Why is the FBI reluctant to explain its relationship with Mrs. Lee? Perhaps because long after she stopped working for the FBI, agents for a time suspected that she had been working all along for the Chinese as a double agent. NEWSWEEK has learned that when FBI officials asked the Justice Department to approve their request to wiretap the Lees’ home in 1997, they laid out their case that both Wen Ho and Sylvia Lee might be Chinese agents. (Both have denied the charge.) One piece of evidence the FBI cited: Sylvia entertained visiting Chinese scientists at a restaurant in New Mexico. Tantalizing evidence–except, says one Justice source, Sylvia was working for the FBI at the time–not Beijing. Ultimately, the Feds agreed and ruled her out as a suspect. That still doesn’t apply to her husband.
