NUMBER OF SPY CASES INCREASING
Document Type:
Collection:
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST):
CIA-RDP90-00552R000202190005-4
Release Decision:
RIPPUB
Original Classification:
K
Document Page Count:
2
Document Creation Date:
December 22, 2016
Document Release Date:
June 21, 2010
Sequence Number:
5
Case Number:
Publication Date:
June 3, 1985
Content Type:
OPEN SOURCE
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Body:
STAT
STAT
STAT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/21: CIA-RDP90-00552R000202190005-4
ARTICLE. WASHINGTON POST
ON PA 3 June 1985
Number of Spy Cases Increasing
Money, Availability of Classified Information Called Factors
By Ruth Marcus
Washington Poet Staff Writer
Three Navy men accused of spy-
ing for the Soviet Union represent
'the latest in an accelerating number
of espionage cases that have snared
Americans ranging from an FBI
agent allegedly lured by money and
sex to. a California aerospace engi-,
neer who tried to sell Stealth bomb-
er secrets to the Soviets.
In addition to retired Navy chief
warrant officer John A. Walker Jr.;
? his brother, Arthur Walker, a re-
tired Navy lieutenant commander;
'and his son Michael Walker, a sea-
'man on the . USS Nimitz, at least
eight persons currently,. face
charges of spying for the Soviet
Union or Soviet bloc countries.
While there were no federal pros-
ecutions for espionage between 1966
and 1975, there have been 37 cases
since then, of which 27 involved the.
Soviet Union or its allies, Assistant
Attorney General Stephen Trott said
yesterday on the CBS television pro-
gram "Face the Nation."
"Last year was our most produc-
tive year in terms of catching espi-
onage activities," Trott said. "I be-
lieve, and the people with whom I've
consulted believe, that there both is
more espionage going on now, num-
ber one, and number two, we've got-
ten a lot better in detecting it."
Although Navy Secretary John F.
Lehman Jr. is considering having
John and Arthur. Walker, both of the
Norfolk area, recalled to active ser-
vice and court-martialed rather than
tried in a civilian court, "the case is
going to be tried in federal court; not
in military court," Trott said. [Sailors
in Norfolk react to Walker case.
Page B1.1
"We believe we can do that with-
STAT out compromising any of the se
will not "get off light.-
Law enforcement officials say
they are convinced that the com-
mon denominator between the
'Walkers and others accused of es-
pionage in recent years is the desire
for financial gain.
they are convicted or plead guilty,
. he said, vowing that the Walkers,
It says in the KGB manual,
'Americans can be bought,' " Bill
:'Baker, assistant director of the FBI,
said in an interview last week.
"It's a way to make money,"
Trott said,
That motivation differentiates
modern-day spies from their coun-
terparts in previous years, when
ideological solidarity with the So-
viet Union was a driving force for
many accused of espionage.
"Most of the cases in the thirties
and forties, t ose who spie or for-
ei n powers did it for ideological
reasons," former deputy irec-
_tor Bobby Kay Inman said on "Face
the Nation" yesterday. "I don't
know of a single case in the last 15
years where ideology had a role at
afi. People are se mg secrets for
cash."
=0w, however, "spies come in all
different sizes, shapes, colors, back-
grounds, _ philosophies and anybody
who -has access to this type of in-
formation, who has some sort of a
strange personal situation going on,
or a shaky financial situation going
on, is liable to be this type of per-
son," Trott said.
Among the reasons for the surge
in espionage cases, government of-
ficials and other observers say, are
the increase in the number of So-
viets assigned to the United States,
stepped-up enforcement and the
growth in both the number of
Americans cleared to see classified
information and the amount of in-
formation deemed sensitive.
As restrictions eased during the
era of detente, the number of So-
viet nationals living legally in the
United States has doubled during
the last decade, according .to
orgetown University professor
Roy Godson. an expert on intelli-
Once matters. Of those, a conser-
vative estimate would be that 30 to
40 percent are working as intelli-
gence officers, he said. "We are
faced with a huge counterintelli-
gence problem," Godson said.
Another unknown number of So-
viet agents are in the country illegal-
ly, passing themselves off as Amer-
icans and, in addition to.regular es-
pionage activities, attempting to take
such so-called "active measures" as
influencing the media and govern-
mental decisions, Godson said. '
He cited the case of Col. Rudolph
Albert Herrmann a K aGI ent ex-
se to FBI. Owospent
11- years collecting political intel i-
ence and arranging secret ex-
changes of information with other
vet Soviet intelligence operatives while
m as a free-lance photo pher
living in the a New York City suburbs.
Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), the
ranking minority member on the
Senate Intelligence Committee, has
introduced a measure. to limit the S6?
viet Union to the same number of in-
dividuals with dpi loomatic immtm
ere~i as the United States has in
Moscow.
"I see no reason at all why we
should allow them to have t ese
are numbers of people . " "
Leahy said. "We seem to bend over
backward to do their job for them
Leahy also called for a reappraisal
of the um number o people with access
to defense secrets. "We have 4 mil-
lion people in this count with se-
curity clearances," he said. "That's
crazy ... People apply for security
clearances, and 99 percent of them
get it. can't believe that that's
showing enough care."
Another reason for the Soviets'
apparent improved success in .re
cruiting. spies,- observers said, is a
perceived decline in feelings of pa-
triotism.
"You've got the 'Me Generation'
runnin rampant," sai former CIA
official eor a A. Carver
r:
"You've got the offspring of a en-
atiowhich is ideolog-
ical motivate , which
fs ex raor-
marf self-oriented ... Which
thinks, the Soviets can su
their material needs, patriotism,
t t means nothing."
Continued
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One aspect of the Walker case that
has officials particularly worried is
that, although John Walker had al-
legedly been spying for the Soviets
since 1968, the FBI was tipped off to
the case only after a "walk-in" con-
fidential source contacted them..,
That differentiates the Walker
case from most other recent
charges of espionage..FBI officials
were prompted to investigate. Rich-
ard W. Miller. the first bureau
member ever charged with espio-
nage, after it started surveillance of
Svetlana Ogorodnikova, a Soviet
emigrant housewife, whose con-
tacts with the Soviet consulate be-
came frequent. Agents watching
Ogorodnikova discovered that Mill-.
er had developed a personal rela-
tionship with the woman, who was
working for the KGB, according to
FBI officials.
The case against former Army
counterintelligence specialist is -
ard Craig Smith, awaiting trial on
charges of selling the Soviet coon
information a ut erican o- bTe
agents, started when surveillance
showed him in front of a ovieet
comun in Tokyo
o.
aeros ace engineer Thomas
Patrick Cavanagh, sentenced last
month to life in prison for trying to
sell `tealth bomber secrets to the, Soviet Union, was snared when So-
viet agents to whom he i)la3n-ed to _
sell information stolen from Nor-
throp Corp. turnout to be FBI
undercover agents.
"Some of tFie Mures ... to find
out when this kind of stuff is going
on is nothing more than a byproduct
of the liberty that we enjoy in this
country ... ," Trott said. "One of
the prices that you pay is that occa-
sionally',' somebody "will take advan-
tage of it and become a spy."
Staff correspondents Laura LaFay
and Sara Isaac contributed to this
report.
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