W ith a U.S. congressional committee poised to release a report on alleged Chinese spying at U.S. nuclear facilities, the political furor in Washington over the theft of U.S. military secrets is certain to escalate, and could cause serious political repercussions in the United States and in its foreign relations. Some information from the investigation, headed by U.S. Republican Rep. Christopher Cox of California, has already been divulged. Among the report's charges are allegations that China stole classified information on seven nuclear weapons that form the bulk of the U.S. modern nuclear arsenal, such as technology related to the development of miniature nuclear warheads. Miniature warheads are key to the development of submarine-based nuclear forces and multiple-warhead missiles.
If the Cox report's accusations are true, then U.S. national security has been compromised. No one doubts Washington must take steps to strengthen its antiespionage measures. However, there is the real danger that the political uproar fueled by the report could cause Capitol Hill to overreact and, ironically, pass measures that would further compromise U.S. security rather than enhance it.
It is only May, but the halls of Capital Hill are already heating up. Spurred on by suspicions that former Los Alamos National Laboratory scientist Wen Ho Lee, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Taiwan, passed nuclear secrets to China, Congress has drawn up legislation that would prevent foreign scientists from countries deemed "sensitive" from visiting U.S. nuclear research laboratories unless they receive special authorization.