WEN HO LEE: GUILTY OR NOT, CASE IS A BLACK MARK

The U.S. district judge who presided over the criminal case lodged against Wen Ho Lee didn't mince any words after the government's case was settled with a plea bargain. Said the judge: Lee's detention for 278 days after nuclear secrets were discovered to be missing from Los Alamos "embarrassed our entire nation."

The government gave up after Lee agreed to plead guilty to one felony charge of mishandling nuclear secrets by copying them from secure computers to unsecure computers something other high-ranking government officials have done, only to receive a slap on the hands.

Here's a frightening thought: Either an innocent man was illegally incarcerated for 278 days, or a guilty man has been freed by the federal government.