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May 27, 1999, Thursday ,FINAL

SECTION: TELEGRAPH ,4A

LENGTH: 713 words

HEADLINE: Push is on for tighter control of U.S. technology; Blocking computer exports to China proposed to limit damage from stolen secrets

SOURCE: FROM WIRE REPORTS

BODY:
WASHINGTON -- Responding to a House report on Chinese espionage, members of Congress pledged yesterday to push proposals increasing security at U.S. weapons laboratories and tightening controls on technology exports to China.

In the Senate, the defense bill was expected to be used to advance plans to increase monitoring of Chinese rocket launches and to beef up security and background checks at the Energy Department's nuclear weapons labs.

Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, alluding to the reports of Chinese espionage, said: "I don't think we should rush to judgment. We should understand the full ramifications of what happened here." Lott proposed a package of proposals for inclusion in the $288.8 billion defense spending bill for 2000 that the Senate was debating yesterday. Lott's package would:

Require the president to notify Congress about investigations of satellite- technology transfers and give the CIA more power to review technology export licenses.

Put the FBI in charge of background checks for DOE weapons laboratory workers.

Require the Defense Department to strengthen its program monitoring Chinese civilian rocket launches.

Sen. Bob Graham, a Florida Democrat, said he would propose a bipartisan commission that would conduct a government-wide review of all counterintelligence activities.

One proposal under consideration would require that a new senior official at the Energy Department oversee all department research labs and report directly to Congress. The labs traditionally have had wide independence. The Clinton administration has signaled it would oppose such a plan.

Meanwhile, the two principal authors of the 871-page House select committee report on China's 20- year campaign to steal America's nuclear secrets made the rounds of Capitol Hill with briefings before both Senate and House committees.

Rep. Christopher Cox, a California Republican, said Congress could possibly forestall China from being able to convert the U.S. warhead design information into deployable weapons.

"The question is," added Rep. Norm Dicks, a Washington Democrat who joined Cox in the briefings, "can China take what they have stolen and produce an actual weapon. We've got to watch this to see what happens."

Appearing before the House International Relations Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific, the two lawmakers urged Congress to tighten controls on the sale of high-power computers and satellite technology to China. Such sales could aid China in using stolen U.S. weapon design material to create a new generation of nuclear missiles, Cox and Dicks said.

Restrictions on technology sales to China must come in conjunction with America's allies, including Europe and Japan, Cox said.

For the United States to impose restrictions unilaterally "would be the worst of all possible worlds" because China would get the technology elsewhere, but U.S. businesses and workers would be harmed, Cox said.

In addition to extensive theft of nuclear secrets from weapons labs dating back to the 1970s, Cox concluded that China gained considerable military knowledge from three failed launches in China of U.S. satellites.

Information provided by U.S. satellite manufacturers in trying to correct satellite launch problems helped improve the reliability of China's military rockets, according to the report by Cox's committee.

Cox said Congress should act to expand U.S. civilian satellite launch capabilities so private companies would not seek out the Chinese for launches.

Industry executives and independent analysts warned that the proposed restrictions -- particularly that the government verify that China does not use American-made computers for military purposes -- would result in lost sales without enhancing the national security.

"Our biggest concern is that the industry will end up losing market share to foreign competitors without accomplishing any strategic goal," Dan Hoydysh, trade policy director for computer-maker Unisys Corp, said Tuesday.

Although industry spokesmen declined to directly attack the report, their comments made clear that they felt unfairly lumped with alleged spies at government labs and with defense contractors accused of knowingly violating export control laws.

LOAD-DATE: May 28, 1999