LETTERS: CLINTON HAS PUT OUR CHILDREN AT RISK

To the editor:

It's in the nature of the way things work in our world: Nations spy on one another. They do this whether they are nominally friendly or openly adversarial. The principal reason for most of the spying is that national security remains, as Ford Motor Co. used to say, "Job One" for most national leaders. Bill Clinton may be a singular exception in this regard.

The scenario, if and when a spy is uncovered, unfolds with what has usually been a predictable frenzy of activity: 1. The spy is arrested, plea bargained and threatened to get as much information as possible regarding the damage. 2. Our spies and FBI agents scurry about trying to independently assess or verify the damage. 3. Steps are taken to minimize the impact of the loss of secure information and to break any links between the compromised data and other, as yet uncompromised, data.

In some cases, the security loss cannot be mitigated, and the ultimate price is paid: People lose their lives. The Aldrich Ames case is the most recent tragic example. The loss of the technology for warhead miniaturization in the mid-1980s was also irreversible, but the potential for physical damage to our national security, or anyone elses, was far in the future. At least it would have been if our president had been as keenly interested in national security as he was in getting re-elected.

Most pieces of technology cannot be made useful without other supporting technology. The greater the complexity, the greater the need for supporting elements. Since espionage is inherently dangerous and difficult, spies most often get only pieces. If the spy-sponsoring nation doesn't possess the enabling technology, it must steal it, buy it or build it. In this case, the Chinese needed massive, high-speed computer capability and launch-guidance technology. Left to their own devices, they would eventually get there (their scientists have, after all, attended the very best universities: ours), but a shortcut was available.

Bill Clinton's professional life can best be described as a kind of perpetual campaign. He is a master craftsman who has a profound understanding of the role of money in the success of any campaign. The Chinese were quite shrewd in their understanding of this character trait, as were several of his generous financial backers in the aerospace industry. In a series of directives, Bill Clinton effectively made the transfer of the technology that the Chinese earnestly wanted a relatively simple matter. Campaign money flowed both from the Chinese and from the industry contributors (the industry interest stems from making big bucks by selling the technology, or in saving big bucks by using the heavily subsidized Chinese launch facilities, but, of course, the launches must be reliable). As we now are coming to understand, all of this transfer activity was taking place after the administration became aware that the Chinese had stolen the warhead miniaturization pieces.

The Chinese need only integrate the various components they have acquired. The end result of all of this is a credible, accurate and MIRVed nuclear launch capability that can be mass-produced and will give them power and influence out of all proportion to their actual national resources. In the meantime, this administration continues only tepid support for an American missile defense, citing the restraints associated with a treaty negotiated with a political entity that no longer exists.

The Taiwanese, the Japanese and the Koreans are beginning to understand the full extent to which they have been exposed to a new threat. We threw the Taiwanese overboard when Bill Clinton made the public announcement that the mainland Chinese one-China policy was also U.S. policy. The Japanese and Koreans have been struggling with an irrational adversary in North Korea who also happens to have a crude missile capability. As a sort of backhanded recognition of our formal and informal responsibilities in the region, we have offered to help develop a theater missile-defense capability. The pig squeals that emanated from China after that announcement are probably good indicators. They have plans for their new technology, and they aren't happy with any proposal that may thwart those plans.

One thing is abundantly clear. Today's children, and their children, will live in a world made less secure by an aggressive and better-armed Chinese regime. Bill Clinton doesnt seem to understand that putting national security above self-interest is perhaps the most important thing he could have done for the children.

BOB RATHBURN

Piedmont