The White House Briefing Room
May 21, 1999
PRESS BRIEFING BY JOE LOCKHART
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release May 21, 1999
PRESS BRIEFING
BY
JOE LOCKHART
The Briefing Room
1:15 P.M. EDT
..................
Q Several weeks ago at a press conference, in answer to a
question, the President said that when it came to Chinese spying,
he did not believe it was going on during his administration --
at least, he said, no one had told him that.
Now it appears his own Secretary of Energy, Chris Cox, say
that in fact he'd been briefed on the fact the Chinese may have
been spying on his administration. Why did the President say
what he said?
MR. LOCKHART: As I understand, the questions went back --
we were talking about nuclear espionage at the labs. There have
been -- but the President did not speak, and I don't think it
contradicts what the Secretary of Energy said.
First off, on what Mr. Cox has said, that report has not
been released so I'm not going to comment on that. My
understanding is it will be released on Tuesday, so I think there
will be time to talk about that.
Q We'll be back.
MR. LOCKHART: I'm sure you will. But as far as any
particular espionage at the labs, I think what we've said is that
the President had a general briefing, but not anything specific
to each of the allegations, and at the time was not briefed on
any specific allegations.
There has been an allegation that has come forward since
then, and the President has had a briefing and has been briefed
in more detail on some of the allegations; but again, these are
allegations and I can't really get into them --
Q The President left the clear impression that he had not
been briefed on anything concerning Chinese spying at the labs
during his administration.
MR. LOCKHART: I think you should go back and look at the
words carefully, and I think that he is not -- what he has said
was accurate and has not been disputed by what his Secretary of
Energy has said.
Q What's the difference between a general briefing -- you
mean a general briefing meaning there might be some spying going
on and then later they were told --
MR. LOCKHART: I think the difference is that there were
problems, security problems at the laboratories that need to be
addressed, those were addressed with the PDD in February of 1998,
done -- a more extensive effort that's ever been done within our
government to look at the problems that have plagued the labs for
the last two decades, so when talking about particular
allegations of nuclear espionage at the labs, he had not been
briefed.
Q Why would you have to take all these steps if there
weren't espionage?
MR. LOCKHART: Because there is a lot of different ways
things can get out of the labs in a lot of different security
ways.
Q So people came to him and said, gee, there are kind of
some problems and maybe we ought to worry about them?
MR. LOCKHART: No, I don't think that's how it happened,
Jim.
Q Could you tell us specifically when did he first know
that the Chinese spying had occurred during his administration?
MR. LOCKHART: Say again?
Q When was he first told the Chinese spying had occurred
during his administration?
MR. LOCKHART: He was given a briefing after that about some
allegations of potential --
Q But to this day, has he been briefed that actual
espionage went on during the administration?
MR. LOCKHART: We've got a situation where we have
allegations. There is an ongoing investigation at the Justice
Department. I'm not going to get into the details of that.
Q The Cox report reportedly says they're not allegations.
MR. LOCKHART: Listen -- and the Cox Report has not been
released yet. So when it's released, I'll be glad to talk about
it.
Q So if we ask you today if there had been --
..................
Q You're saying that all of the suggestions about Chinese
espionage are simply allegations and that the administration is
not convinced that there has been any actual act of espionage by
the Chinese against the U.S.?
MR. LOCKHART: I'm saying that there are allegations, there
are investigations that are ongoing and it would not be
appropriate for me to comment on ongoing investigations.
Q You say it's nothing more than allegations is what
you're saying?
MR. LOCKHART: You heard what I just said.
Q Has the President seen the Cox report, or been briefed
on it?
MR. LOCKHART: He met with Chairman Cox and Congressman Dix,
what, three weeks ago?
MR. LEAVY: Yes.
MR. LOCKHART: And they briefed him.
Q Do the people who have been briefed on the report
accept the conclusions?
MR. LOCKHART: I'm just not going to get into a debate about
a report that is being leaked out day by day. When it's released
and when it's declassified and when we're able to talk about it,
I'll be glad to.
Q Joe, if further restrictions are put on the
international cooperation at the labs, is there concern that this
is going to affect the cooperation with the Russians? I mean,
the focus has been on the alleged Chinese espionage, but the real
cooperation has been set up with the Russians on their nuclear
stuff.
MR. LOCKHART: I think the Secretary of Energy has spoken
forcefully on this, which is there are important -- there is
important work that gets done at the labs, and there is important
benefits to cooperation. Climate change, for one, is an example
of the kind of work where scientists get together and do work and
it benefits people here at home.
So I think there is a balance that has to be struck. The
President has moved aggressively to make sure that the security
at the labs and the problems with the security at the labs are
addressed. I mean, the budget has been tripled or quadrupled
over the last couple of years. He's brought in a longtime
veteran of the FBI. The Secretary of Energy has reorganized the
way security is done, and we've moved aggressively.
So I think we have to strike the balance, but of course, we
have to make sure that these labs are secure.
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