AIRMAN IS ACCUSED OF SPYING ATTEMPT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000807300003-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 12, 2012
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: January 29, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
7' Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/12 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000807300003-4
O PA.
WASHINGTON POST
29 January 1986
Airman Is Accused
Of Spying Attempt
Clerk Allegedly Tried to Give Soviets Secrets
By Michael Weisskopf
Washington Post Staff Writer
It was unclear what level of se-
a aw
curity clearance Ott a But
enforcement source said that he
may have had access to man-
na s and o er materials that con
Fawe better informed Moscow
bout t e power u surveillance
alane w is can v m an _
three times the speed of sound at
altitudes of tee t.
Officials said that agents in
the Sacramento division uncovered
and intercepted Ott with the help of
the Air Force's Office of Special
Investigations.
Ott is charged under the Uniform
Code of Military justice and will be
tried by a military court. After a
Navy spy scandal last summer, Con-
gress amended the code to autho-
rize the death penalty for service-
men convicted of espionage.
Ott, of Erie, Pa., joined the Air
Force in September 1983 and was
assigned to Beale five months later.
The Associated Press quoted rel-
atives as saying that he was a high
school honors student who married
a few weeks before his arrest, and
was awaiting a visit to California
from his parents.
Ott and his wife lived in Yuba
City near the Beale base, about 120
miles northeast of San Francisco.
"He's just a tenant," June Yung,
manager of Sugar House Apart-
ments, said of Ott in an interview
with a local newspaper. "I don't look
into their private lives."
in the office of the st trategic
Reconnaissance qua ron, was
caught in an FBI "sting" operation
when he allegedly tried to pass c as-
itie national de tense materials To
U .S. agents posing as Soviet spies.
It was unclear whether Ott con-
tacted Soviet officials.
Beale's squadron operates the
SR71 reconnaissance pane, dubbed
the "Blackbird," -which is known as
the world's fastest, highest-flying
rcraft. The plane routine is used
by the United States for sensitive
intelligence-gathering missions and
is caps e ot surveying more an
100,000 square miles in an hour.
The squadron is part of the 9th
Reconnaissance Wing at Beale,
which o erates t e SR71, as well as
the newer 1 and the older
surveillance planes.
Air Force o icials refused to
specify what material Ott is accused
of attempting to pass to the Soviets.
One officer speculated that it would
have been of limited value, presum-
ably because of Ott's position as a
clerk. But another official noted
that Ott worked in the. squadron's
orderly room, where messages on
SR71 missions circulated.
An Air Force enlisted man who
worked in a squadron that flies
hto v sensitive "Blackbird" spy
planes has been arrested an
char ed with attempting to pass
intelligence information to the So-
viet neon, Pentagon an law en-
orcement o icia s sai yester ay.
Airman 1st ass Bruce Ott,
25, was arrested Jan. 22 by Air
Force and FBI officials in Davis,
Calif., according to a spokesman at
Beale Air Force Base in northern
California, where Ott has been
based since April, 1984. He was
formally charged three days later
and is being held at Beale, the
spokesman said.
Officials said that Ott, who
worked as an administrative clerk
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/12 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000807300003-4