same missile expertise to China that the company was being criminally investigated for having given to China without authorization in 1996.