Cliff Stearns: “recently Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson stated, ``I can assure the American people that their nuclear secrets are…”

“recently Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson stated, ``I can assure the American people that their nuclear secrets are now safe at the labs.'' Somehow I do not think the American people believe him. In fact, the unanimous conclusion of the Cox Committee is also at odds with the Secretary's reassurance. The committee concludes that ``such thefts almost certainly continue to the present day.'' I am quite distressed at the reaction of the administration's spokesmen who even to this very day are downplaying the significance of the Cox report finding. And, of course, they are changing the subject. The big news is not that our nuclear secrets were stolen. The incomprehensible news is what this administration has done about it when it was discovered in 1995 that the crown jewel of our nuclear arsenal, the W-88, was stolen by the Communist Chinese. No one told the President. The Justice Department denied the FBI's request for a wiretap on the clear and obvious suspect. The issue, my colleagues, is what was done in 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998 and 1999.”