TINKER, SAILOR, SPY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000402970014-8
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 8, 2012
• Sequence Number: 14
• Publication Date: June 3, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/08: CIA-RDP90-00965R000402970014-8
Z-- NEWSWEEK
PAGE aJ_ -
Tinker, Sailor, Spy
Around Norfolk, Va., John Anthony Walker Jr. was known
as a man happily leading several lives. Walker, 47, was a retired
Navy communications specialist, an arbitrator for the local
Better Business Bureau, a volunteer in the search for missing
children and the head of three companies that provided detective
and "debugging" services. He obviously loved the cloak-and-
dagger game-flying around the country in his four-seat, single-
engine plane, handy with a crossbow, a. 3 8-caliber revolver and a
spring knife hidden in a cane-but no one
knew how much until last week, when
Walker was arrested on charges of spying
for Moscow, perhaps since the 1960s.
The case could have far-reaching im-
plications for U.S. security. Before he
retired from the Navy as a chief warrant
officer in 1976, Walker had "top-secret
crypto" clearance to codes and commu-
nications, particularly concerning nucle-
ar submarines whose unseen movements
are key to U.S. defense. He was arrested
after depositing on a country road in
Maryland-perhaps for a Soviet diplo-
mat seen nearby-a paper bag with 129
documents involving secret Navy com-
munications. Also in the package: an
apologetic letter. "This delivery consists
of material from 'S' and is similar to the
previously supplied material," it said.
"The quantity is limited, unfortunately,
due to his operating schedule."
Much of the recovered material-
largely surveillance reports on Soviet vessels in the Mediterra-
nean-seemed to come from the U.S. aircraft carrier Nimitz,
where Walker's son was serving. Michael Lance Walker, 22, was
also arrested, and officials found 15 pounds of classified docu-
ments near his bunk. They had been led there by letters Michael
sent to his father ("Jaws," in their private code) about the
problems of storing his "souvenirs." Michael also reported being
named "Sailor of the Month" at one point, and wrote: "If they
only knew how much I hate this carrier."
How did officials crack the case? FBI and Navy sources say the
tip came from the senior Walker's ex-wife, angry that he had
John Walker Jr.: Cloak-and-dagger game?
DAVID M. ALPERN with
NICHOLAS M. HORROCK and
ELAINE SHANNON in Washin7on
J
drawn their son into his scheme. Suspect-
ing that his all-in-the-family approach to
espionage might extend even further, in-
vestigators also questioned Walker's
brother-another retired Navy man-
and his stepbrother, as well as a West
Coast business associate. "We don't
know what else he had access to," says
FBI spokesman William Baker. They
were also checking into a variety of re-
ported business ventures to see if they-
or Moscow-really financed Walker's
well-heeled life-style: the plane, a home, a
houseboat, a van and several female com-
panions. Whatever the security losses,
the case did bring a small intelligence
gain: maps photos and instructions for
the Maryland drop-presumably re-
flecting Soviet spy procedures that U.S.
I counterspies will study.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/08: CIA-RDP90-00965R000402970014-8