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Reno to review Wen Ho Lee case with White House

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From CNN's Pierre Thomas and Terry Frieden

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Attorney General Janet Reno is expected to discuss with the president this week her Justice Department's controversial handling of the case against former Los Alamos scientist Wen Ho Lee, according to administration officials.

Without explanation Reno re-scheduled her usual Thursday news briefing for Friday. Justice Department officials would say only that Reno had requested the schedule change.

Reno's Justice Department has been on the defensive since a federal judge last week sharply criticized -- and the president subsequently questioned -- the tactics of federal prosecutors who declared Lee a national security risk, but then reached a plea agreement which granted Lee's freedom.

President Clinton has ordered Chief of Staff John Podesta to lead a review of the investigation and prosecution of the Los Alamos physicist.

Reno's planned exchange with the White House comes as officials privately acknowledge Wen Ho Lee had made copies of some of the 10 tapes he made from downloading sensitive nuclear weapons data from classified computers at Los Alamos.

Sources familiar with the investigation say the prosecutors learned of the copies shortly before the plea bargain was reached.

The plea agreement referred to the additional materials when it spelled out Lee's obligations to provide the government with information on the whereabouts of the tapes he had made, including the seven which have been missing.

The plea agreement said the tapes at issue in the indictment include "any information on the tapes, as well as any copies, printouts, versions, variants, or variations in any medium whatsoever."

The document said Lee agreed to reveal "the manner in which he disposed of the seven tapes... as well as how, where, and when copies of the tapes were made and the manner in which they were disposed."

The FBI is continuing its investigation into Lee's activities, and is scheduled to question Lee under oath beginning September 26 for a period of 10 days over a three-week period, according terms of the plea agreement.

Meanwhile, the Senate Judiciary Committee proceeded with plans to hold a public hearing on the handling of the Lee case next Tuesday -- the same day the FBI begins questioning Lee.

A government official close to the case says the Justice Department did not want a public hearing on the case until after the FBI agents had concluded their critical debriefing of Wen Ho Lee. FBI Director Louis Freeh and Assistant Attorney General James Robinson who heads the criminal division are tentatively scheduled to testify before the committee chaired by Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah.

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