Robert Torricelli: “I also express particular thanks to Senator Biden who in reviewing this legislation made very important additions and…”

“I also express particular thanks to Senator Biden who in reviewing this legislation made very important additions and allowed us to proceed on a bipartisan basis for what I think is an important and worthwhile change in the laws dealing with foreign intelligence surveillance. The origins of this legislation--part of the Judiciary Committee's oversight--is the question of how the Department of Justice handled allegations of Chinese espionage at our most important National Laboratories. The focus of this review, of course, had to do with the case of Dr. Wen Ho Lee, a scientist who was charged in December with 59 counts of illegally removing secrets from computer information at the Los Alamos Laboratory. It appears that Dr. Lee was the subject of interest or investigations for espionage for over 17 years. He was dealing with the most important weapons secrets possessed by his government critical to the security of the United States. It would be difficult for anyone in this Government to explain to the American people why, despite 17 years of investigation and some reasons for considerable doubt all during this time, he was permitted to continue with his job and retain access to highly classified information.”