Representatives of 20 Asian-American organizations in California protested his treatment on Thursday, in one of at least eight demonstrations around the United States. Local organizations from Los Angeles neighborhoods of Koreatown, Chinatown and Little Tokyo say Mr. Lee is receiving harsh treatment because of his race. That's how we see it, because in our legal system people are innocent until they are proven guilty. And there are many more people who have committed similar or more severe code violations that remain free and were not charged. He lost his security clearance last year, but did not face criminal charges.
Federal officials respond that the two cases are very different.
They say Mr. Lee first drew their attention in 1982, and in the 1990s he systematically copied thousands of pages of files. In 1995, he came under investigation by the Energy Deapartment, which runs U-S nuclear labs. When the trial begins, the government says it will prove Mr. Lee jeopardized nearly every U-S nuclear secret through his unauthorized copying. Most alarming, they say, some of the files that he copied are now missing. Mr. Lee's supporters ask the U-S Department of Justice to reexamine the evidence, and if they still want to prosecute, to release Mr. Lee on bail until his trial date.