"Yeah, I heard," Lee replied.
The agent persisted. "You know Aldrich Ames? He's going to rot in jail." When Lee tried to leave, pleading fatigue, an agent warned, "If you walk out that door today... I can't stop the people from polygraphing your wife."
Lee's defenders cite the session as a prime example of FBI intimidation tactics aimed at forcing a confession out of Lee because agents were desperate to "solve" the nuclear-secrets theft case. Government sources insist it is common and legal for agents to bluff while trying to shake a subject's story.