China Stole US Weapons Secrets

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WASHINGTON (AP) -- China is a few years away from fielding improved nuclear weapons with the help of classified information gained by spying on the United States, according to a U.S. intelligence damage assessment of Chinese espionage.

In addition to gaining improved weaponry, including lightweight warheads for use on multiple-warhead ICBMs, China may also be more likely to spread its older weapons technology to other countries as its own weaponry improves, a U.S. intelligence team concluded.

In a long-awaited damage assessment, administration officials disclosed Wednesday for the first time that China gathered classified information not just on the W-88 warhead and the neutron bomb but on ``several'' modern U.S. warheads -- particularly ``re-entry vehicles,'' the nuclear weapons mounted on multiple-warhead rockets.

The assessment made clear that China's espionage efforts were likely to continue.

``China obtained at least basic design information on several modern U.S. re-entry vehicles,'' according to an unclassified version of the assessment. ``Significant deficiencies remain in the Chinese weapons program. The Chinese almost certainly are using aggressive collection efforts to address deficiencies.''

China has denied the espionage charges, saying its own scientists achieved improvements in nuclear weapons design.

In terms of damage to U.S. national security, the conclusions of the new assessment were guarded.

U.S. intelligence said it could not determine whether China has passed classified U.S. nuclear information to other countries. But the assessment reasoned that ``Having obtained more modern U.S. nuclear technology, the Chinese might be less concerned about sharing their older technology.''

The assessment also emphasized that China has yet to deploy an improved weapon based on the information obtained through espionage at the U.S. nuclear weapons laboratories and elsewhere.

``To date, the aggressive Chinese collection effort has not resulted in any apparent modernization of their deployed strategic force or any new nuclear weapons deployment,'' the assessment concluded.

But a senior intelligence official speaking on condition of anonymity said the multi-agency assessment team predicted in its classified report that China would field improved weapons within a few years.

As a result of the loss of secrets, ``future Chinese weapons will look more like ours,'' the official said.

The Chinese weapons intelligence-gathering effort exploited open as well as classified sources, the former including such venues such as public conferences and scientific exchanges.

President Clinton, who was briefed on the findings Wednesday, ordered a review to assess potential vulnerability to espionage beyond the U.S. nuclear weapons laboratories.

``Measures to protect sensitive nuclear weapons information must be constantly scrutinized,'' Clinton said in a statement.

Republicans have accused his administration of being lax in responding to the FBI's initial concerns in 1995 about possible Chinese espionage at U.S. weapons labs. The issue followed on the heels of allegations that the administration promoted commercial satellite exports that allowed Beijing to improve its ballistic missiles.
The FBI's nuclear weapons lab probe focused on a Taiwanese-born American at Los Alamos National Laboratory, N.M., suspected of passing nuclear secrets to China. The probe came to light this year.

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Shelby said the briefing Wednesday made it clear that Chinese spying continued into the Clinton administration. Clinton has said he knows of no espionage breaches at the weapons labs during his tenure.

``It confirms my worst fears,'' Shelby, R-Ala., said of the damage assessment. ``We made it easy for the Chinese because of weak security at our national labs. ... We took too long to find out what was going on and we still don't know how deep and wide the problem is.''

Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said that while the report ``demonstrates a terrible intelligence failure'' by the United States, the long-term security implications are less clear because the Chinese have not yet fielded new weapons.

China has an estimated 18 to 20 ICBMs and perhaps 400 short- and medium-range missiles -- all with single-warhead nuclear weapons. This arsenal pales in comparison to the U.S. cache of about 10,000 nuclear warheads.

Beijing decided not to try to keep up quantitatively in the arms race. Instead, it is trying to improve the credibility of its nuclear threat by improving its retaliatory capability, according to the intelligence assessment. Doing so involves developing lighter, more mobile and therefore more survivable warheads, such as the W-88, a miniaturized warhead mounted on the eight-warhead Trident II submarine-launched missile.

The multi-agency assessment team led Robert Walpole, the CIA official in charge of strategic and nuclear issues, was overseen by an outside panel of experts headed by retired Adm. David Jeremiah.