SPY INQUIRY GROWS AS 2 DENY CHARGES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000706090083-2
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 19, 2011
• Sequence Number: 83
• Publication Date: June 5, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2011/12/19 :CIA-RDP90-009658000706090083-2
~z"TI~LE ~FP:~-Rr :- " NEIJ YORK "I^^:.S
~~ pA&t 5 June 1985
SPY INQUIRY GROWS
pjex operation than they envisioned ~
when they picked up John Walker in a ~
AS Z DENY CHARGES otel on Ma 20. The rnvestt-
By PHILIP SHENON Maryland h Y
gators say he had just delivered classi- ,
s~'v tO T'1?'''c" YO"` ~"~` fled materials t0 a drop site.
WASHINGTON, June 4 -John A. Federal officials said they were hav-
Walker Jr. pleaded not guilty today to ing trouble sorting out so many leads i,
charges of espionage as the authorities and clues and suspects in a case that '.
.focused their attention on a fifth sus- military officials say can be compared ;
pact in what prosecutors are depicting to the worst in the Nation's history.
as perhaps the largest American spy "I ~~ it's fair to say that in terms
for the Soviet Union in 30 of number of people involved, this is the ,
eration since the R
orkin
o
S
U
p
. spy
ring w
g largest
.
Y Na Secrets John F. Lehman Jr.
years. senbergs," said United States Attorne ~'Y r5'
In the 15th day of expanding allege- Joseph Russoniello, refering to Julius ;weighed the option because of concern
tions of security breaches involving and Ethel Rosenberg, who were axe- from some officials that Federal courts
Navy personnel, Mr. Walker, a former cuted in 1953 for smuggling secrets ~ might grant them a more lenient sen-
~. communications specialist, appeared about atomic weapons to the Soviet i fence and that confidential information
~~ in Federal District Court in Baltimore Union. Five people were convicted in I mights the feeling of our general coun-
with his Z2-year-old son, Michael, a the Rosenberg case. ? i~ sal, ac this time, that the case can
yeoman on the aircraft carrier Nimitz, When Jerry A. Whitworth, 45, a re- i erl be rosecuted and tried in F~er~al
also pleaded not guilty to espio- tired Navy radioman who has been de-,i Y P
~ ce~? and that classified information.
's best friend
lk
h
W
,
o
er
w
a
scribed as Mr.
page charges. ~ was arrested Monday in California,
As they were arraigned, investiga- court documents said the spy ring had
i tors continued to pursue the case, i been delivering military secrets to the
h tvduced four arrests and !Soviet Union for at least 20 years.
Bigger Case Than Suspected
In a news conference at the court-
house, Miss Walker said she felt "opti-
mistic" about the case but was not
"making a judgment" about her fa-
ther's guilt or innocence. "I think
someone is going to have to judge
him," she said, "and that is the jury."
Meanwhile, the Defense Department
said today that it would go along with a
civilian trial for Mr. Walker and his
brother, Arthur.
Michael I. Burch, the chief Pentagon
spokesman, said the Navy had dropped
any idea of recalling the two men to ac-
tive duty in order to court-martial
them. Arthur Walker is a retired lieu-
Federal investigators say this is be-'
cause the spy ring they now suspect ex- ~
which asp -
has involved naval installations on both Investigators said today they were ? might have been done to national se-
c~~, still trying to determine the scope of curity by Mr. Walker and his associ-
Mr. Walker's brother and his closest the purported espionage network. Each etas. _
friend have already been arrested and -day, they said, brings _new clues to c rned?aboutlaccess that Mr rWalker
charged with espionage, and. more ar-1 other associates of Mr. Walker's, so
rests are expected. The Federal Bu- (that details of the case emerge sud- and ~'? ~re'oTth had to secret docu-
ments about anti-submarine warfare
reau of Investigation may now have denly and come as a surprise .both to rations which are designed to r-
identified the individual now known to the public and to the investigators mtt the United States to detect and de-
the public only as "F," officials noted. themselves. stroy Soviet submarines. The two men
At the hearing in Baltimore today, d
saying the person is believed to live on
the East Coast, perhaps near Norfolk,
Va.
The F.B.I. is turning new attention to
Jacksonville, Fla., the site of one of the
Navy's largest bases. In a search of
John Walker's private plane, the bu-
reau said it found a recently published
navigator's map of Jacksonville, the
site of one of the Navy's largest bases.
A Jacksonville phone book was also
found in his office.
Government officials who asked not
to be named said they had been in-
trigued by the documents and were
trying to determine why Mr. Walker
would visit Jacksonville.
The Jacksonville Naval Air Station is
home for two major aircraft wings, and
the nearby Mayport naval station is the
home of two aircraft carriers, the For-
restal and Saratoga. Nearly 35,000 peo-
ple work at the two facilities.
Mr. Walker is suspected of traveling
the world as part of ~ an espionage
operation, visiting port cities where ac-
complices would hand him documents
gathered aboard Navy ships.
The new details about Mr. Walker's
the unusual nature of tats case. uniixci aret Walker, 27, has told the authori-
previous espionage investigations, an-I gas she would be willing to help her fa-
nounced after an entire network has ther, but Mr. Bennett said she could not
been penetrated, this investigation has; orovide enough assistance.
unfolded as daily, public drama.
the elder Mr. Walker smiled at times. had top-secret security clearances ur-
His son sat quietly.at a separate table, mS their naval careers.
turning on occasion to look at his wife, We feel we still have a qualitative
Rachel, who sat in the second row of age over the Soviet Union in sub-sur-
the audience. ~ face operations," Mr. Burch said. "But
Mr. Walker's public defender re- 'we're still assessing the amount of
vealed the most detailed statement yet '~ damage that may have been done by .
available about his client's finances. ithe Walkers and others."
The F.B.I. has charged that Mr. Walk- ' Mr. Whitworth, who had previously
er's sole motivation informing the spy bbeen identified by the code name "D,
ring was financial. faces a detention heating in San Fran-
According to the lawyer, Fred War- Cisco on Friday and a preliminary
ran Bennett, Mr. Walker, who owns a h~~g on June 18, prosecutors said to-
private detective firm, has a net worth dav.
of 5174,000. His assets, Mr. Bennett ~ His attorney, Louis Hiken, said any ?
said, are valued at about 5239,000, in-
cluding ahome in Norfolk, real estate
in South Carolina, the private plane
and an automobile.
No Money for Legal Fees
But the lawyers said that almost all
the money is tied up in real estate and
other possessions, and that Mr. Walker
does not have enough cash to meet
legal fees. If a judge determines that
Mr. Walker has enough money, he
might be required to hire a private law-
yer.
In Norfolk today, a state courte
granted the Internal Revenue Service a
can be protected by the Federal
courts,., Mr. Burch said.
Military officials say they are still
trying to determine what damage
Mr. Walker "were those of a friend he
had known and gone sailing with for
many. years." -
The F.B.I. said that the two men be-..
came friends when they were assigned .
as instructors at the Navy Communica-
tions School in San Diego in the early.
1970's.
In the late 1970's, Mr. Walker trav-
eled to port cities in Asia, where Mr.
Whitworth handed him secret docu-?
merits from the aircraft carver Con-
stellation, the bureau said.
lien on ,Mr. Walker's property there. The documents released at the time
The I.R.S. said Mr. Walker owned ~ of Mr. Whitworth's arrest in San Fran-?
sented by the code name "F,?' was also
implicated. Law-enfot~cement officials
'have not said whether F is a man or
woman.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2011/12/19 :CIA-RDP90-009658000706090083-2