OCA on Wen Ho Lee and DOE Racial Profiling
By John Chin
March 7, 2000

OCA National Board members. Chin with members from Long Island, Florida and Northern Virginia.

John Chin, President of the Denver Chapter of the Organization of Chinese Americans (OCA), reports that OCA is taking a strong stand on the Wen Ho Lee case and racial profiling at the Department of Energy (DOE). Chin recently returned from a meeting of the National Board of OCA in Washington, D.C.

Wen Ho Lee

OCA is disturbed that Dr. Lee has not received fair treatment. Wen Ho Lee was indicted by a federal grand jury in Albuquerque, New Mexico on Friday, December 10 of 59 counts of violating the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 and the Federal Espionage Act. The indictment alleges that Wen Ho Lee tampered with, altered, and concealed information concerning the design, construction, use, and testing of nuclear and thermonuclear weapons at Los Alamos National Laboratories. The indictment also covers unlawfully acquiring and removing classified information from the Common File System by downloading the information onto portable computer tapes. Since his arrest, Lee was placed in solitary confinement without bail.

Daphne Kwok, Ex. Director, reporting to national board.

OCA has developed a petition at the last National Board meeting to distribute and collect signatures on a petition which addresses three key points on the Wen-Ho Lee issue: Dr. Lee's release on bail pending his trial, fair treatment and due process in the prosecution of Dr. Lee, and a strong statement against racial profiling. OCA expects to collect over 100,000 signatures. Daphne Kwok, Executive Director of OCA, lists several key points. These are:

~There has been no evidence that Wen-Ho Lee ever passed on classified information to unauthorized third parties or foreign agents.

Jeremy Wu, recently appointed DOE Ombudsman and active OCA member; DOE Secretary Richardson; and Daphne Kwok, OCA Executive Director, OCA, superimposed over Wen Ho Lee image.

~Lee is currently being held in jail without bail. He is a well-established member of the community in New Mexico and has strong family ties in the U.S.

~There have been recent news reports that the FBI lied to Wen-Ho Lee about the results of his polygraph test in an attempt to force him to confess to espionage.

~There have been accusations by a former DOE official that Won-Ho Lee was targeted because he is a Chinese American.

~There have been many complaints from Asian Americans at the Department of Energy and other Federal agencies about discrimination and racial profiling since the Wen-Ho Lee case became public.

~A recent discrimination lawsuit has been filed by Asian American employees at Lawrence Livermore Lab in California. Most of these claims related to salary and promotional discrimination predate the Wen-Ho Lee case.

In a related development, the Clinton administration came under fire Thursday for wide disparities in the way it has prosecuted separate cases of mishandling classified information by former CIA Director John M. Deutch and nuclear scientist Wen Ho Lee, but it denied using a double standard (LA Times, February 4, 2000). For information on the Wen Ho Lee Legal Defense Fund, go to http://www.wenholee.org/

Richardson with George Ong, OCA national president and Michael Lin, past national president

Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson met with the Organization of Chinese Americans National Board on Saturday, January 22 in Washington, D.C. Secretary Richardson, the first Cabinet Secretary to meet with the OCA National Board, spent one hour with the representatives from OCA chapters throughout the country expressing his deep concern for the impact that the Asian Pacific American employees at the National Laboratories are experiencing as a result of the Wen Ho Lee case. Repeatedly, Secretary Richardson reiterated his zero tolerance policy for racial profiling. Daphne Kwok served on a special task force on racial profiling at DOE.

Also present at the meeting was U.S. Commissioner of Civil Rights Yvonne Lee. Newly appointed Department of Energy National Ombudsman Jeremy Wu, an active OCA member, laid out his concerns and agenda in his new job.

Ong is national president of OCA

OCA National President George M. Ong stated, "The OCA National Board appreciates the frankness and concern that Secretary Richardson expressed during his conversation with us. We asked the hard questions that have been on the minds of Chinese Americans and Asian Pacific

Americans all over the country, and Secretary Richardson did not shy away from answering them. We would encourage the Secretary to have more forums with the community to inform them just like he did with the OCA National Board." More information on OCA is available at http://www.ocanatl.org.

Other APA groups engaged in the Wen Ho Lee case and racial profiling at DOE include: Committee of 100; Japanese American Citizens League; National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium; and National Federation of Filipino Associations.

Acting Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, Bill Lann Lee, also spoke to OCA national board.

Bill Lann Lee, Acting Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, the Clinton Administration’s top official in the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, also met with the OCA National Board. Lee has had a long association with OCA. He came to share his continuing concerns about the rise of hate crimes perpetuated against Asian Pacific Americans.

The next National Board meeting of the Organization of Chinese Americans will be held in Denver from Friday, April 28^th to Sunday, April 30^th. For more information on the National Board meeting or local OCA activities, contact John Chin at johnchin@worldnet.att.net.

John Chin is President of the Organization of Chinese Americans, Denver chapter. OCA is dedicated to "embracing the hopes and aspirations of Chinese and Asian Pacific Americans in the United States." Founded in 1973, OCA has 77 chapters and affiliates. It maintains its headquarters in Washington, D.C. The next OCA event will be honoring Chinese Americans who were veterans of World War II. The event will be Friday, April 29th at 7 PM at the Renaissance Hotel. Please contact John Chin for more information.