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    My Country Versus Me: The First-Hand Account by the Los Alamos Scientist Who Was Falsely Accused of Being a Spy
    My Country Versus Me: The First-Hand Account by the Los Alamos Scientist Who Was Falsely Accused of Being a Spy
    My Country Versus Me: The First-Hand Account by the Los Alamos Scientist Who Was Falsely Accused of Being a Spy
    Audiobook11 hours

    My Country Versus Me: The First-Hand Account by the Los Alamos Scientist Who Was Falsely Accused of Being a Spy

    Written by Helen Zia and Wen Ho Lee

    Narrated by Fred Stella

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Wen Ho Lee, a patriotic American scientist born in Taiwan, had devoted almost his entire life to science and to helping improve U.S. defense capabilities. He loved his job at Los Alamos National Laboratory and spent his leisure time fishing, cooking, gardening, and with his family. Then, suddenly, everything changed and he found himself in the spotlight, accused of espionage by members of Congress and the national media and portrayed as the most dangerous traitor since the Rosenbergs. He was even told that their fate—execution—might well be his own.

    Although Dr. Lee was horrified by these words, he knew he was innocent and believed that this was all a big mistake that would be cleared up quickly. But in December 1999, his worst fears were confirmed when he was manacled, shackled, brought to jail, and put in a tiny, solitary-confinement cell, where he would remain for the next nine months. His arrest sparked controversy throughout the country; it triggered concern for national security, debate about racial profiling and media distortion, and outrage over a return to McCarthy-era paranoia. Throughout the ordeal, Dr. Lee steadfastly maintained his innocence. Now, at last, he is free to tell his story.

    In this compelling narrative, Dr. Lee chronicles his experience before, during, and after his imprisonment. He takes listeners inside Los Alamos and discusses how violations of national security occur in many government agencies. He describes how the FBI infiltrated his private life—lying to him and spying on him for nearly two decades. He relates his own anti-Communist stance, the result of tragic events from his past, and tells how he assisted the FBI to help protect nuclear secrets. He explains the role that the New York Times and unsourced “leaks” played in the country’s rush to judgment. He details his harsh treatment in jail and how citizens can be incarcerated solely on government allegations and without factual justification. Finally, Dr. Lee accounts for why he downloaded codes, demonstrating once and for all that he is innocent of every charge leveled against him except for one, a security violation that many others had committed.

    A riveting story about prejudice, fear, suspicion—and courage—My Country Versus Me offers a revelatory first-hand account of one of the major abuses of our government’s power in our time.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrilliance Audio
    Release dateMay 16, 2017
    ISBN9781543611977
    My Country Versus Me: The First-Hand Account by the Los Alamos Scientist Who Was Falsely Accused of Being a Spy
    Author

    Helen Zia

    Helen Zia, a graduate of Princeton University's first co-educational class, is an award-winning journalist who has covered Asian American communities and political movements for twenty years. She is the author of Asian American Dreams: The Emergence of an American People. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

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    Reviews for My Country Versus Me

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    • 5/5
      Very informative. Great story of the good guy winning in the end against injustice.
    • 4/5
      After reading "A Convenient Spy", I still had questions as to what really happened in this case. I felt that Dr. Lee asked for much of the suspicion he was under, and that there was still missing information. I still feel that too much was made of the racial profiling part of this case. Yes, there was racial profiling, and yes it was wrong and others should have been investigated. But it was not the only reason they grabbed and held so hard to Dr. Lee. There were the tapes full of downloaded codes that were unaccounted for. I think there was a language/cultural misunderstanding on some of the questioning and it wasn't really intentional at first - but it sure made him look rather guilty. And after Mr. Lee had attorneys, they told him not to talk as the government had told so many lies and never came through on any of their promises so they stopped talking and cooperating for a bit. And the tapes weren't explained until near the end of the book. The answers were a bit unsatisfactory, but I wouldn't go as far to to say untrue. As for why he made them, his reasoning is very clear and understandable -- the labs changed operating systems several times over a short period of years and Dr. Lee lost important, time consuming code and had to start over. Fearing another change, he made some tapes as back-up, which he had in his safe. But several of the tapes were missing, and this becomes the FBI's sticking point.Mostly this book put a new face on my understanding of "political prisoner". Anyone that thinks it doesn't happen in the USA only has to look at this case. People wanted to run for office and be the spy catcher. And the treatment of Dr. Lee was so very, very bad. Someone should have done jail time for ordering and allowing it. The man wasn't even convicted of a crime and they had him living like an animal. It is a rather big shame on America that the media "leaks" were not exposed and prosecuted to the full extent of the law. The politicians and FBI agents and others involved broke the very laws they put in place in a big way. And the media took the leaks and printed them without attempting to find out if they were true -- which would not have been a hard task in most of the cases. All those involved should have to serve the same 7 months in the exact same conditions as Wen Ho Lee as punishment for those crimes.One good thing to come out of this case was the bringing together of many Asian groups to protest racial profiling and the singling out of Asians in employment situations. It was something that needed national attention and this was the catalyst that put the people in motion to do something about it.This was a good read - or in my case, I listened to the tape in the car. I think it can give us some insight into some of the racial issues that Asians face in the work place.
    • 5/5
      This book opened my eyes to what a government can do to a private citizen simply because it felt it had the right to. Denial of Due Process, confiscation of private work product, libel, slander, misinformation, it's all here in Mr. Lee's book. An excellent read.
    • 4/5
      A must read for every citizen of this country. A good look at a legal system that exceeded the bounds of justice.