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Reno Calls Taiwan a Spy Threat May 24, 2000 The Clinton administration, in a departure from longtime U.S. policy, has placed Taiwan on the FBI's secret list of hostile intelligence threats, equating Taipei with aggressive spying by Peking and Moscow, according to a report in the Washington Times. Red China, Russia and Taiwan are among 13 nations designated as priorities for FBI intelligence and counterespionage activities, according to a classified memorandum from Attorney General Janet Reno. Based on FBI, Justice, and State Department reports, Reno listed, in order of priority, Russia, Red China, North Korea, Yugoslavia, Serbian-controlled Bosnia, Vietnam, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Sudan and Taiwan. Disclosure of the threat list comes as the House is preparing to vote on legislation that would loosen trade restrictions on Red China. Current and former U.S. intelligence officials said the inclusion of Taiwan on the list appears based on the administration's pro-Peking policies that seek to equate Taiwan in the same threat category as Red China. Asked about the inclusion of Taiwan on the list, Sen. Jon Kyl, Arizona Republican and a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said: "What threat? It's very strange to me that Taiwan would be on this list, especially since other countries that spy on us are not." He added he plans to seek an explanation from intelligence officials. If Taiwan is on the threat list, then India, Pakistan and France also should be added since those nations conduct spying operations against the United States, said a former senior U.S. intelligence official. "This is just for political purposes. The Taiwanese are not in the same league as the other threats and they are the one country on the list that is not a mortal enemy of the United States." Justice Department sources said the memorandum was written by Frances Fragos Townsend, counsel for intelligence policy and a political appointee who is close to Reno. Townsend was criticized in a recent internal Justice Department report for turning down an FBI request for a wiretap of Los Alamos National Laboratory scientist Wen Ho Lee. Lee is the chief suspect in an FBI investigation of Chinese nuclear spying. He was indicted in December for mishandling nuclear secrets. The former intelligence official said the danger from "politicizing" the threat list is that "it has the practical effect of distorting the focus of the FBI and other intelligence community agencies" charged with protecting national security. "It distorts the reality of the threat and confuses people," he said. "I'm really surprised," he said of Taiwan's inclusion on the list. A current U.S. government official involved in Red China issues said putting Taiwan on the threat list reflects the administration's pro-Peking and anti-Taiwan stance. "The administration clearly sees Taiwan as the problem, as a provocateur and troublemaker," he said. Seven of the threat nations are states subject to U.S. sanctions as state sponsors of international terrorism: Cuba, North Korea, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Libya and Sudan. The FBI is charged with thwarting foreign intelligence activities aimed at denying or disrupting computer, cable, satellite or telecommunications services, as well as unauthorized monitoring. The memo was sent by Reno to FBI Director Louis J. Freeh and sets FBI intelligence priorities for 1999 and 2000. It is dated March 8, 1999, and states that it was to be reviewed in March 2000 and approved by December. Another former intelligence official said the FBI has never uncovered an espionage case involving Taiwan.
© 2000 TruthNews. All Rights Reserved. And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
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