Shelby: Reno should resign over China espionage probe.
http://cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1999/05/23/china.spy/
May 23, 1999 Web posted at: 7:21 p.m. EDT (2321 GMT)
WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, May 23) -- The Senate Intelligence Committee's top Republican called Sunday for the resignation of Attorney General Janet Reno over her department's "indefensible" handling of an investigation into charges of Chinese espionage at U.S. nuclear labs.
"She has shown that there is no leadership in the Justice Department," said Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Alabama). "She has botched this investigation -- she and her top lieutenants -- and for the sake of the nation, she should leave now and take her top lieutenants with her."
In response, White House officials said the president has full confidence in Reno.
Meanwhile, just two days before a House select committee is set to release a report expected to be highly critical of the Clinton administration's handling of the espionage allegations, another Cabinet official, Energy Secretary Bill Richardson, continued to defend his agency's actions during the episode.
"We want to correct the problem. We are moving ahead very strongly," he said Sunday on ABC's "This Week" program. "We have to move on to prevent any of this from happening again."
But Richardson also cautioned critics not to "overdramatize" the damage that might have been done by spying at the nuclear labs, which are operated by his department.
"We cannot politicize this issue. We cannot overdramatize conclusions that we don't know, about exactly what the thefts constituted," he said.
"We have to put this in perspective. We have 6,000 strategic warheads. The Chinese have close to 23. Now this doesn't mean that we're overlooking the damage that may have been caused. But to say right now that this is enormously damaging, we don't know," he said.
http://cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1999/05/23/china.spy/
May 23, 1999 Web posted at: 7:21 p.m. EDT (2321 GMT)
WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, May 23) -- The Senate Intelligence Committee's top Republican called Sunday for the resignation of Attorney General Janet Reno over her department's "indefensible" handling of an investigation into charges of Chinese espionage at U.S. nuclear labs.
"She has shown that there is no leadership in the Justice Department," said Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Alabama). "She has botched this investigation -- she and her top lieutenants -- and for the sake of the nation, she should leave now and take her top lieutenants with her."
In response, White House officials said the president has full confidence in Reno.
Meanwhile, just two days before a House select committee is set to release a report expected to be highly critical of the Clinton administration's handling of the espionage allegations, another Cabinet official, Energy Secretary Bill Richardson, continued to defend his agency's actions during the episode.
"We want to correct the problem. We are moving ahead very strongly," he said Sunday on ABC's "This Week" program. "We have to move on to prevent any of this from happening again."
But Richardson also cautioned critics not to "overdramatize" the damage that might have been done by spying at the nuclear labs, which are operated by his department.
"We cannot politicize this issue. We cannot overdramatize conclusions that we don't know, about exactly what the thefts constituted," he said.
"We have to put this in perspective. We have 6,000 strategic warheads. The Chinese have close to 23. Now this doesn't mean that we're overlooking the damage that may have been caused. But to say right now that this is enormously damaging, we don't know," he said.
