Government wants manuscript on Chinese nukes kept under wraps
By The Associated Press
11.14.02
WASHINGTON — Government attorneys argued this week that a draft of a book on China's nuclear program by a former Energy Department worker contains classified material and should not be shared with the scientist's attorney.
The government has spent nearly three years reviewing the manuscript by former Los Alamos National Laboratory intelligence chief Danny Stillman, but continues to refuse to allow the book to be published, citing references on roughly 50 of the 500 pages that the Defense Department and CIA contend compromise national security.
U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan ordered in June that the government release the manuscript to Stillman's attorney, Mark Zaid, to ensure that Stillman has adequate counsel and to help expedite a resolution to the case. Zaid has a security clearance allowing access to material classified as "Secret."
But Justice Department attorney Mark B. Stern told a three-judge federal appeals panel on Nov. 12 that disclosing the information to Zaid creates a possibility that the sensitive material in the manuscript could inadvertently be made public, damaging national security.
Stern asked the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to reverse Sullivan's order and allow the government to keep the book under wraps.
Zaid argued that he needs to see the portions of the book in question to help defend his client.
"The government position in this case not only tramples Mr. Stillman's rights, but forestalls any representation for anyone in the intelligence community," he said.
Judge Merrick B. Garland raised questions as to whether Sullivan had done all he could to determine on his own if the material should remain classified, ordering the release of the manuscript to Zaid.
It could take several months for the appeals court to rule on this week's arguments.
Stillman, who spent 28 years working at Los Alamos, including 14 as head of the intelligence division, made nine trips to China between 1990 and 1998, visiting a nuclear test site and nuclear lab, meeting with scientists and attending lectures.
Based on the trips, he wrote his 500-page manuscript entitled Inside China's Nuclear Weapons Program, in which he asserts China did not resort to espionage — as some have alleged — to advance its nuclear weapons program.
Stillman submitted his manuscript for government review in January 2000, a requirement for employees with security clearance and it has been in government hands ever since.
Stillman has also submitted another chapter based on a 10th China trip that the government is also reviewing.