To the contrary, Mr. White said, the defense argues that investigators focused on Mr. Schwarz prematurely and then urged witnesses to support their conclusion.

He was never charged with espionage, and officials later acknowledged that their inquiry had prematurely focused on Dr. Lee.

Attorney General Janet Reno told Congress in June that she thought federal investigators had prematurely focused on the weapons scientist Wen Ho Lee in their initial inquiry into whether China had stolen United States nuclear secrets, according to newly declassified Senate testimony.

Yet the newly released testimony shows that Ms. Reno was concerned that investigators had prematurely focused on Dr. Lee for months before she ordered the broadened inquiry.

The NYT reports that newly declassified Senate testimony shows that Janet Reno said last June that she thought federal investigators into the possible theft of U.S. nuclear technology by China had focused prematurely on former Los Alamos scientist Wen Ho Lee.

But the Republican chairman and the ranking Democrat of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, which investigated the spy case and heard testimony from Mr. Vrooman, concluded that Federal investigators had focused prematurely on Dr. Lee.

By September, the F.B.I. and the Justice Department had determined that the initial administrative inquiry by the Energy Department and the F.B.I. that began the investigation had been flawed and that investigators had prematurely focused on Dr. Lee.

Nearly a year ago, when questions were raised about whether the Justice Department had focused prematurely and unfairly on Mr. Lee, Attorney General Janet Reno and Director Louis J. Freeh of the F.B.I. ordered what law enforcement officials described as a top-to-bottom re-investigation of the suspected W-88 theft.