FBI AGENT CHARGED IN ESPIONAGE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000404690007-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 22, 2010
• Sequence Number: 7
• Publication Date: October 4, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/22 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000404690007-3
WASHINGTON POST
4 October 1984
Washington Post staff writer Jay
Mathews reported from Los Ange-
les that the two Soviet emigrants
have been known there for distrib-
uting Soviet literature and claiming
special influence with the Soviet
government.
According to members of the
large Los Angeles Soviet emigre
community, the couple organized
special Russian movie screenings,
distributed Soviet magazines, of-
;red to get emigre relatives out of
soviet prisons for a price and made
:%veral unusual. trips back to the
2Dviet Union.
ent
Charged
Espionage
Soviet Couple
Also Is Arrested
In Los. Angeles
By Mary Thornton
Washington Post Staff Writer
The FBI yesterday arrested one
of its own agents on charges that he
sold classified documents to a fe-
male Soviet KGB agent with whom
he was having a personal relation-
ship.
FBI Director William H. Web-
ster, calling it "a very sad day. for
us," said it was the first case of an
FBI agent being charged with es-
pionage for a foreign government.
Webster said the FBI is still as-
sessing what damage may have
been caused to the U.S. intelligence
apparatus. Aiked what sort of in-
formation may have been turned
over to the Soviets, he said: "We
know certain things, but obviously
we don't know if we know all the
things."
An FBI affidavit said one of the
documents "would give the KGB
[Soviet security police] a detailed
picture of FBI and U.S. intelligence
activities, techniques and require-
ments."
The arrested agent, Richard W.
Miller, 47, is a 20-year veteran and
was assigned to foreign counterin-
telligence in the bureau's Los An-
geles Field Office. On Tuesday,
Miller was dismissed from his job
for violating FBI regulations. -
Also arrested in the case were
Swetlana Ogorodnikova, 34, iden-
tified as a major in the KGB, and
her husband, Nikolay Ogorodnikov,
51, also known as Nikolay Wolfson,
both of Los Angeles. The FBI said
they were born in the Soviet Union,
emigrated to the United States in
1973 and are permanent resident
aliens cf the United States.
-They were so open in their ac-
t vity and so well known in .both the
Y_ i
Missian tea parlors of West Holl
;wood and the-high-rise FBI offices
dL...Westwood that emigre editor
Alexander Polovets was stunned to
bear them accused of being spies,
Mathews reported.
.You would think the KGB could
lave found brighter people than
lose : two," said Polovets, whose
pekly Panorama circulates to
'about 50,000 Russian-speaking res-
Zdents of the United States.
>:'A federal magistrate in San Di-
go, where Miller's family resides,
dered him held without bond
pending a hearing Thursday morn
'mg. Assistant U.S. Attorney Ray
Edwards said authorities felt "flight
..' a real strong risk" in Miller's
,use. No plea was entered.
The Ogorodnikovs were ar-
+catgned in Los Angeles. U.S. Mag-
*strate Volney V. Brown Jr. ordered
both held after Assistant U.S. Ator-
ney Richard Kendall warned that
they would be out of reach of U.S.
law the minute they entered a So-
viet consulate.
Justice Department sources said
they believed Miller's motive was
related to "money and sex." They
said Miller has eight children and an
annual salary of about $40,000.
Miller was reported to have been
reprimanded fora weight problem
and was described as a "fallen-away
Mormon" by one government
source.
A court affidavit released by the
FBI said the arrests followed court-
approved electronic bugging.of the
Soviet couple's apartment, a search
of Miller's residence to which he
agreed, interviews with Miller and
Ogorodnikova and physical surveil-
lance of all three persons.
The affidavit said that Miller ac-
knowledged to the FBI's top poly-
grapher in interviews last Sunday
and Monday that he had demanded
$50,000 in gold, $14,000 in cash
and $1,000 in expenses in return
for providing secret documents to
the female agent.
- The affidavit said Miller had dis-
cussed his "personal, professional
and financial problems" with Ogo-
rodnikova and that "she seemed
sympathetic." It said Miller ac-
knowledged having "numerous per
sonal meetings with Swetlana Ogo-
rodnikova" between late May and
late September. Eventually, it said,
she told Miller she was a KGB ma-
jor and asked him to work for the
Soviet organization and supply se-
cret documents.
In the second or third week of
August, the affidavit said, Ogorod-
nikova took Miller to meet her hus-
band, whom she identified as Ni-
colay Wolfson, who was to approve
the KGB payments to Miller. It said
Miller told Wolfson that "he was not
interested in a long-term relation-
ship but rather wanted to receive a
large amount of money in a short
period of time."
According to the affidavit, Miller
finally gave her a secret FBI doc-
ument entitled, "Reporting Guid-
ance: Foreign Intelligence Informa-
tion," which Miller had copied in the
Los Angeles FBI Field Office.
"Discovery of this document
would give the KGB a detailed pic-
ture of FBI and U.S. intelligence
activities, techniques and require-
ments," the affidavit said.
It said that last Friday the FBI,
with Miller's permission, searched
a house he has in the Los Angeles
suburb of Lynwood and found "FBI
classified documents concerning
foreign counterintelligence inves-
tigation and activities. Many of the
classified documents were originals
and were clearly stamped 'Se-
cret.' " They were dated from 1980
to 1984, the affidavit said, and in-
cluded one complete, classified
original file.
The FBI said in a separate writ-
ten statement that the documents
Miller agreed to deliver to the So-
viet couple dealt with positive in-
telligence tasking, which, was de-
scribed by FBI sources as informa-
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/22 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000404690007-3