CDR: Re: Is this Reno/wiretap stat true?

[David Marshall]

"James A. Donald" <jamesd at echeque.com> writes:

>      --
>  > At 01:29 PM 11/19/2000 -0500, George at orwellian.org wrote:
>  > Found in Usenet:
>  >
>  > #    I don't know if Reno is a traitor, but consider this:
>  > #    Between 1992 and 1997, there were approximately 2,500
>  > #    national security wiretaps requested by the FBI.  Only one
>  > #    of these 2,500 requests was turned down:  Wen Ho Lee's!  And
>  > #    this turndown took place while Wen Ho Lee was still
>  > #    downloading nuclear secrets from Lost Alamos.
>  >
>  > True/False?
> 
> 
> Any new, important and surprising fact reported on usenet without source or 
> explanation is almost certainly a lie.

That's always good advice to go by. 

In this particular case, I recall hearing a claim that only one
wiretap was turned down, and that one was to be exercised on Wen Ho
Lee, but I don't recall the total number of requests. The source for
this was the Rush Limbaugh Show, so make of it what you will.

Not to defend the Butcher of Waco by any means, but we also don't know
the circumstances surrounding the wiretap. Maybe it's true, though
unlikely, that all the other wiretap requests had evidence behind
them, while the one for Wen Ho Lee took the form "We think this guy is
doing something bad. We don't know what, but he ate Dim Sum this
morning, and we're worried that he might like more than just Chinese
food." Of course, that's never stopped the government from approving
wiretaps before. :)