DOE responds to Cox report's charges.

"There is no evidence of a `wholesale' loss of information" due to China's theft of nuclear secrets, says Department of Energy Secretary Bill Richardson. "In fact," he told reporters last week, "there are [only] three confirmed instances of theft---one in the late 1970s, one in 1984-85, and one from 1984-88." However, acknowledging that serious security problems have existed within DOE, especially at its labs, Richardson said a sweeping new counterintelligence program has been developed.

Since borrowing 35-year veteran Edward J. Curran from the FBI last year, DOE has expedited its security improvements. On the basis of recommendations by counterintelligence experts enlisted by Curran, the national labs have installed new computer "firewalls" to curb data theft, begun tougher screening of foreign scientists, and started administering periodic polygraph tests to all scientists in sensitive positions. Richardson is also recruiting an experienced counterintelligence staff headed by a "czar" who will report directly to him.

Says the energy secretary, "We are addressing the problems of lax security that has spanned 3 decades." Despite the Cox report's claim that DOE's security remains marginal, "we think the problem has been corrected," says Richardson. --J.R.