ENGINEER GETS LIFE TERM IN PLOT TO SPY FOR SOVIETS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000201060003-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 28, 2010
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: May 24, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/28: CIA-RDP90-00552R000201060003-1
STAT
IABTICLR 4'
ox PAGE
PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
24 May 1985
Engineer gets life term
in plot to spy for Soviets
Assodated Press
LOS ANGELES - An aerospace en-
gineer who admitte trying to se1T
Stealth m r secrets tote Soviet
Union was sentenced yester ay to
li e in prison.
District Judge Matthew Byrne
Jr. said he hoped the harsh sentence
would deter others from betraying
their country.
Byrne imposed two concurrent life
terms after Thomas Patrick Cavan-
agh, 40, close to tears, apologized to
his nation and his co-workers for
what he called "my disgraceful ac-
tions."
"The sorrow and remorse I feel are
beyond words," Cavanagh said. "I
shamed my father's honorable
name."
He stood before the judge in a gray
prison jumpsuit and asked Byrne to
consider the unblemished life he
had led before he attempted to pay
off his debts by selling the Stealth
bomber secrets.
"I respectfully throw myself on the
mercy of the court and pray that the
first 40 years of my life count for
something," Cavanagh said.
Byrne's sentence was more severe
than the 99-year term the govern-
ment had recommended.
"Quite frankly, Mr. Cavanagh is a
traitor," Assistant U.S. Attorney Per-
cy Anderson had told the judge.
Byrne said, "I don't think there's
any question these materials were
highly secret and, if disclosed to a
foreign power, did represent signifi-
cant damage to the interests of the
United States."
Cavanagh, of suburban Downey,
pleaded guilty March to two
counts o espionage and said that
money was his motivation.
He was accused of taking blue-
prints and documents of the bomber,
which is designed to make the air-
craft invisible to enemy radar, from
Northrop Corp. where he worked as
an engineer.
During a December meeting with
undercover FBI agents, Cavanagh
said the information on the Stealth
program was worth "billions of dol-
lars," court documents said.
In his confession. Cavanagh said
he was handed $25,000 and promised
an additional $30,000 in the deal by
men he thought were Soviet agents
- but who actually were undercover
FBI agents - before his arrest in
December.
STAT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/28: CIA-RDP90-00552R000201060003-1