The problem was, according to my sources, that the jail where he was held was operated on contract by a private company, and only had one way of administering solitary confinement. So Lee found himself treated the same way as a crazed drug dealer who was constantly attacking guards, which was a sort of lockdown. A lot of people in both departments are concerned that the terms of his incarceration fell through the cracks between the various bureaucracies. The investigators haven't necessarily changed their views on Wen Ho Lee, but their evidence fell apart. They could imagine no innocent reason why Lee might have downloaded and removed seven or 10 tapes containing highly sensitive codes used in the design of U.S. nuclear weapons.
Federal investigators believe there was too much hype, and they lost the battle in the public mind.
Part of the problem was that somehow during the feeding frenzy over Chinese nuclear espionage, Lee's name had become synonymous with Chinese spying, and they're sorry about that. They know that he broke the law in downloading that data, but they don't know why he did it. There were always mixed views among the investigators. Some said they thought he was working for a foreign power even though they may never be able to prove it. Others said simply that he broke the law, and that there could be no innocent reason for doing what he did.