DEATH FOR SPIES PUSHED IN BILL BY GOP SENATOR

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000807350003-9
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 10, 2012
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: June 14, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/10: CIA-RDP90-00965R000807350003-9
WASHINGTON TIMES
14 June 1985
for spies pushed
Death
in bill by GOP senator
i When asked if his comments might prevent
r the suspects in the Walker case from getting
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and Walter Andrews a fair trial. Sen. Stevens said:
THE WASHINGTON TIMES No, we are trying to bring up the visibility
of the very crime itself and deter some people
Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska; introduced a who may be just starting down this road.
bill calling for death by firing squad of anyone These people are literally seduced by our
convicted of selling national security secrets enemies into a path of espionage.
and yesterday said such executions should be "We want to make more people cognizant
televised as a deterrent.
"I'm sorry to say it would not apply to the
Walkers:' he said. "But anyone arrested in
connection with the case after passage of the
law could come under the new penalty."
The bill would establish a new federal
crime of "treasonous espionage" - the unau-
thorized disclosure of national defense
secrets for profit.
If the bill is passed quickly, it could apply
to any subsequent arrests in the Navy spy
case. Sen. Stevens said.
The Stevens bill also calls for live video and
audio taping of any execution and the release
to the public of such tapes. Executions ought
to be televised as well, he said.
"I don't ever want to see an execution - I
want the deterrent force of our criminal law
to come into play:" said Sen. Stevens. "But if
there is an execution. it ought to be public."
"I don't think there is the kind of penalty
for spying that there ought to be:' Sen. Stevens
said. "Maybe I'm old-fashioned, but I just
believe a spy ought to be shot.
"What security can we find in arms talks
when the foundations of our defensive sys-
tems are stripped away by our own men?" he
asked as he introduced the bill Wednesday.
"Nothing twists the honest ethic this country
represents more than the grasping, degener-
ate act of auctioning off the security of the
nation."
The proposed law would apply only if the
secrets involved are sufficiently related tol
national defense, but would avoid having this
point debated in a public trial. The judge
would decide.
Sen. Stevens introduced the bill within 24
hours after Defense Secretary Caspar Wein-
berger said convicted spies, who now face a
maximum of life imprisonment. "should be
shot" He added, "I suppose hanging is the
preferred method"
"The essence of this crime:' Sen. Stevens
said. "is the act of transferring the informa-
tion for money. Current laws address the gath-
ering and transferral of sensitive
information, but no section differentiates sale
from other motivations.
"This legislation would punish those who
act without even the lame justification of fur-
thering political ideals:' he said. "These peo-
ple are motivated by greed alone:'
Other military services use some of th
same communications equipment and con-
municate with each other over similar mil
tary communications circuits. Pentago
spokesman Michael Burch said.
"As a result of the Walker case, the serviet
are going back and looking at that point i
time during which there may have been a
exchange of information, there may ha%
been communications:' Mr. Burch said.
Mr. Burch declined comment on the exter
the services shared communications codes.
However, he said the I military communic,
tionsl system is one that has built-in safe
guards. One of those safeguards is that it
continually changing.
of the fact that there's going to be the most
severe penalty we can possibly devise:'Sen.,
Stevens said. "The real challenge we have now
coming from those who want our secrets is
that they are in fact, buying them"
Attorney General Edwin Meese III made
the same point in a press conference, saying:
"I think it would serve as a deterrent. It cer-
tainly would be in case of the persons on
whom it is imposed."
In Baltimore, John Walker's court-
appointed attorney has already obtained a
temporary court order forbidding Assistant
FBI Director Bill Baker to discuss any
aspects of the John Walker case that are not
part of the public record, and yesterday asked
that this order he extended to everyone con-
nected with the case.
The Army and Air Force, as well as the
Navy, have expressed growing concerns that
their secret communications links may have
been breached by a spy operation allegedly
conducted by John Walker Jr., 47. a retired
Navy warrant officer.
'rhose under arrest - John Walker, his son
Michael. 22, a Navy Seaman. his brother
Arthur, 50. a retired lieutenant commander,
and Jerry Whitworth, a former Navy
radioman - all at times had various levels of
secret clearances.
'rheadmiral who heads the Navyss Atlantic
command said yesterday information gained
by the Soviets may have helped the Soviet
Union build submarines that are harder for
the United States to detect.
Admiral Wesley L. McDonald, who heads
the Navy's Atlantic Command, said the infor-
mation may have helped the Soviets build sub-
marines that are harder for the United States
to detect.
"'T'his may have led to the Soviets getting a
little hit smarter, because we've seen the Sovi-
ets developing much quieter submarines:' he
said.
All the military services arc checking their
secret communications links to see if they had
been compromised by the alleged disclo-
sures,the Pentagon said yesterday.
Adm. James Watkins, the chief' of naval
operations, said last 'Ibesday that the Navy
assumes the Soviets gained access to certain
secret voice and teletype communications
systems because some of the accused spies
had access to them.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/10: CIA-RDP90-00965R000807350003-9