At 2:06 PM -0700 9/13/00, Eric Cordian wrote:

http://www.newsday.com/ap/national/ap254.htm

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) -- After nine months in solitary confinement, Wen Ho Lee pleaded guilty Wednesday to a single count of mishandling nuclear secrets and was set free by an apologetic judge who said the government's actions ''embarrassed our entire nation.''

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''I sincerely apologize to you, Dr. Lee, for the unfair manner in which you were held in custody by the executive branch,'' Parker said.

Parker said the Departments of Justice and Energy ''have embarrassed our entire nation and each of us who is a citizen of it.''

Lee spent 9 months in solitary confinement and lost significant salary and retirement benefits. This makes it a moral requirement that former Defense Secretary William Perry face a similar period of confinement and similar loss of benefits. Perry has acknowledged downloading top secrets to his home computer and leaving codeword material where his family, housekeepers, and other visitors could have found and copied it. There are a couple of cases of other DOD folks in the same straits. What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. --Tim May -- ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, ComSec 3DES: 831-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, "Cyphernomicon" | black markets, collapse of governments.

At 5:45 PM -0400 9/13/00, Harmon Seaver wrote:

Eric Cordian wrote:

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''I sincerely apologize to you, Dr. Lee, for the unfair manner in which you were held in custody by the executive branch,'' Parker said.

Parker said the Departments of Justice and Energy ''have embarrassed our entire nation and each of us who is a citizen of it.''

Why, then, did he find Lee guilty of a felony? He could have dismissed the charges, eh?

Many things are felonies. I commit between 3 and 5 felonies a month, at least that I know of. In this case, "improperly handling secrets" is a felony. Same kind of mishandling that former DOD Secretary William Perry may be charged with. As to why the deal included this single remaining count, the news stories are filled with much verbosity on this. Stuff about fig leaves, sending messages to other secret holders, etc. You claim to be a librarian...look it up. Now, did this particular felony justify 9 months of solitary confinement, loss of employment and retirement benefits, and so on? And will William Perry and others now face comparable treatments? --Tim May -- ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, ComSec 3DES: 831-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, "Cyphernomicon" | black markets, collapse of governments.

At 6:17 PM -0400 9/13/00, Steven Furlong wrote:

Tim May wrote: ...

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Lee spent 9 months in solitary confinement and lost significant salary and retirement benefits.

This makes it a moral requirement that former Defense Secretary William Perry face a similar period of confinement and similar loss of benefits. Perry has acknowledged downloading top secrets to his home computer and leaving codeword material where his family, housekeepers, and other visitors could have found and copied it.

For once, I am even harsher than Tim, or at least what Tim wrote.

FBI and other agents admitted to making "misleading" statements in their arguments to keep Mr Lee in jail. Every goverment employee involved in "misleading" statements, pressure on Lee's family and friends, and supression of exculpatory evidence should be immediately jailed and held in solitary confinement for some multiple of the time Lee was held.

Those who would monitor and control our behaviour should be held to higher standards than those they would control.

Maybe harsher than what I wrote above, but, as you allude to, not necessarily harsher than what I think. Fact is, government criminals are almost never held accountable for their crimes. Order the killings of innocents...get a transfer and promotion. Write assassination manuals for third world police forces...get a medal. Illegally use FBI files to attack one's political opponents...be told not to do it again. Shoot an unarmed man 31 times in a hail of gunfire...be found innocent. And the gubment types and their court lackeys have written things so that "suing the government" is nearly impossible. Meanwhile, "double jeopardy" is being rolled-back on almost a daily basis. Prosecutors are congratulating themselves when they find loopholes and new laws which allow them to "take a second bite of the apple." Fucking creeps. --Tim May -- ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, ComSec 3DES: 831-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, "Cyphernomicon" | black markets, collapse of governments.

At 6:49 PM -0400 9/13/00, Harmon Seaver wrote:

Tim May wrote:

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As to why the deal included this single remaining count, the news stories are filled with much verbosity on this. Stuff about fig leaves, sending messages to other secret holders, etc.

You claim to be a librarian...look it up.

The question was rhetorical, Tim. I followed all the news reports, etc. It's bullshit -- Lee gets totally screwed, since the files he downloaded weren't (or so the news story goes) even classified material when he downloaded them, only later to cover the government's ass. My question remains - if the judge really felt he was getting screwed, all he had to do was dismiss the case.

They rarely just dismiss a case...that redounds negatively on the government's side (and the judge would not be paranoid in thinking that one of the many covert ops ninjas might make a car bomb mysteriously appear under his seat one fine morning). Lee had no power. He was being held in solitary confinement, in shackles at times. The government held all the cards, though there hand was falling apart as time passed. They wrote the plea agreement, Lee signed it, the judge then accepted it. Again, this was all covered ad nauseum in the articles. --Tim May -- ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, ComSec 3DES: 831-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, "Cyphernomicon" | black markets, collapse of governments.

At 4:04 AM -0400 9/14/00, Bill Stewart wrote:

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Tim May wrote: ...

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Lee spent 9 months in solitary confinement and lost significant salary and retirement benefits.

That's why it was critical that Lee be guilty of *something*, at least one charge, so he doesn't have a strong position for suing the Feds for big bucks individually and organizationally. He may still have some ability to do that, but I'd be surprised if the plea bargain deal didn't address it somehow, even if it's not in the part that's in the press.

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This makes it a moral requirement that former Defense Secretary William Perry face a similar period of confinement and similar loss of benefits. Perry has acknowledged downloading top secrets to his home computer and leaving codeword material where his family, housekeepers, and other visitors could have found and copied it.

Was that Perry, or Deutch? I think I saw recently that Deutch _is_ getting his wrist slapped somewhat hard now.

You may be right. It may be Deutch, not Perry. I get those two guys confused all the time. --Tim May -- ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, ComSec 3DES: 831-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, "Cyphernomicon" | black markets, collapse of governments.