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CHINA HAS had almost complete access to US nuclear weapons secrets over the past two decades, Newsweek reported yesterday, saying: "The penetration is total."

The extent of the damage is such that it "leaves an unsettling possibility: That this was done by American citizens."

A Taiwan-born nuclear scientist was dismissed from his job at Los Alamos two weeks ago after failing a lie-detector test, but he has not been arrested, and FBI sources have indicated that they have no evidence to support charges.