Reality Check

temp2.jpg (27040 bytes)

September 5, 1998

Where’s Our Missing
Circuit Board?

Perhaps President Clinton can look for top secret technology while in China for two weeks

A joint hearing conducted yesterday by the House National Security and International Relations Committees has revealed that the Chinese may have ‘stolen’—according to the New York Times—secret American technology that helps orbiting satellites talk to Earth—in violation of a five year old agreement between the U.S. and China.

A report in today’s New York Times on the hearings says, "A secret encoded circuit board containing sensitive technology was missing from the wreckage of an American satellite aboard a Chinese rocket that exploded in 1996, and American officials said Tuesday they suspected that Chinese authorities took the board."

American military monitors were on hand February 15, 1996 near the launch site in southern China. But according to testimony yesterday, the Chinese barred them from the crash site for five hours. "When the Americans finally reached the area and opened the battered but intact control box of the satellite, a supersecret encoded circuit board was missing," reports the New York Times.

It was also revealed yesterday that the Justice Department is investigating yet another failed Chinese launch that may have resulted in the Chinese obtaining sensitive American technology. According to today’s Washington Post: "The Justice Department has expanded its investigation into the transfer of sensitive U.S. space technology to China to examine a case in which Hughes Electronics Corp. gave technical data to China in 1995 after a Chinese rocket carrying a Hughes-made telecommunications satellite exploded shortly after launch."

1010 Longworth House Office Building · Washington, DC 20515 · (202) 225-5107