Wen Ho Lee wins battle in Appeals Court Four reporters who used confidential sources in their stories about Dr. Wen Ho Lees supposed role as a Chinese spy, must reveal who leaked the false accusations against the former Los Alamos nuclear scientist. The four reporters are: H. Josef Hebert of the Associated Press, James Risen of The New York Times, Robert Drogan of the Los Angeles Times, and Pierre Thomas, formerly of CNN and now of ABC News. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. has upheld contempt rulings against the reporters for refusing to disclose their informants.
Lee is suing the government for violating the Privacy Act, and the court is fining each of the reporters $500 a day for refusing to reveal their sources. Those fines have been temporarily suspended while the appeals process is taking place.
When he was arrested, Lee, a former code writer at the weapons laboratory, spent nine months in solitary confinement. He was never charged or convicted of espionage. He was finally released in a deal where Lee pleaded guilty to mishandling sensitive data. (Source: Sam Chu Lin, AsianWeek, July 8, 2005).