TINKER, SAILOR, SPY

Document Type: 
Collection: 
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
Case Number: 
Publication Date: 
June 3, 1985
Content Type: 
OPEN SOURCE
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AttachmentSize
PDF icon CIA-RDP90-00965R000402970014-8.pdf70.91 KB
Body: 
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