# Did Clinton REALLY sell/give nuclear/missle secrets to China/North Korea? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 7, 2004, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-clinton-really-sell-give-nuclear-missle-secrets-to-china-north-korea/223211 "2004-01-07T14:49:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2004, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-clinton-really-sell-give-nuclear-missle-secrets-to-china-north-korea/223211/21 "2004-01-07T21:22:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Libertarian \* > \*\*Ad Verecundiam, much? \*\* [_You keep using that word. I don’t think it means what you think it means._](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/search.php?s=&action=showresults&searchid=1099712&sortby=lastpost&sortorder=descending) To avoid further embarrassment, you should probably read up on what [Appeal to Authority](http://philosophy.lander.edu/logic/authority.html) really means. In the meantime, I will assume since you do not challenge my facts, you accept my conclusion. Please come back when you have something meaningful to contribute. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2004, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-clinton-really-sell-give-nuclear-missle-secrets-to-china-north-korea/223211/22 "2004-01-07T22:55:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by furt \* > I don’t think even Rush Limbaugh or Pat Buchanan would say this, it’s so insane. Here’s an article from Pat Buchanan doing exactly that. [link.](http://www.buchanan.org/pa-98-0424.html) ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2004, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-clinton-really-sell-give-nuclear-missle-secrets-to-china-north-korea/223211/23 "2004-01-07T23:05:48Z")
**El Mariachi** , [Here](http://209.157.64.200/focus/f-news/998148/posts) is a pretty good tin-foil-hat summary/screed of the “Clinton is a treasonous cocksucker for the Chinese” argument from the right. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2004, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-clinton-really-sell-give-nuclear-missle-secrets-to-china-north-korea/223211/24 "2004-01-07T23:10:22Z")
And [here](http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/resources/1999/cox.report/) is a summary of the aforementioned Cox Report that claims the PRC stole plans for the W-88 warhead from us. Pretty much no evidence is given that this happened, but what the heck. > [@](#): > > The PRC thefts from our National Laboratories began at least as early as the late 1970s, and significant secrets are known to have been stolen as recently as the mid-1990s. Such thefts almost certainly continue to the present. This is all, of course, obviously Bill Clinton’s fault. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2004, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-clinton-really-sell-give-nuclear-missle-secrets-to-china-north-korea/223211/25 "2004-01-07T23:22:08Z")
Ah, here we go – an actual substantive refutation of this pile of allegations. Take it for what it’s worth. Thanks Google! [This page](http://www.ceip.org/programs/npp/catopres.html) summarizes the charges and is highly critical of the Cox committee report and the circumstances surrounding it. > [@](#): > > In brief, the Cox Committee report, like the Rumsfeld Commission before it, has taken a real problem and hyper-inflated it for political purposes. > > The Committee had spent most of its time in 1998 investigating charges that critical technology was transferred to the PRC by major US corporations while using Chinese rockets to launch American satellites. Many in the Republican leadership had hoped this investigation would lead to impeachment charges against the President. A number of Republican leaders went to the floor of the House and Senate and accused the President of treason for allegedly facilitating this transfer of information. These charges could not be substantiated. The Cox Committee then hurriedly took testimony from only three witnesses on the nuclear weapons security issue: DOE intelligence official Notra Trulock, a CIA analyst, and a Los Alamos employee. The Cox report basically presents the Notra Trulock view of China, unchallenged and unbalanced. So, apparently, this whole issue seems to have the same high standing as any number of made-up anti-Clinton tripe from the right. That is, none. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2004, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-clinton-really-sell-give-nuclear-missle-secrets-to-china-north-korea/223211/26 "2004-01-08T15:15:39Z")
Nobody seems to have absorbed the fact that the whole “Wen-Ho Lee” affair was a witch hunt, orchestrated by then Energy Secretary Bill Richardson. Mr. Lee was imprisoned, and held on the flimsiest of charges. The judge on the case apologized to Mr. Lee-but Bill Richardson refused to talk about it…even Bill Clinton was appalled by the shoddy treatment of Mr. Lee-though (in typical Clinton fashion), he never did anything about it! (I think that after the whole thing was over, Bill actually said that he was “disturbed” by the affair-smal comfort to Mr. Lee and his family!) ---
**Author:** ![Beagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Beagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beagle)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2004, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-clinton-really-sell-give-nuclear-missle-secrets-to-china-north-korea/223211/27 "2004-01-08T15:31:38Z")
[It’s not about Clinton.](http://www.nti.org/db/china/coxrev.htm) But just as he takes credit for the economy contemporaneous with his administration, he gets the “credit” for Chinese nuclear modernization. As for the usual “right-wing” accusations and bluster, ho-hum. Wait a decade and we might find out part of the real story. Alger Hiss comes to mind. Left: “He’s Innocent!” “He’s Innocent!” “He’s Innocent!” “He’s Innocent!” [conclusive evidence proves he spied for the Soviets] Left: “Spying for the Soviets wasn’t that bad!” “Spying for the Soviets wasn’t that bad!” “Spying for the Soviets wasn’t that bad!” “Spying for the Soviets wasn’t that bad!” “Look, over there, a picture of Joe McCarthy!” ---
**Author:** ![WhoBeen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c5a1d2/32.png) [@WhoBeen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhoBeen)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-clinton-really-sell-give-nuclear-missle-secrets-to-china-north-korea/223211/28 "2013-01-08T04:23:59Z")
> [@El\_Mariachi](#): > > I see conservatives complain about this all the time, yet I’ve never seen an article about it… its like they’re getting this information from talk show hosts or something. I would assume if Clinton actually did such treachorous acts the conservatives would impeach him for that instead of who he slept with. > > I tried searching a bit and really couldn’t find much. So either I’m an idiot and don’t know how to use a search function (very possible), or Clinton never did any such thing. Can you help me? If you have links to articles listing either way, it would be helpful. I want to either dispel this myth once and for all, or suck it up and move on. > > edit: sell or give in title. Clinton never sold…he gave it away; [http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2003/9/29/25139.shtml](http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2003/9/29/25139.shtml) > [@](#): > > Newly declassified documents show that President Bill Clinton personally approved the transfer to China of advanced space technology that can be used for nuclear combat. > The documents show that in 1996 Clinton approved the export of radiation hardened chip sets to China. The specialized chips are necessary for fighting a nuclear war. > > “Waivers may be granted upon a national interest determination,” states a Commerce Department document titled “U.S. Sanctions on China.” > > “The President has approved a series of satellite related waivers in recent months, most recently in November, 1996 for export of radiation hardened chip sets for a Chinese meteorological satellite,” noted the Commerce Department documents. > > These special computer chips are designed to function while being bombarded by intense radiation. Radiation hardened chips are considered critical for atomic warfare and are required by advanced nuclear tipped missiles. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-clinton-really-sell-give-nuclear-missle-secrets-to-china-north-korea/223211/29 "2013-01-08T04:28:13Z")
**Please note that this thread was opened in January 2004.** ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-clinton-really-sell-give-nuclear-missle-secrets-to-china-north-korea/223211/30 "2013-01-08T04:28:31Z")
> [@WhoBeen](#): > > “In all likelihood we will be glowing in the dark before we discover the true extent of the Clinton decade of betrayal,” stated Rick Fisher, Asian Security Fellow at the Center for Security Policy. That’s some hilarious scaremongering. Other top stories on the Center for Security Policy include: “No Christmas future for the Middle East?” “Al Gore Profits from the Stealth Jihad” “Center Report Reveals Radical Islamist Views and Agenda of Senior State Department Official Huma Abedin’s Mother” ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-clinton-really-sell-give-nuclear-missle-secrets-to-china-north-korea/223211/31 "2013-01-08T04:45:05Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > “Al Gore Profits from the Stealth Jihad” Ah, so that’s what those burkas are really all about. It’s not about the oppression of women; they’re all actually ninjas! ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-clinton-really-sell-give-nuclear-missle-secrets-to-china-north-korea/223211/32 "2013-01-08T05:19:56Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > “Center Report Reveals Radical Islamist Views and Agenda of Senior State Department Official Huma Abedin’s Mother” Her mom? They couldn’t pin more on her than her poor choice in husbands and now I’m supposed to be scared of her mom? ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-clinton-really-sell-give-nuclear-missle-secrets-to-china-north-korea/223211/33 "2013-01-08T05:37:17Z")
> [@furt](#): > > Do you have a cite where someone other than a crackpot conspiracy theorist actually alleges this? I’m not sure if this qualifies, but here’s one from Sen. James Inhofe: [http://inhofe.senate.gov/pressreleases/chinaupdate.html](http://inhofe.senate.gov/pressreleases/chinaupdate.html) Obviously, you’ve ruled out anyone on Fox News. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-clinton-really-sell-give-nuclear-missle-secrets-to-china-north-korea/223211/34 "2013-01-08T05:45:58Z")
No, it’s not true. But Ronnie Reagan’s brain, Lt. Col. Oliver North did give missiles to the Ayatollah. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-clinton-really-sell-give-nuclear-missle-secrets-to-china-north-korea/223211/35 "2013-01-08T05:59:59Z")
The NewsMax article **WhoBeen** quoted from is from 2003, by the way. Somehow that part of the scandal failed to take root. ---
**Author:** ![fumster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9c0ed/32.png) [@fumster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fumster)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-clinton-really-sell-give-nuclear-missle-secrets-to-china-north-korea/223211/36 "2013-01-08T06:53:37Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > No, it’s not true. But Ronnie Reagan’s brain, Lt. Col. Oliver North did give missiles to the Ayatollah. Col North was Reagan’s dick, not his brain. Donald Regan was his brain. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-clinton-really-sell-give-nuclear-missle-secrets-to-china-north-korea/223211/37 "2013-01-08T10:51:57Z")
> [@Beagle](#): > > [It’s not about Clinton.](http://www.nti.org/db/china/coxrev.htm) But just as he takes credit for the economy contemporaneous with his administration, he gets the “credit” for Chinese nuclear modernization. > > As for the usual “right-wing” accusations and bluster, ho-hum. Wait a decade and we might find out part of the real story. Only twelve more months to go! BTW, neat to see how the Right was once “scared of Howard Dean.” ---
**Author:** ![powhatan\_bolling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@powhatan\_bolling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/powhatan_bolling)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2013, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-clinton-really-sell-give-nuclear-missle-secrets-to-china-north-korea/223211/38 "2013-01-12T11:30:05Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > No, it’s not true. But Ronnie Reagan’s brain, Lt. Col. Oliver North did give missiles to the Ayatollah. clinton did,of course. did north give ICBM missiles to the Ayatollah? ---
**Author:** ![waitswp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/dec6dc/32.png) [@waitswp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waitswp)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2013, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-clinton-really-sell-give-nuclear-missle-secrets-to-china-north-korea/223211/39 "2013-10-11T15:27:46Z")
This Washington Post article is the most credible and historical explanation I have found regarding Loral’s involvement with providing missle guidance technology to assist with Chinese launching commercial communication satellites. We as Americans should have been launching ALL of our satellites to prevent this technology transfer, instead of trying to save a few bucks. [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/campfin/stories/loral053198.htm](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/campfin/stories/loral053198.htm) I hope this helps. ---
**Author:** ![waitswp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/dec6dc/32.png) [@waitswp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waitswp)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2013, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-clinton-really-sell-give-nuclear-missle-secrets-to-china-north-korea/223211/40 "2013-10-11T15:29:52Z")
This Washington Post article is the most credible and historical explanation I have found regarding Loral’s involvement with providing missle guidance technology to assist with Chinese launching commercial communication satellites. We as Americans should have been launching ALL of our satellites to prevent this technology transfer, instead of trying to save a few bucks. [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/campfin/stories/loral053198.htm](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/campfin/stories/loral053198.htm) I hope this helps. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-clinton-really-sell-give-nuclear-missle-secrets-to-china-north-korea/223211.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-clinton-really-sell-give-nuclear-missle-secrets-to-china-north-korea/223211.md?page=3)