F.B.I. IS FORECASTING NEW ARRESTS IN SPY CASE OF SAILOR AND FATHER

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00587R000100260006-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 24, 2011
• Sequence Number: 6
• Publication Date: May 24, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/02/24: CIA-RDP91-00587R000100260006-9
STAT
STAT
Tt^: I. , r- NEW YORK TIMES
A'? r `alt~U 24 May 1985
F.B.I. Is Forecasting New A rres ts
In Spy Case of Sailor and Father
By PHILIP SHENON
Special to the New York I --
that it expected more arrests in what
some officials described as one of grav-
est security breaches in the history of
the Navy.
Spokesmen for the bureau said they
expected to arrest additional associ-
ates of a retired Navy communications
specialist and his son, who have been
charged with smuggling secret docu-
ments to the Soviet Union.
"I would expect more charges
against more people, associates of the
father," said Bill Baker, the assistant
F.B.I. Director for Congressional and
J public affairs. "We think this ring is
bigger than the two now charged."
The investigation centers on John A.
Walker, 47 years old, a former warrant
officer who had access to detailed in
formation about the movement of th
American and Soviet fleets in his 2
year naval career.
His son, Michael, 22, was arrest
Wednesday aboard the aircraft carrie
Nimitz, which is now in Haifa, Israel,
after investigators found a box bulging
with more than 15 pounds of secret ma-
terial near his bunk, according to law
officials.
"Based on the duration of the espio-
j nage and the access of those who have
been charged, you have to assume the
damage they caused is substantial,"
Mr. Baker said.
Mr. Walker was arrested Monday
after he left more than 120 secret Navy
documents at a wooded site in rural
Maryland, the F.B.I. said. Some docu-
ments, the bureau said, came from the
Nimitz, where Seaman Walker is in the
brig pending his return to the United
States.
Officials and military analysts said
that mach more valuable information
might have been collected by Warrant
Officer Walker in his Navy career. In
the 1960's he served as a radio officer
on two Polaris submarines. In 1967-69,
ne was a communications officer in the
headquarters of the Atlantic subma-
nrte fleet in Norfolk. Then he trained
radio officers at the Naval Training
Center in San Diego. In 1974, he re-
turned to Norfolk as a communications
systems officer, with access to infor-
mation about the surface fleet. He re-
tired two years later.
In the communications center, ana-
lysts said, the warrant officer had
knowledge of the whereabouts of indi-
viduat submarines and their destina-
tions, as well as the methods used to
track the Soviet fleet. Adm. Elmo R.
Zumwalt Jr., the former Chief of Naval
Operations, said that if the charges
against Mr. Walker were true, "this
would represent a breach of security as
serious as any I can recall."
"Assumi that the char es are true,
Then it is indeed a grievous loss to the
,cunt o our armed orces sat
a the a former Deputy Director of
antral Intelligence.
The two men were turned in by the
Ider Mr. Walker's former wife and his
laughter, officials said.
Agents Still Rummaging
Law-enforcement agents are still
rummaging through documents found
in searches of Mr. Walker's home in
Norfolk, Va., where he had worked as a
private detective. He retired from the
Navy in 1976.
Mr. Baker said that agents had re-
viewed materials found in a manila en-
velope that Mr. Walker was carrying at
the time of the arrest.
Inside, Mr. Baker said, was "a
wealth of information written in Eng-
lish on Soviet instructions on how to fill
and clear a clandestine drop site."
A drop site, in intelligence parlance,
describes a place where agents leave
information to be picked up by others.
Mr. Baker said the envelope had photo-
graphs and maps of what he said were
probably Soviet drop sites near Wash-
ington.
Former intelligence officers said
those were unusual papers for an ex-
perienced agent to carry, raising ques-
tions about Mr. Walker's methods as
an agent. These officers also expressed
doubts about reports that he had been
an agent for a long time. An experi-
enced agent, they said, would not have
incriminating papers on him, and
would not have to carry basic instruc-
tions.
Bank Accounts Sought
Investigators, he said, were also
looking for bank accounts that might
have been used by Mr. Walker in the es-
pionage operation.
"We believe the father's reason for
doing this was for financial gain," he
said. No such accounts have been un-
covered, be added.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation
has said it has information from two
sources that Mr. Walker had been
spying for the Soviet Union for 15 to 18
years.
Michael Walker joined the Navy in
1982. According to F.B.I. affidavits, he
stole secret documents from the Nimitz
and passed them on to his father. In let-
ters written earlier this year to his fa-
ther, Seaman Walker described the
documents as "souvenirs," the F.B.I.
said. He carried a "secret" clear-
nance, which gave no access to secret
documents, or even confidential infor-
j mation unless it relatd to his clerical
job, which was in the ship's operations
section.
If convicted on espionage charges, he
and his father face a maximum sen-
tence of life in prison. Officials said
that the seaman would probably be re-
turned to the United States this week-
end.
Mr. Baker said that the people whom
the Federal Bureau of Investigation ex-
pected to arrest were Americans. The
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bureau declined to say what would hap-
pen to a Soviet official who was seen
near the Maryland site.
Officials said the documents, many
marked "secret" and "confidential,"
detailed the movements of Soviet mili-
tary and merchant ships in the Medi-
terranean. Many were apparently ob-
i tained from Seaman Walker on the Ni-
mitz, the bureau said.
Military analysts said information
that Mr. Walker might have collected
before his retirement from the Navy
might have been much more valuable
to the Soviet Union. For that reason, he
may have been less important to them
since he left the service, they said.
Capt. James T. Bush, a retired sub-
marine commander, said that it
seemed unlikely that Mr. Walker was
"a serious spy" since he chose to retire
after only 20 years. If he had been valu-
able, he said, the Soviet Union would
probably have wanted him to remain in
the service.
Nevertheless, he said, Mr. Walker
had served in some sensitive jobs.
In the 1960's, as a radio officer on
Polaris submarines, he probably han-
dled transmission of sensitive intelli-
gence information, officials said.
Eugene J. Carroll, a retired rear ad-
miral, said that radio officers also had
knowledge of the codes used to send
messages. If information about those
codes was given to the Russians, na-
tional security might have been jeop-
ardized, he said.
"This man was right in the spot
where the information was flowing,"
said Admiral Carroll, now deputy di.
rector of the Center for Defense Infor-
mation, a policy group that is fre-
quently critical of the military.
"This could certainly advance the
Soviet's ability to analyze our traffic
and to set up computer programs that
would give them an increased possibil-
ity of breaking messages," he said. He
said codes were changed frequently.
As a communications watch officer
in the Norfolk headquarters of the At-
lanti,- submarine fleet in 1967 to 190,
Warrant Officer Walker, officials said,
had access to extensive information of
value to the Soviet Union.
And because he had security clear-
ance that gave him the aoility to see
highly secret documents, Mr. Walker
was probably aware of most major
movements of the submarine fleet, offi-
cials said. That could be a threat to na-
tional security. they said, since subma-
rines are otherwise difficult for an
enemy to track.
"Just from the descri Lion of iris as-
signments, its inconceiva a to me
steal very ~ersitive data " said Mr.
CT-ne, the former C.I.A. official.
rom my tea tut o_ _w at has been.
sal pu licly, this is a veto serious
penetration."
In Norfolk, law-enforcement officials
sealed off Mr. Walker's two-story brick
home, which is still being searched.
According to the officials, several of
Mr. Walker's relatives and friends
have been questioned by the F.B.I.
Among them was his half-brother,
Gary Walker, an electronics technician
with the Navy, the officials said.
Mr. Walker is being held without bail
in Baltimore, where he and his son
were charged.
In Norfolk, neighbors described Mr.
Walker, who had been divorced for sev-
eral years, as reclusive.
"He was a little odd," said Leonard
Bruce, a 29-year-old salesman who
lives next door. "It's a little odd to live
next door to a guy and you never say
anything to each other except 'hello.' Mr. Walker, he said, carried a gun.
"I've never spoken to the man," said
Alma Pacini, who said she had been a
neighbor for nearly a dozen years. "I
would occasionally wave, and he would
acknowledge it sometimes. Sometimes
he wouldn't. Weird."
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