Clinton Administration Delays Cox Report

Clinton Administration Delays Cox Report

20 April, 1999

By the Media Research Center
CNS News Analysis

On Fox News Sunday Congressman Chris Cox charged that the Clinton administration, specifically the Energy Department, is citing illegitimate reasons for delaying the release of the "Cox Report" on U.S. technology transfers to China. He also revealed that believes the Chinese gave money not only to influence the campaign but in order acquire technology.

Fox News Sunday, just like the week before, was the only Sunday show to devote a segment to China. Chris Cox, Chairman of the House Select Committee on China, appeared along with Norm Dicks, the top Democrat. Asked when his long-awaited report would be released, Cox said he hopes to have a declassified version out by the end of the month.

Fred Barnes wondered: "What's been holding up this report? You all finished months ago. Who or what is holding up release of the sanitized version of it?"

Cox diplomatically replied: "We are in extensive negotiations, literally word by word, sentence by sentence, paragraph by paragraph. It's a very long report and when there is an administration objection based on source or method of intelligence gathering we have to walk back that claim and check out who is the source, what needs to be protected and find if there isn't a way to ride around it. More recently we've found that even though we've reached agreement, for example, with the CIA or the FBI, the Department of Energy will have an objection not based on sources or methods but based on some other ground and if declassification is in fact the legitimate aim here, if we're trying to declassify -- not just say that we could classify this if we wished to do so -- then I think those kinds of objections not based on sources and methods are not proper in this circumstance and we're trying to, frankly, turn them around on that."

Tony Snow reminded Cox of the Los Angles Times story about the $300,000 the head of Chinese military intelligence gave to Johnny Chung to donate to the DNC. Cox told Snow that he believes the money was "for purposes, which I'm convinced, extended to the acquisition of technology, not just putting the money into campaigns."

(Editor's Note: The Media Research Center is the parent organization of CNS.)

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