The major outcome was the plea of Peter Lee to non-espionage charges resulting in him spending a year in a halfway house. Many in Washington were puzzled at the light sentence because Lee allegedly admitted to conduct in 1997 that proseuctors said constituted espionage. (In his plea, Lee admitted to one false statement charge and to passing classified data in 1985. He also denied being a spy, and said only that " he had crossed some lines in discussions with scientific colleagues."

Lawmakers were so baffled by the handling of the Lee investigation that they held a special hearing three years ago to review it. Their report attributed the outcome to disorganization and ineptitude, as well as to the Navy's reluctance to air its secrets in a public courtroom.

Now the case is being re-examined for links to Leung, Smith and Cleveland.

...lawmakers and government officials who worked on the Lee case wonder whether more purposeful efforts were to blame. FBI and Department of Energy agents are examining whether Leung, Smith or William Cleveland Jr., another former FBI counterintelligence agent who also had an affair with Leung, had roles in the outcome of the Lee case.

Leung's charges include illegal copying and retention of classified national defense documents. Some of these pertained to the Royal Tourist probe. But Leung's attorney, Janet Levine, says:

"She never did anything the FBI didn't tell her to do, and she never had any documents the FBI didn't give her." Levine said Leung is "being stabbed in the back" by FBI officials embarrassed by the disclosure of Leung's affairs with Smith and Cleveland.

As to Agent Cleveland, he has been stripped of his security clearance at Livermore, but not charged with a crime. After Cleveland's work in the Peter Lee case, he was sent to Los Alamos in 1998 to assist in the Wen Ho Lee investigation. That case is going to face review for links to Leung, Smith and Cleveland as well.

What a mess.