No one doubts the seriousness of the charge of mishandling nuclear secrets. But from the start, the charges leveled against Los Alamos scientist Dr. Wen Ho Lee have smacked of political McCarthyism to many in the Asian American community. PNS commentator George Koo is a business consultant and political activist in Silicon Valley. His email is gekoo@dttus.com.

SILICON VALLEY -- Chinese Americans across the country regard the indictment of Dr. Wen Ho Lee on charges of mishandling nuclear secrets as a travesty of justice, one which affects the future of all Asian Americans.

Just what is it that sticks in our craw about this case? Consider the following:

Dr. Lee has not been charged with espionage, despite a year of government claims that he, a native of Taiwan, was a spy for China. Instead, under statutes 2275 and 2276 of the Atomic Energy Act, he has been charged with receiving and tampering with information relating to national security -- the first and only person ever charged under these statutes. Significantly, he was not charged with violating the next statute, 2277, which prohibits disclosure of information relating to national security.

At the core of the 59 counts against Dr. Lee is this: he downloaded and reloaded secure data. The lead prosecutor has just about conceded in public that he does not expect the charges which carry life imprisonment to stick.

The defense will argue that Dr. Lee is a victim of selective prosecution, and will introduce evidence of at least 30 instances in which secure data were similarly mishandled by others but no charges were brought.

Defense attorneys repeatedly offered to have Dr. Lee undergo polygraph tests -- the same tests the Energy Department has now installed to safeguard Los Alamos secrets -- to clarify and verify certain issues relating to missing computer tapes. The prosecution refused all offers. To date, the prosecutor has also failed to provide a list of the allegedly missing tapes to the defense.

By arresting Dr. Lee on a Friday afternoon -- rather than contacting his attorney and requesting that he be brought in -- prosecutors ensured that he would be held for at least a weekend before bail could be arranged.

In a further effort to intimidate Dr. Lee in hopes of bargaining a guilty plea to lesser charges, the prosecution has asked that he be detained without bail for the duration of the case, even though he hardly fits the profile of a "flight risk." Dr. Lee owns property, has family in the United States and has cooperated with the prosecution throughout the process, including turning in his American passport.

Given the more than 1000 FBI interviews, 1 million computer files and mounds of documents the defense must now review, the case will likely take one to two years to prepare before it can come to trial.

Up to now, the defense has studiously followed the letter of the law and never attempted to try the case via deliberate leaks to the media. The prosecution, by contrast, has been trying the case in the in the news media since March 7, 1999 when the New York Times, quoting unnamed sources, reported that the government was about to arrest a Chinese American scientist for espionage. As reputable attorneys have rallied to Dr. Lee's defense, along with prominent national Asian American organizations like the Committee of 100, the defense has begun to capture media attention.

Underscoring the political nature of the case, Attorney General Janet Reno, Energy Secretary Bill Richardson, National Security Advisor Sandy Berger, FBI director Louis Freeh and others met with top White House staff the weekend before Dr. Lee's arrest to debate the merits of the case. Not everyone was reportedly in favor of pressing on. Nevertheless, the Clinton administration opted to appease its political adversaries. Dr. Lee, already a victim of racial profiling, in the words of former Los Alamos security chief Robert Vrooman, is now the White House's newest scapegoat.

In view of these facts, the message is clear. If Asian Americans stay home and keep quiet about the case of Wen Ho Lee, you better plan to apologize to your children and grandchildren later. To any American of conscience with a love for this country, regardless of ethnicity, you must speak out because a major underpinning of what makes this country great is being discarded in favor of bigotry, racial prejudice and political expediency.