Information Dominance, Part 12

We review an article from August 30, 2000: Condoleezza Rice and the Stanford spy ring is reproduced in its entirety, with my enlightening observations interspersed.

On the surface, Condoleezza Rice is the perfect pick for George W. Bush. Rice worked for George Bush Sr. in the White House, handling Russian issues. She is a distinguished fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. Bush insiders have mentioned Rice as being on the short list for Secretary of State.

Rice reportedly is also close with former Clinton Secretary of Defense Dr. William Perry. Rice worked with Perry and the Clinton administration during her term at Stanford. Clinton insiders have also mentioned her as being on the short list for Secretary of State.

On Aug. 1, Condoleezza Rice stated during her speech at the Republican National Convention that George W. Bush is up to speed on communist China.

"I know that he understands the complexities of our relationship with China," stated the former Stanford provost of the Texas governor.

"He believes that conflict between our nations is not inevitable. Yet he recognizes the challenge that the Chinese government poses to our interests and values and the irresistible demand for liberty that can be unleashed by freer trade with its people."

"'I know that he understands the complexities of our relationship with China,' stated the former Stanford provost of the Texas governor."

That's quite an endorsement.

Rice has some experience concerning past free trade issues with China. In 1996, Rice was involved in the largest Chinese army penetration of the Clinton administration. To this day, Condoleezza Rice will not answer questions about her service at Stanford with Chinese Army spy Hua Di.

Hua Di came from a family of prominent Communist officials. Hua Di studied missiles in Russia, and worked in the Chinese ballistic missile program for 24 years. In 1984, Hua Di went to work for the China International Trust and Investment Company (CITIC) a firm part owned by the Chinese army.

In 1989, Hua Di fled China for America during the Tiananmen Square crackdown and joined Stanford University. While at Stanford, Hua Di worked with Condoleezza Rice, Dr. William Perry and Dr. John Lewis. Hua Di spent most of his time documenting Chinese missile systems for the University and the Clinton administration.

This Dr. John Lewis has an impressive background. It is worth recalling from Information Dominance, Part 11 his credentials as a professor emeritus of Chinese politics:

John Lewis is the William Haas Professor of Chinese Politics, emeritus, and an FSI senior fellow by courtesy. He is an expert on Chinese politics, U.S.-China relations, China's nuclear weapons program, and U.S. policy toward Korea. He founded and directed the Center for East Asian Studies, in 1969-1970; the Center for International Security and Arms Control (now the Center for International Security and Cooperation, or CISAC) from 1983 to 1991; and the Northeast Asia-United States Forum on International Policy (now APARC), from 1983 to 1990. He currently directs CISAC's Project on Peace and Cooperation in the Asian-Pacific Region.

With that kind of background, keep in mind this question: How likely is it that Dr. Lewis did not know what was really going on in his dealings with China?

Continuing now with Condoleezza Rice and the Stanford spy ring:

Hua Di also started a little home-based company at Stanford. By 1994, Dr. Lewis of Stanford and Hua Di were in business with the Chinese army. In 1994, Hua Di and Dr. Lewis joined with Chinese Gen. Nie Li -- wife of Chinese warlord Gen. Ding Henggao -- and entered into a joint venture called Galaxy New Technology.

As a result of that joint venture, a secure fiber-optic communication system was exported directly to the Chinese army.

The project, named "Hua Mei," also drew a General Accounting Office report that was sharply critical of the direct transfer to the Chinese army.

The key to the whole transaction was Chinese defector Hua Di. In an interview published by the Far Eastern Economic Review, Hua Di described himself as a "matchmaker." Hua Di also noted that he was a good friend of Gen. Huai Guomo, the Chinese army officer then working for Gen. Ding.

Hua Di was a spy for Communist China. Reading the GAO report, it is amazing how astutely these guys circumvented export safeguards.

Hua's business partner, Dr. Lewis, was also a busy man with two extra jobs. In 1994, Dr. Lewis was officially listed on the U.S. Defense Department payroll as Defense Secretary William Perry's personal "consultant" at the same time he worked on the Hua Mei project. According to documents obtained using the Freedom of Information Act, Lewis was pulling three paychecks: one from Stanford, one from the U.S. Defense Department, and one from the Chinese army.

So this professor emeritus of Chinese politics, on the U.S. government payroll as a consultant to the Secretary of Defense, was also involved in establishing a front company for China, through which the People's Liberation Army acquired sensitive technology.

How likely was it that Dr. Lewis did not know that this project was an espionage effort for the Chinese Army?

In 1994, Dr. Lewis traveled to Beijing with Secretary Perry. Lewis went to China in order to meet with Gen. Ding and his subordinate, Gen. Huai, as a paid consultant to the secretary of defense. At the same time, the Hua Mei deal was completed with the same Chinese generals. The sudden upgrade of Chinese military technology enriched Ding and Lewis.

Gen. Ding's incredible espionage success inside the Clinton administration brought a literal flood of advanced military equipment for the People's Liberation Army. The long list of advanced military equipment obtained by Gen. Ding does not stop with the Hua Mei secure fiber-optic communications system. Ding, reported to be a close and old friend of Dr. Perry, also obtained super computers for nuclear weapons research, missile nose cone design software, special missile manufacturing equipment and multiple nuclear warhead designs.

"Ding ... also obtained super computers for nuclear weapons research, missile nose cone design software, special missile manufacturing equipment and multiple nuclear warhead designs."

It may be worth reviewing my post Enter the Dragon for a look at some of the nuclear weapons technology that China has acquired from the U.S., and where some of that technology may go.

Keep in mind Dr. Lewis' impressive credentials as you consider his role in all this, especially this part: "He is an expert on ... China's nuclear weapons program".

In 1996, then Stanford Provost Condoleezza Rice investigated Dr. John Lewis, Dr. Perry and Hua Di. According to the allegations, some of the documentation used to support the Hua Mei project with the Chinese army was prepared using Stanford resources.

At the time, Rice, as an official of Stanford, was concerned whether Stanford resources had been improperly used to further this Hua Mei deal.

"We'll follow what is a normal process under these circumstances. It's not all that unusual that issues arise concerning conflict of interest," said Rice in 1994.

Nothing ever became of the Stanford investigation. Rice made no comment.

And nothing ever came of her investigation.

Why?

What did she discover?

It is possible that she was threatened by Communist thugs or something like that, and intimidated off the case... but, since then, she became National Security Advisor and now Secretary of State in the Bush-43 Administration. Her boss is the most powerful man in the world -- isn't he? Surely she has no reason to be afraid now -- assuming she ever was afraid.

Like her boss, she is dedicated to doing what it takes to enforce the laws and protect America's national security interests -- right?

So, what ever became of the Stanford investigation?

In December 1997, I tried to contact Chinese missile expert Hua Di at Stanford University in California. Curiously, Hua Di would not grant an interview on missiles or the Hua Mei project.

In fact, immediately after my call, Hua Di suddenly decided to return to China.

On Dec. 31, 1997, Hua returned to China. Later in 1998, the official Chinese press announced that Hua had been arrested and charged with passing state secrets to U.S. officials. In response, the Clinton administration and Condoleezza Rice at Stanford University worked together to lobby the Chinese government. Stanford officials wrote to the Chinese government appealing for Hua's release.

Then Stanford Provost Condoleezza Rice said, "Professor John Lewis had provided evidence to the fact that the source materials for publications written by him and Mr. Hua were provided by approved Chinese authorities or already were available through the Stanford University library."

Suddenly, they were concerned about Hua Di, and Lewis and Rice were working together to keep him out of trouble with China.

That last paragraph was an important one: "Then Stanford Provost Condoleezza Rice said, Professor John Lewis had provided evidence to the fact that the source materials for publications [about the Chinese missile program -- YD] written by him and Mr. Hua were provided by approved Chinese authorities or already were available through the Stanford University library."

So, was Hua Di really in trouble with Beijing?

Dr. Lewis, Dr. Perry and Rice have all refused repeated requests for an interview. Hua Di is in China and unavailable for comment. However, an Aug. 28 article by top reporter Bill Gertz, titled "Chinese Military Gets Lesson In U.S. Thinking," contains an interesting point about Condoleezza Rice, the George W. Bush campaign adviser.

"Mr. Bush's key campaign national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, has said she does not regard China as a threat," noted Gertz in his excellent article.

As provost it was Rice's job to investigate and document the work of Hua Di and Dr. Lewis. Rice did not make public that two top Stanford missile researchers were involved in a business deal to provide the Chinese army a secure communications system. Rice never noted that the Clinton administration's military evaluation of the Chinese missile force is based on the now-in-question Stanford works of Hua Di and Dr. Lewis.

Or, was Beijing actually happy that Hua Di had not only acquired sensitive U.S. technology, but had gone so far as to throw the U.S. off the trail about how advanced China's missile programs were?

It is worth recalling that the source materials for the publications about China's missile program "were provided by approved Chinese authorities", and that work then became the basis of the Clinton Administration's evaluation of the People's Liberation Army's missile force.

Recall also what Condoleezza Rice said about George W. Bush:

"'I know that he understands the complexities of our relationship with China,' stated the former Stanford provost of the Texas governor."

Considering how complex "our relationship with China" really is, that is quite an endorsement.

Condoleezza Rice is reported to have traveled to China in recent years. Her views on China, her close work with the Clinton administration and her involvement in the Hua Mei project raise disturbing and unanswered questions. Today, Rice continues to maintain the Clinton administration fiction that Hua Di was not a spy and nothing happened.

Remember, the article quoted here is from August of 2000.

_________________
**My apologies!**

I just realized that I have been misspelling Condoleezza Rice's name.

Apparently, her first name has two Z's.

How embarrassing; it was not intentional.

Wikipedia had it wrong at one point, too; the page is titled "Condoleezza Rice", but the URL is "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Condoleeza_Rice" -- and there's a note at the page: "(Redirected from Condoleeza Rice)", so apparently I'm not the only one.

Once again, please accept my apologies, and don't worry: I'll have it right on the indictment.