CIA Priorities

* Re “Clinton Reportedly Orders CIA to Focus on Trade Espionage,” July 23:

Giving the Central Intelligence Agency more priority for economic espionage could be a welcome move by the Clinton Administration.

It ought to be used immediately to alleviate the dire problem that has ended up with the American Harry Wu being arrested by the Chinese on “spying” charges. He was merely investigating the hundreds of Chinese slave-labor laogai factories, farms and other facilities in which between 10 and 20 million forced laborers produce billions of dollars of products. Much of the output is intended for export, including to the United States.

Enforcing the law that bans the import of slave-made goods from China has been hampered by lack of adequate and timely information. The CIA used to collect tremendous data for several years on the Soviet gulags that were making goods for export. There’s now ever reason to direct the CIA’s immense surveillance capabilities toward China.

If the CIA had been doing its job to track the Chinese slave-labor facilities over the past few years, Wu would not have needed to make his own courageous and heroic trips there for the same purpose.

CARL OLSON, Chairman

State Department Watch

Washington