F.B.I. AGENT IN SPYING CASE IS SAID TO HAVE HAD PROBLEMS AT WORK

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000404280025-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 22, 2010
• Sequence Number: 25
• Publication Date: October 5, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/22 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000404280025-8
ARTICLE APPEARED
CN PAGES
NEW YORK TIMES
5 October 19811.
BU Agent in Spying Case Is Said to Have Had
Problems at Work
By JUDITH CUMMINGS A spokesman for the bureau here, ards. At least once he was suspended
Fred Reagan, said that Mr. Bretzing for several days without pay, the
sync to The New Ymic Tina had turned down a request for disclo- sources said.
LOS ANGELES, Oct. 4-Richard W. sure of Mr. Miller's personnel record Homer Boynton, former executive
Miller had a record of discipline prob- and that he would not comment on assistant director of the F.B.I., said
lens at the Federal Bureau of Investi-
gation long before his arrest on charges
of selling secrets to Soviet spies, ac-
cording to law-enforcement sources
here.
They say that agents in the Los An-
geles office are rankled and that some
of them question why superiors al- ment in San Diego today, said he had no Suspect Held Without Bail
? lowed ?sir. Miller to work in the high-se- information on Mr. Miller's work
curity area of counterintelligence. record at the F.B.I. Mr. Bretzing told a news conference
Morale at the bureau here was se- Law-enforcement sources here said on Wednesday that he believed Mr.
financial
verely shaken by the dismissal and ar- that Mr. Miller had earned the sYmp a- problems Miller had in been the motivated purported by sale for
rest-of the first agent in F.B.I. history
to be accused of espionage. Mr. Miller, thy of other agents as a man burdened 65,000 of F.B.I. secrets to a Soviet
who worked for the bureau for 20 years. with concern for a handicapped child emigre couple, Swetlana and Nikolay
-
---
spiracy to provide national defense in-
formation to a foreign government at
an arraignment in Federal District
Court in San Diego today.
In the tension and emotion of the last
two days, speculation has arisen within
i the agency here that personal favorit-
ism based on religion, coupled with a
bureau tradition of protecting its own
people, may have influenced some offi-
cials in the Los Angeles division to
shield Mr. Miller.
Charges Termed Unfair
In response to questions from report-
ers about such allegations, the special
agent in charge of the Los Angeles divi-
sion, Richard T. Bretzing, denied that
I Mr. Miller had benefited from any reli-
gious favoritism.
Mr. Miller, Mr. Bretzing and the
agent in charge of counterintelligence,
P. Bryce Christensen, are all members
of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-
day Saints.
In his statement, Mr. Bretzing said:
"There are dozens, perhaps hundreds,
of special agents in the F.B.I. currently
on the rolls and serving throughout the
world who are members of the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
(Mormon). I believe it is unfair to these
employees to impugn them or their
religion based on the activities of an-
other individual with a common reli-
'gious background.
"The suggestion that preferential
treatment," Mr. Bretzing continued,
"has been given or is being given to
anyone based upon his or her personal
religious preference is totally inconsis-
tent with exercising our rights and
privileges guaranteed by the United
States Constitution. These rights have
not been and are not being abridged by'
anyone within the Los Angeles F.B.I."
whether it contained any disciplinary that years ago Mr. Miller had worked
or performance infractions. under him in the counterintelligence
"We don't talk about personnel mat- area. "He didn't conform to the mold,"
ters or in-house matters of discipline," recalled Mr. Boynton, now a vice presi-
"
He always
Mr. Reagan said. dent of American Airlines.
John Moot, the'rpublic defender who marched to, a different drummer." He
represented Mr. Miller at the arraign- would not elaborate on his comments.
cording to a Miller relative - but who working for the Soviet security and in-
also worried them as a longtime prob , telligence agency, the K.G.B. Of Mr.
lem. Miller's performance record, Mr.
One source, saying Mr. Miller hat Bretzing said Wednesday only that
family and financial problems, sug- there was nothing to indicate that he
gested that he should not have been al- might have been a secirity risk.
lowed to work in the area of counter-in- Mr. Miller was held without bail to-
telligence,_ with access to sensitive ma- day at the Metropolitan Correctional
terial that others might be willing to Center in San Diego by Federal Magis-
pay for.
According to the sources, Mr. Miller
had been reprimanded in writing for
poor job performance, and was cen-
sured for selling Amway products, a
line of household goods sold by individ-
ual franchisees, from a government
removal to Los Angeles at the conven-
ience of United States Marshals. Mr.
Moot, the attorney who represented the
former agent today, said that he he ex-
pected Mr. Miller would soon be repre-
sented by private counsel.
Mr. Miller was arrested late Tuesday
~- - ' - ` -- - ranch at Bonsall, in northern San Diego
reprimanded for failing to lose weight ?
to meet the bureau's physical stand- County.
His stepfather-in-law, Felipe Gonza-
lez, who lives near the ranch, said in an
interview that the avocado venture had
run into financial difficulty in recent
years. He said that Mr. Miller, together
with his wife, Paula, a substitute
schoolteacher, recently "were in-
volved in selling Amway-products, but
I don't know how they did it."
Mr. Gonzalez said that although the
Millers' son, Drew, was enrolled in a
special school for the deaf, he did not
think that added significantly to his
son-in-law's purported financial prob-
lems.
He said Mr. Miller had not spoken to
him of any particular problems at his
work, but that he complained often in
recent years of being "very very bored
sitting in the office and he was tired of ?
it."
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/22 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000404280025-8