AP03]ENGINEER/]JENNINGS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01070R000301500007-4
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 14, 2010
• Sequence Number: 7
• Publication Date: December 19, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2010/01/14: CIA-RDP88-01070R000301500007-4
ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT
19 December 1984
AP03IENGINEER/JJENNINGS: Speaking of secrets, Thomas Cavanagh, the man
IESPIONAGElaccused of trying to sell secret information about the
Stealth bomber, is being held today without bail in
California. Cavanagh is the subject of the fifth major
espionage case in the United States which has been
announced this year. In California, here's ABC's Gary
Shepard.
SHEPARD: Thomas' Cavanagh, apprehended for attempting to
sell the Soviets billions of dollars worth of secrets
about the Stealth radar avoidance system, which would
enable American planes to penetrate enemy airspace without
being detected. During his arraignment, the FBI filed a
10-page affidavit, which_revealed some of the details
about how the Northrop engineer was caught. He held three
meetings with FBI undercover men who were posing as Soviet
agents. The first, at this motel just outside Los Angeles
nine days ago. Calling himself Peters, Cavanagh said he
needed $25,000 to pay off a series of debts and would be
willing to sell Stealth technology in exchange for cash.
HERB CLOUGH (former FBI counterintelligence): But the
truth is, knowing the Soviet intelligence services and
their little brothers, the satellite intelligence
services, their appetite is voracious and they will take
anything they can get.
SHEPARD: Two days later, another meeting at this motel.
Here, Cavanagh produced blueprints, drawings and technical
manuals marked, 'secret, special access required.' The
FBI says it has tape recordings of Cavanagh saying this to
the men he believed were Soviet Agents. 'I feel like I
can bring more-documents out. I gotta have money, OK?
And then I bring more documents out. I'm after big money.
Twenty-five thousand dollars is a drop'in the bucket,'
believe me.' Then, yesterday, the final meeting at the
.Hyatt Hotel in Commerce, Calif., where Cavanagh delivered
more Stealth documents, was paid $25,000 in cash and then
immediately arrested. The affidavit also reveals Cavanagh
told the FBI he had already sent the Soviet consul in San
Francisco a classified list of Defense subcontractors. He
was intercepted before he made actual contact with Soviet
intelligence agents. Sources say that was probably the
result of FBI telephone wire taps on the Soviet consulate.
In 1977, it was Christopher Boyce, arrested for selling
American defense secrets to the Soviets. In 1981, William
Bell was caught peddling high-tech technology to Polish
intelligence. Now the case of Thomas Cavanagh, as the FBI
steps up its effort to keep America's top-secret
technology out of the hands of the Soviet bloc. Gary
Shepard, ABC News,'Los Angeles.
Approved For Release 2010/01/14: CIA-RDP88-01070R000301500007-4