NAVAL INTELLIGENCE ANALYST'S CASE ON SPYING CHARGES GOES TO JURY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00587R000100030004-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 8, 2011
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: October 17, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/03/08: CIA-RDP91-00587R000100030004-6
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ON PAGE
NEW YORK TIMES
17 October 1985
Naval Intelligence Analyst's Case
On Spying Charges Goes to Jury
By ROBIN TONER
special to The New York Times
documents in connection with the
photographs given to Jane's.
Soviet Advantage Alleged
The prosecution has said the photo-
graphs could have provi vTet
union w u information on e
amue o onson, a former
naval i Celli ence ana accused of
esp ona a ssinc assified o-
grap to a ntis Publication.
Deliberatio gns elan at 5-PZM. after
the defense rested its case, but at 6:15
Federal District Judge Joseph H.
Young said the jury had asked to ad-
journ for the evening and would re-
sume deliberations at 10 A.M. Thurs-
day.
In closing arguments, Robert Muse,
the defense attorney, portrayed Mr.
Morison as a patriotic man who passed
information to the British publication,
Jane's Defence Weekly, because he
wanted the public informed. "You
think that the Government just as a
matter of course doesn't have leaks
constantly?" Mr. Muse asked.
The prosecutor, Michael Schatzow,
countered that Mr. Morison was a
"petty, vain, arrogant person" who
had overstepped his bounds.
"Who was he to make the decision
about this document?" the prosecutor
asked.
The Government has argued that Mr.
Morison gave the photographs to
Jane's to try to ingratiate himself with
his editors and try to win a full-time job
on its staff.
Central to the case are three satellite
photographs of a Soviet ship under con-
struction, taken in July 1984 and classi-
fied as secret. Mr. Morison is charged
with espionage and theft of government
BALTIMORE, Oct. 16 - Jul delib-
erations began today in them l of
The defense in Mr. Morison's trial
presented no evidence to dispute the al-
legation that he gave Jane's the photo-
graphs. But defense witnesses testified
that the Soviet Union could have
learned nothing from the photographs
that it did not already know.
The defense also presented evidence
that Government officials often shared
classified information with news re-
porters.
In his closing argument, Mr. Muse
said, "The Sam Morison's of the
world" regularly gave information to
the press. Later he added, "You just
don't make that leap and classify him
as a criminal."
Mr. Morison 41 Years old was an in-
tel fence t at the a$% ntelli-
ence u rt cent .,
at
umaLM October 1984.
ono
ome.
Weekly Intelligence Reports
Those documents were excerpts of
wee0v intelligence repo concern-
ing a 1984 explosion at a Soviet litary
installation. The prosecution says he
used those documents to prepare a
memo for Jane's, which was incorpo.
rated into a story.
The defense rebutted the Govern-
ment's assertion that such information
on the explosion was "closely held" in
the summer of 1984.
The final defense witness this morn-
ing was a reporter for The Guardian
newspaper in Britain, Harold H. Jack-
son, who was its Washington bureau
chief in the summer of 1984. He testi-
fied that he was able to confirm and
write a story on the explosion in half a
day based on a number of sources.
After the defense rested, the prosecu-
tion called two rebuttal witnesses, both
testifying on the significance of the
satellite photographs.
The witnesses were apparently
called to respond to the testimony of
Roland a retired Central In-
telligence ence official. who told the
jury ruesday that the release of the
sociate deputy director for intelligence
at the said the photographs
F-
Could provided ve Soviet analysts
with "hard, ocumentary, graphic evi-
ence o the curren operational
status of the satellite s tem.
"What it does is u to their cnowl-
ed e to a considerable
said. 0!,Tr
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/03/08: CIA-RDP91-00587R000100030004-6