HOW TO PREVENT U.S. SECURITY SCANDALS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000504260012-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 24, 2012
• Sequence Number: 12
• Publication Date: July 20, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/24: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504260012-5 T
ARTICI,s AppZAR13
aer PACEL_....
HUMAN EVENTS
20 July 1985
Cash Reward for In!omp rs One Method
How to Prevent U.S..
By DAVID MARTIN
During World War II, as a part of',
my training as a Royal Canadian Air
Force (RCAF) pilot in England, I was
exposedto.atraining film made for the
specific'pntpose of alerting members of
the British forces to thtrstrstagems and
perila'of the 4asi intdligeaas opera-
tion. The film was?cadafietionat for'
mat, but was one of The mdst chillingly
realistic productions I have ever seen.
The central character was a nice-
looking man of smaller than average.
stature, a man of a bland and kindly
appearance, who engaged in all kinds
of crii de related to his trade, including
the murs by strangulation of an inno-
cent girt who accidentally stumbled on-
to his activities. When the film was re-
leased for public viewing, one reviewer
wrote that "after seeing this film, I
shatnever again trust a nice-looking
little man."
' Walkem Don't
Look Lie Spies
The "nice-looking little man" came
to mind again as a result of the Walker
espionage case. The people thus far in-
volved do not look like spies. (When do
spies ever look like spies?) They give the
impression of being ordinary Amer-
icans. Certainly none of them was
motivated by sympathy for Communist
ideology. But for complex reasons,
varying from individual to individual,
they got caught up in the web of Soviet
espionage activities in this country. In
the case of the four men who have thus
far been arrested, here are the salient
facts:
Retired Navy Chief Warrant Of-
ficer John Anthony Walker Jr., 47,
was the central figure in the conspiracy.
He had taught at the Navy Communi-
cations School in San Diego, had served
as communications watch officer for
the Atlantic Naval Surface Force, and
had fathered a family of four children
by his wife Barbara, whom he had di-
vorced in 1976. He worked for approxi-
mately two years for the Wackenhut
Corp., and then had set up on his own
Security Scandals
rivet
investi
t
i
li
r p
.
ga
or, spec
a
zing In
divorce cam. and phony insurance
claims and the "debugging" of offices.
He had a photograph of Ronald
Reagan on his desk. In 1979, in the
course of appearing on a Norfolk radio
station, he claimed to be state organizer
for the Ku Klux Klan.
Seaman Michael Walker, 22, the
son of John Walker, who was serving
aboard the aircraft carrier Nimitz, was
arrested simultaneously and returned
to the United States to face trial.
Michael was an exceptionally clean-cut
and handsome young man who loved
surfing and dancing and who had been'
voted by his senior high school class to
be the "best looking" male graduate.
He is reported to have worshipped hi;
father.
Retired Navy Lt. Cmdr. Arthur
James Walker, 50, John Walker's
brother, was arrested a week later. Ar-
thur Walker was well thought of by his
neighbors in Virginia Beach, Va., had
helped establish t'he block's acrime
program, and had served as president
of the local civic league and other clubs.
In his Navy career, he had taught anti-
submarine tactics at the Atlantic Fleet
Tactical School until 1973, when he re-
tired. Before that he had held a series of
responsible positions aboard sub-
marines, including officer-in-charge of
communications and executive officer.
He fathered three children and, in the
words of one neighbor, they were "an
all-American family."
Jerry Alfred Whitworth, 45, who
surrendered to federal agents in San
Francisco, was the fourth member of
the spy ring to be arrested. He had met
John Walker when they had both been
teaching at the Navy Communications
School in San Diego. He had served as
communications watch officer aboard
the aircraft carrier Enterprise, had been
in charge of communications security
at the Alameda Naval Air Station, and
had had two tours based on the U.S.
Navy's highly secret facility in Diego
Garcia in the Indian Ocean (1973 and
1976). Before the second tour had end-
ed, he had risen to the position of com-
munications specialist aboard the U.S.
aircraft carrier Constellation, with the
rank of chief radioman. Associates of
Whitworth, like the associates of - the
others arrested, found it difficult to
believe that he had been guilty of es-
pionage.
Former Wife Tipped
Off the FBI
John Walker's divorced wife, Bar-
bara, 47, who had agonized for 15 years
over the knowledge that her former
husband was a Soviet spy, finally
screwed up her determination, after re-
Ceiving a phone call from her daughter
Laura, and went to the FBI in Novem-
ber 1984 to report what she knew. She
was subsequently quoted as saying that,
if she had known that hareport would
result in the arrest of her son Michael,.
she doesn't know that she could have
gone to the 'FBI. Laura Walker also
went to the FBI, O sortly after her
Fnother. According to Laura, John
Walker made an effort to recruit her-
she was then serving as an Army com-
munications specialist -for his family
spy ring.
DRughter May Have Dow
Recruitment Target .
The FBI placed Walker under sur-
veillance after the tip from his divorced
wife. On May 19, 1985, on the basis of
a bugged telephone conversation, they
finally hit pay dirt. After following
Walker for many miles, losing him and
then refinding him, they saw Walker
leave a brown shopping bag beside a
tree near Poolesville, Md. Anticipating
a pickup, the agents' waited.
Another car, subsequently identified
as belonging to Aleksey Gavilovich
Tkachenko of the Soviet Embassy, ap-
proached the area, but, apparently con-
vinced that they were under surveil-
lance, did not stop. When the agents
picked up the shopping bag, they
lollbnued
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/24: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504260012-5