Return to  HOME  DATES  NAMES  ORGANIZATIONS

Defense Industry

1981 - WILLIAM HOLDEN BELL, project manager of the Radar Systems Group at Hughes Aircraft in El Segundo, California, and MARIAN ZACHARSKI, president of the Polish American Machinery Corporation (POLAMCO), were arraigned in June 1981 on espionage charges. Bell had been faced with financial difficulties; Zacharski in reality was an officer of the Polish intelligence service. Under the guise of business activities, and over a period of several months, Zacharski developed a relationship with Bell that resulted in the transfer of Secret documents for more than $150,000. As a result, the “quiet radar” and other sophisticated systems developed at Hughes Aircraft were seriously compromised. On 24 June, Bell was confronted by FBI agents with the fact of his involvement in espionage that had been independently established. He confessed and agreed to cooperate with the FBI in the effort to apprehend Zacharski. On 14 December, Zacharski was convicted of espionage and received a life sentence. Bell, who pleaded guilty, was sentenced to eight years. In June 1985 Zacharski was exchanged, along with three other Soviet Bloc spies, for 25 persons held in Eastern Europe. This case is seen as a classic example of recruitment of cleared US personnel for espionage by hostile intelligence operatives.

Chicago Tribune 20 May 1984, “Real-life Spy Tale Robbed of an Ending”
DoD Security Institute, Security Awareness Bulletin, No. 3-83, June 1983, “Caught Unawares: The Case of William Bell and Marian Zacharski”
John Barron, KGB Today: The Hidden Hand, 1983

1977 - CHRISTOPHER JOHN BOYCE, an employee of TRW Inc., a California-based defense contractor, and his friend, ANDREW DAULTON LEE, were arrested in January 1977 for selling classified information to the Soviets. Over a period of several months, Boyce, employed as a code clerk in a heavily guarded communications center at TRW, removed classified code material and passed it along to Lee who in turn delivered it to KGB agents in Mexico City. Boyce, son of a former FBI agent, and his childhood friend Lee had grown up in affluent Palos Verde, in southern California. Both were altar boys together and later played on the high school football team. Boyce claimed to have discovered while working in the vault that the US government was spying not only on the country’s enemies but also on an ally, Australia. He decided to strike back by hatching a plan to sabotage the US intelligence network. He recruited Lee to help him sell classified information to the Russians. Boyce was probably motivated also by youthful rebelliousness and perhaps a craving for danger and excitement. This was likely accompanied by the need for money with which he and Lee could purchase drugs, a taste developed during their teenage years. The espionage activity, which netted the pair $70,000, was discovered only after Lee's arrest by Mexican police as he attempted to deliver yet another set of classified material at the Soviet Embassy in Mexico City. Film strips marked Top Secret found on Lee by Mexican authorities were turned over to American officials. Under questioning by Mexican security police and FBI representatives, Lee implicated Boyce, who was arrested on 16 January in California. The pair were reported to have seriously compromised the Ryolite surveillance satellite system developed at TRW. Lee was sentenced to life in prison, Boyce to 40 years. In 1980 Boyce escaped and spent 19 months as a fugitive. Following Boyce's second apprehension, his sentence was increased by 28 years. He was finally released from prison in March 2003 at the age of 50.

New York Times 13 Apr 1977, “Alleged Spy for Soviets Linked to C.I.A”
New York Times 27 Apr 1977, “Man Said to Admit Spying for Soviets”
New York Times 22 May 1977, “To Be Young, Rich—and a Spy”
Lindsey, Robert, The Falcon and the Snowman, 1979
Testimony of Christopher J. Boyce before the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, April 1985

1984 - THOMAS PATRICK CAVANAGH, an engineering specialist for Northrop Corporation’s Advanced Systems Division holding a Secret clearance, was arrested on 18 December 1984 and charged with attempting to sell classified documents on Stealth aircraft technology to the Soviets. It is reported that Cavanagh's attempt to arrange a meeting with a Soviet official by contacting the Soviet Embassy from a pay phone was intercepted. In this call he proposed a meeting in a bar near Los Angeles International Airport where a deal could be negotiated. He was met by FBI undercover agents posing as Soviet representatives. Cavanagh told the agents that the documents and blueprints he had taken from the firm were of highest value to the United States and that “once they were in the hands of the Soviets, they would save them billions.” During a subsequent meeting, agents provided the $25,000 demanded for classified documents and made the arrest. Cavanagh, recently separated from his wife, faced mounting financial difficulties and feared that he was being denied a Top Secret clearance because of indebtedness. Agents found more than 30 past due notices from creditors at his residence showing a total indebtedness of over $25,000. Despite Cavanagh’s efforts, it is reported that no serious compromise occurred. According to the prosecuting attorney, had Cavanagh been successful, he would have “gutted” the Stealth Bomber project. Cavanagh pleaded guilty to two counts of espionage and on 23 May 1985 was sentenced to two concurrent life terms in prison.

New York Times 19 Dec 1984, “Engineer is Held in Scheme to Sell Secrets”
Washington Post 22 Dec 1984, “Engineer in Secrets Case is Held Without Bail”
DoD Security Institute, Security Awareness Bulletin, Dec 1985, Number 1-86, “Portrait of an Uneasy Spy”
San Francisco Examiner 21 Jun 1987, “Traitor in our Midst”

1995 - JOHN DOUGLAS CHARLTON, retired Lockheed Corporation engineer, was arrested on 25 May 1995 for attempting to sell secret documents removed from the company at the time of his retirement. According to an Assistant US Attorney, the plans concerned the Sea Shadow, a Navy stealth project and the Captor Project related to mines that release anti-submarine torpedoes. According to the 10-point espionage indictment, Charlton tried to sell the information to an FBI agent posing as a foreign government representative. Five times between July and September 1993, Charlton attempted to sell the secrets for $100,000 to the undercover agent. Charlton joined Lockheed in Sunnyvale, California, in 1980 as a research specialist and left the company under an early retirement program in 1989, but heapparently was disgruntled about the circumstances of his departure. At the time of his retirement he took with him several classified documents outlining US defense projects. A search of his Lancaster, California, residence turned up a cache of illegal guns and the classified documents. Following a plea agreement on 17 October, Charlton pleaded guilty to selling two classified schematic drawings related to the antisubmarine program. He admitted knowing that the Captor Project information that the former engineer attempted to sell to what he believed to be a French official was highly classified. According to the prosecuting attorney, "The documents would have enabled any nation to discover some of the workings of the program." On 8 April 1996, Charlton was sentenced to two years in Federal prison and fined $50,000 for his guilty plea to two counts of attempted transfer of defense information. He will be placed on five years’ probation after his release. He is not eligible for parole.

Los Angeles Times 26 May 1995, "Ex-Aerospace Worker Indicted In Spy Case"
Antelope Valley Press 18 Oct 1995, "Valley Man Pleads Guilty To Attempted Espionage"
Los Angeles Times 10 Apr 1996, "Retired Engineer Gets 2 Years in Defense Espionage Case"

1997 - JAMES MICHAEL CLARK, a private investigator, was arrested 4 October 1997 along with KURT ALLEN STAND and THERESE MARIE SQUILLACOTE, and charged with spying for East Germany. Clark was recruited by his friend Kurt Stand in 1976 when both were members of the Young Workers Liberation League while attending the University of Wisconsin. Media sources state that a 1975 FBI report describing Clark's participation in the youth arm of the Communist party was the basis on which his subsequent application to the CIA for employment was denied. However, in 1986 Clark received a Secret clearance for his work for a private firm doing contract work for the government. And in 1992, the Army renewed his access after hiring him as a civilian analyst. According to news reports, as a defense contractor at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal in Boulder, Colorado, in the 1970s, Clark had access to classified information on chemical warfare. He was also accused of giving East Germany classified State and Commerce Department documents about the Soviet leadership, the Soviet’s strategic nuclear doctrine, and problems in the military of Soviet bloc countries. He reportedly told an undercover agent that, under the guise of needing help with a research report, he obtained these classified documents—including at least one classified as Top Secret—from two State Department employees. Clark admittedly passed information to his German handlers in the form of microfiche. Law enforcement officials and court documents describe Clark as a radical who fell into spying from 1979 to 1989 as an extension of his Marxist ideology. He received at total of $17,500 from East Germany and spent much of it traveling to meet his handler in Germany, Mexico and Canada. Clark was convicted on 3 June 1998 on a charge of conspiracy to commit espionage and on 4 December was sentenced to 12 years and seven months in prison. This reduced sentence was a result of his testimony at the trial of Stand and Squillacote that aided in their conviction.

Washington Post 7 Oct 1997, “Three Former Campus Leftists Held in VA on Espionage Charges”
Washington Post 4 Jun 1998, “Falls Church Man Pleads Guilty to Passing Secrets to East Germany”
New York Times 5 Dec 1998, "Spy, in Plea Agreement, Is Given 12-Year Sentence"

1975 - SADAG K. DEDEYAN, an employee of the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory who was cleared for access to classified information, and a relative, SARKIS O. PASKALIAN, were arrested in 1975. Disregarding regulations, Dedeyan had brought home a Top Secret document on NATO defenses to work on. Paskalian, who unbeknownst to Dedeyan, had been recruited and trained by the KGB in 1962, surreptitiously photographed the document and allegedly sold the film to Soviet agents for a reported sum of $1,500. Dedeyan was charged with failing to report the illegal photographing of national defense information. Paskalian was charged with conspiring with Soviet agents to gather and transmit national defense information. Dedeyan was convicted and sentenced to three years. Paskalian pleaded guilty to espionage and was sentenced to 22 years.

Washington Post 28 Jun 1975, “2 Arrested by FBI On Spying Charges ”
Washington Post 28 Jun 1975, “Relative Duped Him on Spy Photographs, Accused Man Says”
Washington Post 28 Jun 1975, “Paskalian: Choreographer, Merchant”
New York Times 28 Jun 1975, “2 Held in Plot to Spy for Soviets on NATO

1983 - JAMES DURWARD HARPER, a Silicon Valley freelance electrical engineer, was arrested 15 October 1983 for selling large quantities of classified documents to Polish intelligence for a reported sum of $250,000. Harper, who did not hold a clearance, acquired classified material through his wife, RUBY SCHULER. Schuler was employed as secretary to the president of Systems Control, Inc. of Palo Alto, a defense contractor engaged in research on ballistic missiles. She allowed Harper to come into the Systems Control offices on weekends and at night to copy documents that were subsequently passed to Polish intelligence agents. Between July 1979 and November 1981, Harper conducted a total of a dozen meetings with Polish agents in Europe and Mexico at which he turned over documents related to the Minuteman ICBM and ballistic missile research. While Harper seems to have been motivated by money, Schuler passed along classified documents in an effort to please Harper. Less than three weeks before she died, Schuler told a close friend: “There is a reason that Jim and I got married that only he and I know. I can’t tell you or anyone else and I never will.” In September 1981 Harper, beginning to regret his behavior, attempted to bargain for immunity from prosecution by anonymously contacting the CIA through a lawyer. Schuler died in June 1983 of complications related to alcoholism. Harper, who eventually pleaded guilty to six counts of espionage, received a life sentence on 14 May 1984.

Washington Post 18 Oct 1983, “KGB Intelligence ‘Windfall'”
Time Magazine 31 Oct 1983, “For Love of Money and Adventure”
DoD Security Institute, Security Awareness Bulletin, No. 4-84, August 1984, “Partners in Espionage: The Case of James Harper and Ruby Louise Schuler”

1990 - RONALD HOFFMAN, was working as a general manager at Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), in Century City, California, when his dissatisfaction with his salary led him to create a sideline business called “Plume Technology” at home. Hoffman had worked on a software program called CONTAM, developed at SAIC under classified contract for the Air Force, which could classify rockets upon launch from their exhaust contrails and respond with appropriate countermeasures. The software also had application for the design of spacecraft, guided missiles, and launch vehicles. In 1986 he contacted Japanese companies working with Japan’s space program and offered to sell them entire CONTAM modules—“data, components and systems, expertise in the field, and training for employees in use of the system.” Four Japanese companies, including Nissan and Mitsubishi, bought the classified software from Hoffman for undercover payments that totaled over $750,000. He also tried to develop customers in Germany, Italy, Israel, and South Africa. Late in 1989, his secretary at SAIC noticed a fax addressed to Hoffman from Mitsubishi that asked for confirmation that their payment into his account had been received. Adding this to her knowledge of Hoffman’s lavish lifestyle, she took her suspicions and a copy of the fax to SAIC’s chief counsel. Confronted, Hoffman resigned on the spot and left, but returned to his office during the night when a security video camera captured him carrying out boxes of CONTAM documents. In a joint Customs and Air Force sting operation, investigators posed as South African buyers and documented Hoffman trying to sell them CONTAM modules without an export license. Hoffman was arrested 14 June 1990 and convicted early in 1992 of violations of the Arms Export Control Act and the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act. He was sentenced on 20 April 1992 to 30 months in prison and fined $250,000.

Bosseler, S.J. Affidavit, U.S. District Court, “U.S. v. Ronald Hoffman,” 15 June, 1990. U.S. v. Hoffman 10 F 3d 808 (9th Cir. 1993).
Chicago Tribune 22 Apr 1992, “U.S. Scientist Faces Jail in Sale of Star Wars Software”

1985 - RANDY MILES JEFFRIES, messenger for a private stenographic firm in Washington, DC, was arrested on 14 December 1985 and charged with attempting to deliver national defense secrets to the Soviet Union. The firm, a cleared contractor facility, had transcribed closed hearings of the House Armed Services Committee. Jeffries allegedly provided Soviet military officials with at least 40 “sample pages” of Secret and Top Secret transcripts from congressional hearings, offering to hand over a complete package of three documents for $5,000. The investigation of Jeffries began after he was observed by US agents entering the Soviet Military Office in Washington. An FBI undercover agent posing as a Soviet representative contacted the messenger at his residence and arranged a meeting later in the day at a local hotel. Jeffries was arrested as he left the meeting. From 1978 to 1980, he was a support employee for the FBI and reportedly held an agency security clearance. In March 1983 he was convicted of possession of heroin and completed a program for rehabilitation from drug abuse in July 1985. Jeffries entered a plea of guilty on 23 January 1986. On 13 March, Jeffries was sentenced by a Federal judge to from three to nine years’ imprisonment. As stated by the court at the time of sentencing, it was obvious that poor security practices at the cleared facility were major contributing factors leading to the loss of classified information.

Washington Post 22 Dec 1985, “FBI Agent Says Suspected Spy Offered to Sell Him Document”
Washington Post 24 Dec 1985, “Transcripts Tied to Jeffries Had Strategic Data”
DoD Security Institute, Security Awareness Bulletin, No. 2-90, January 1990, “The Case of Randy Miles Jeffries and Acme Reporting”

1983 - PENYU B. KOSTADINOV, a commercial counselor at the Bulgarian Commercial Office in New York, was arrested in December 1983 at a New York restaurant as he exchanged a sum of money for classified material. Kostadinov had attempted to recruit a graduate student who had access to documents related to nuclear energy. The unnamed American agreed to work under FBI control to apprehend the agent. One of Kostadinov's official functions was to arrange for exchange students between Bulgaria and the US. Although Kostadinov claimed diplomatic immunity at the time of his arrest, this was later denied by a Federal court. In June 1985, Kostadinov was swapped along with three other Soviet Bloc agents for 25 persons who had “been helpful” to the US.

New York Times 24 Sep 1983, “Bulgarian Charged as Spy”
Washington Post 25 Sep 1983, “Bulgarian Man Arraigned”

1995 - SUBRAHMANYAM KOTA, and ALURU J. PRASAD. On 8 October 1995, Indian businessman, Aluru J. Prasad, and 10 days later, software engineer Subrahmanyan Kota, were arrested and detained for their involvement in a spy ring that sold highly sensitive defense technology to the KGB between 1985 and 1990. Prasad, a wealthy Indian national who frequently visited the US, was alleged to have been an agent of the KGB. Kota, a naturalized US citizen, was president of the Boston Group computer consulting firm. According to an FBI affidavit, the pair met Russian agents in Bermuda, Portugal, Switzerland, and other foreign locations and at these meetings passed classified defense information. At the time of their indictment, it was revealed that Kota and another conspirator, Vemuri Reddy, had been arrested the previous December by FBI agents who were posing as Russian intelligence agents, to whom they had attempted to sell (for $300,000) micro-organisms used in the production of a high-tech drug. Beginning in 1989, Prasad plotted with Kota of Northborough, Massachusetts, and other unnamed persons to obtain classified technology from a network defense contractor employee. Prasad and Kota specifically sought information about mercury cadmium telluride missile detectors, radar-absorbing coating used on stealth fighters and bombers, and semiconductor components used in infrared missile-tracking systems. According to their indictment, the two received $100,000 for information about each project. On 29 October 1996, former KGB intelligence officer Vladimir Galkin was arrested as he attempted to enter the US at Kennedy Airport in New York. Galkin was alleged to have been Kota and Prasad’s contact with the KGB and met with Kota in Cyprus beginning in late 1990. Although Galkin had not committed espionage on American soil, he was charged for his involvement in the conspiracy. In June 1996, under a plea agreement, Kota pleaded guilty to selling stolen biotech material and evasion of income taxes and agreed to testify against Prasad. He admitted that he was paid a total of $95,000 by Prasad and his alleged KGB colleagues. Prasad’s first trial ended in a mistrial; however, in a second trial in December 1996 he was convicted of espionage charges. Under a plea agreement Prasad was sentenced to the 15 months he had served awaiting his trial and agreed to return to India. On 13 November, accused KGB intelligence agent Vladimir Galkin was released.

Boston Globe 19 Oct 1995, “Northborough Man Charged With Espionage”
Boston Globe 12 Jun 1996, “A Post-Cold War Spy Story Comes to Life”
Washington Times 5 Nov 1996, Computer Check of Visa at Airport IDs Spy Suspect”

1997 - PETER H. LEE, a nuclear physicist who worked at key research facilities for more than 30 years, turned himself in to authorities and pleaded guilty on 8 December 1997 to two felony counts, one for passing national defense information and the other for providing false statements to the government. Dr. Lee admitted that in 1985, while working as a research physicist at Los Alamos National Laboratory, he traveled to the People’s Republic of China. During this visit Lee discussed with a group of approximately 30 Chinese scientists the construction of hohlraums, diagnostic devices used in conjunction with lasers to create microscopic nuclear detonations. Prosecutors stated Lee acknowledged that he knew the information was classified. The second charge against Lee concerned disclosures he failed to make in 1997 while he was working on classified research projects for TRW. Before he traveled to China on vacation, Lee was required to fill out a security form in which he stated he would not be giving lectures on his work. Upon his return, he had to fill out a second form in which he confirmed that he did not give any lectures of a technical nature. However, as Lee later confessed to the FBI, he lied on both forms because he intended to and did, in fact, deliver lectures to Chinese scientists that discussed his work on microwave backscattering from the sea surface. Dr. Lee told the FBI that he disclosed the information because he wanted to help his Chinese counterparts and he wanted to enhance his reputation in China. According to US government sources, Lee did receive compensation for the information he provided to the Chinese in the form of travel and hotel accommodations. The case resulted from an investigation by agents from the FBI's Foreign Counterintelligence Squad. On 26 March 1998, Dr. Lee was sentenced to one year in a community corrections facility, three years’ probation, and ordered to perform 3,000 hours of community service and pay $20,000 in fines.

Los Angeles Times 9 Dec 1997, "Physicist Admits Passing Laser Secrets to Chinese Scientists”
Washington Post 12 Dec 1997, "Taiwan Born Scientist Passes Defense Information"
Counterintelligence News Digest Mar 1998, “US Physicist Pleads Guilty”

1983 - YURIY P. LEONOV, a lieutenant colonel in Soviet military intelligence (GRU), fronting as a Soviet air force attaché, was apprehended on 18 August 1983 after receiving 60 pounds of government documents from an editor working under FBI control. The following day Leonov, who had diplomatic immunity, was declared persona non grata and expelled from the country. This ended a two-year recruitment attempt by Leonov against Armand B. Weiss, an editor of technical publications and former government consultant. Weiss had previously held a Top Secret clearance. In all, Leonov paid Weiss $1,800 for sensitive but unclassified publications on weapon systems. Ultimately, Leonov demanded a classified document. Under FBI direction, Weiss provided the item with a large number of highly technical publications for $500 cash. Leonov was arrested by agents waiting outside the office.

Washington Post 16 Sep 1983, “Soviet Military Spy Caught in FBI Trap”

2005 - CHI MAK, 68 at the time of sentencing and a former employee of Anaheim-based Power Paragon, Inc., was arrested on 28 October 2005. Mak, along with his wife (Rebecca Chiu), brother (Tai Mak), sister-in-law (Fuk Li) and nephew (Billy), was charged with conspiring to steal sensitive military information as well as failing to register as an agent of a foreign government. As a lead project engineer at Power Paragon, a defense contractor, Mak aided the US Navy with its research project on a Quiet Electric Drive (QED) propulsion system that would reduce a vessel’s sound signature. Mak was born in China in 1940 and moved to the US in 1978. He and his wife became citizens in 1985 and lived in a Los Angeles suburb. Mak held a steady job where he was regularly promoted and rewarded. His job gave him access to sensitive plans for Navy ships, submarines, and weapons, including details of the electrical power system in Virginia-class submarines that, if provided to the Chinese, would allow them to track the submarines. The five defendants were accused specifically of transferring data onto three encrypted disks that Tai Mak and Fuk Li attempted to transport to China in October 2005. One piece of evidence against the group was a to-do list of intelligence targets, written in Chinese and said to be instructions from Beijing on the kinds of technology Mak should try to acquire. While not all the materials sent to China over time may have been formally classified, Mak’s conspiracy to pass them constituted a violation of US export control laws. Mak was arrested in Los Angeles after FBI agents stopped his brother and sister-in-law as they boarded a flight to China. The disks they carried contained information on a submarine propulsion system, a solid-state power switch for ships, and a PowerPoint presentation on the future of power electronics. Mak was convicted on 11 May 2007 of conspiracy to violate export control laws and failing to register as a foreign agent. He was sentenced on 25 March 2008 to 24½ years in prison and fined $50,000. His wife was sentenced to three years (plus an agreement to renounce her US citizenship and return to China on her release); Mak’s brother Tai Mak received a 10-year sentence, Tai’s wife three years’ probation, and son Billy, 11 months (time already served in custody). Tai Mak and his family are not American citizens and will be deported after completing their sentences.

Washington Post 6 Jun 2007, “Plea Deal Ends China Tech Export Case”
Los Angeles Times 7 June 2007, “5th Defendant in Spy Case Pleads Guilty”
Washington Times 25 Mar 2008, “Spy for China Gets 24 Years”
Los Angeles Times 22 Apr 2008, “Man Gets 10 Years in China Spy Case”
Los Angeles Times 3 Oct 2008, “3-Year Sentence in China Spy Case”

2003 - AHMED FATHY MEHALBA, a naturalized American of Egyptian descent, was arrested on 29 September 2003 at Boston’s Logan International Airport after arriving from Cairo. He had taken emergency leave from his job at Guantanamo Bay with the Titan Corporation to visit his father in Egypt. (Titan is the defense contractor that supplies translators for Army interrogators at Guantanamo.) On his return, in a routine examination by Customs and Border Protection officers, he was found to have 132 computer disks in his baggage, one of which contained hundreds of separate documents labeled “Secret,” or “Secret/Noforn.” He was charged with making false statements to federal agents, since he repeatedly denied that he had any classified information from Guantanamo in his possession. He was indicted in November 2003 on charges of improperly gathering military information and lying to the FBI to which he pleaded not guilty. Born in Alexandria, Egypt, Mehalba immigrated to Salem, Massachusetts, in the early 1990s. He filed for bankruptcy in 1997, owing creditors $27,000. In 2000 he joined the US Army, twice failed to pass an interrogator course at Fort Huachuca, and was discharged for medical reasons (obesity) in 2001. Despite his discharge and bankruptcy, he was able to get a job in 2003 with Titan and was granted a security clearance by the Army. The government could not prove that he had shared classified information with anyone while abroad. In January 2005, Mehalba agreed to plead guilty under an agreement with prosecutors. He was sentenced 18 February 2005 to 20 months in prison. With good behavior and time already served, he was released in 22 days. The light sentence reflected the judge’s opinion that Mehalba was suffering from untreated bipolar disorder and depression when he took the documents. The judge said, “I really do believe the agreed-upon sentence reflects a measured, well-calibrated and in fact humane disposition.” The case illustrates some of the vetting problems involved with hiring native-speaking linguists, so urgently needed in Iraq.

New York Times 30 Sep 2003, “Guantanamo Bay Aide is Arrested at Boston Airport”
Boston Globe 1 Oct 2003, “Guantanamo Translator Seized at Logan”
New York Times 1 Oct 2003, “Guantanamo Inquiry Widens as Civilian Translator is Held”
Boston Globe 8 Jan 2005, “Plea Deal Signals Trouble with Case Against Translator”
Boston Globe 19 Feb 2005, “Translator Sentenced in Guantanamo Documents Case”

2007 - ROY L. OAKLEY, 67, was formerly employed as a laborer and security escort by Bechtel Jacobs at the East Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP) in Oakridge, Tennessee. The plant had previously been operated by the Department of Energy as a facility to produce highly enriched uranium. The plant was closed in 1987 and turned over Bechtel Jacobs for cleanup. While employed at ETTP in 2006 and 2007, Oakley had a security clearance that permitted him access to classified and protected materials, including instruments, appliances and information related to the gaseous diffusion process for enriching uranium. Some of these items were classified as Restricted. For reasons unclear in open sources, the FBI initiated an undercover investigation against Oakley and, in January 2007, contacted him using an undercover agent assuming the role of an agent of a foreign government. In telephone calls and face-to-face meetings with the undercover agent, Oakley had stated that he had taken certain parts of uranium enrichment fuel rods or tubes and other associated hardware items from the ETTP and that he wanted to sell these materials for $200,000 to the foreign government. Once he had handed over the materials to the agent and had been given $200,000, Oakley was confronted by FBI agents and admitted to trying to sell these materials. He had no contact with actual foreign governments, terrorists or criminal groups and appeared to have been motivated solely by greed. Oakley was indicted in July 2007. On 26 January 2009, the day his trial was slated to begin, Oakley pleaded guilty to Count 1 of the indictment charging him with unlawful disclosure of Restricted Data under the Atomic Energy Act. On 18 June 2009, Oakley was sentenced to six years in prison, after which he will be on supervised release for three years.

New York Times 20 Jul 2007, “Worker Indicted on Charges of Trying to Sell Nuclear Equipment” Department of Justice News Release 26 Jan 2009, “Former Oak Ridge Complex Employee Pleads Guilty to Unlawful Disclosure of Restricted Atomic Energy Data”

1989 - YURI N. PAKHTUSOV, a lieutenant colonel in the Soviet army, arrived in the US in June 1988, as assistant military attaché with the Soviet Military Mission. Two months later he began approaching an American employee of a defense contractor to obtain documents dealing with how the US government protects classified and other sensitive information contained in its computer systems. What he did not know was that the American reported the approaches to US authorities. Pakhtusov, 35, was caught as part of a sting operation after he received classified documents from the American employee working under FBI control. On 9 March 1989, he was ordered out of the country and declared persona non grata.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch 11 Mar 1989, “Soviet Diplomat Ousted As Spy”

2001 - BRIAN PATRICK REGAN, a former Air Force intelligence analyst, was arrested on 3 August 2001, at Dulles International Airport as he was boarding a flight for Switzerland. On his person he was carrying missile site information on Iraq and contact information for embassies in Switzerland. Regan, who had enlisted in the Air Force at 17, began working for the National Reconnaissance Office in 1995 where he administered the Intelink, a classified web network for the intelligence community. Following his retirement from the military as a Master Sergeant in 2001, he was employed by defense contractor TRW and resumed work at NRO where he was employed at the time of his arrest. Regan had held a Top Secret clearance since 1980. Computers searched in Regan’s home led to the discovery of letters offering to sell secrets to Libya, Iraq, and China. In the Iraq case, he asked Saddam Hussein for $13 million. At his arraignment on November 5, 2001, he pleaded not guilty to three counts of attempting to market highly classified documents and one count of gathering national defense information. The documents, classified at the Top Secret SCI level, concerned the US satellite program, early warning systems, and communications intelligence information. Regan is thought to have been motivated not only by money (he had very heavy personal debts), but also by a sense of disgruntlement, complaining frequently to former coworkers and neighbors about his job and station in life. On 20 February 2003, Regan was convicted of all charges except attempting to sell secrets to Libya, and on 21 March, under a sentencing agreement, he was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole. Information provided by Regan after sentencing led FBI and NRO investigators to 19 sites in rural Virginia and Maryland where he had buried over 20,000 pages of classified documents, five CDs, and five videotapes that he had stashed presumably for future sales.

Washington Post 24 Aug 2001, “Retired Air Force Sgt. Charged with Espionage”
Washington Post 21 Feb 2003, “Analyst Convicted in Spy Case; Regan Jury Yet to Decide if Death Penalty Applies”
New York Times 21 Mar 2003, “Life Sentence for Bid to Sell Secrets to Iraq”
Los Angeles Times 31 Jul 2003, “Arduous Dig to Find Spy’s Buried Stash; Agents Search Virginia, Maryland Park Sites under Rough Conditions, Recover All Documents”

1977 - IVAN N. ROGALSKY, a former Soviet merchant seaman admitted to the US as a political refugee, was arrested in New Jersey on 7 January 1977 after receiving a classified document from a cleared employee of RCA Research Center. The employee, who worked on communications satellite and defense projects, agreed to work under FBI control after first being approached by Rogalsky. The ex-seaman had earlier asked the RCA employee for unclassified information about the space shuttle program. A second secretary of the Soviet Mission to the United Nations, YEVEGENY P. KARPOV, was named as a co-conspirator. Karpov had been suspected of being a KGB officer by the FBI. According to later press reports, Rogalsky was not tried due to questions regarding his sanity. He claimed to receive instructions from disembodied voices.

New York Times 8 Jan 1977, “Soviet Alien Arrested in Jersey on Spy Charges”
New York Times 9 Jan 1977, “Accused Soviet Spy Known as a Drifter”
New York Times 16 Jan 1977, “Spy Case Clouds a Russian Holiday”

2008 - QUAN-SHENG SHU, 68, a Ph.D. physicist, a naturalized US citizen born in Shanghai, was president, secretary and treasurer of AMAC International, a high-tech company with offices in Beijing. The R&D company was based at the Applied Research Center in Newport News, Virginia. Shu was arrested in September 2008 and pleaded guilty 17 November 2008 to charges that he illegally exported sensitive space launch technical data and defense services to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and offered bribes to Chinese government officials. He admitted that from 2003 through October 2007 he violated the US arms export control law by providing the PRC with assistance in the design and development of a cryogenic fueling system for space launch vehicles. He also admitted that in 2003 he violated the same law by exporting to China military technical data from a document about designing and making a liquid hydrogen tank and various pumps, valves, filters and instruments. At the same time Shu pleaded guilty to offering bribes of nearly $190,000, on behalf of a French company that he represented, to Chinese government officials to win a $4 million contract for a hydrogen liquefier project. Shu was sentenced 7 April 2009 to 51 months in prison.

Digitajournal.com 25 Sep 2008, “More Chinese Espionage Involving Rocket Plans”
Department of Justice News Release 17 Nov 2008, “Virginia Physicist Pleads Guilty To Illegally Exporting Space Launch Data to China and Offering Bribes to Chinese”
Washington Post 9 Apr 2009, “Physicist Sentenced to Prison for Helping China”

1986 - GENNADIY F. ZAKHAROV, Soviet physicist employed at the United Nations Secretariat, was arrested on 23 August 1986 on a Queens, New York, subway platform as he gave $1,000 to an employee of a US defense contractor for three classified documents. Zakharov, who did not have diplomatic immunity, had attempted to recruit the employee over a period of three years. At the time of Zakharov's first approach, the individual, a Guyanese national and resident alien of the US, was in his junior year at Queens College, New York. Zakharov met with the student on numerous occasions and paid several thousand dollars for a wide range of technical but unclassified information about robotics, computers, and artificial intelligence. At the time of Zakharov's first approach in April 1983, the recruitment target, identified only by the code name “Birg,” informed the FBI and agreed to work under FBI control in order to apprehend the Soviet agent. Following his graduation in 1985, Birg obtained a position with a high-technology firm. Under FBI direction, he agreed to sign a 10-year written contract with Zakharov to provide classified information. Money to be paid by the Soviets was to be determined by the quantity and quality of the information. On 30 September, Zakharov pleaded no contest to espionage charges and was ordered to leave the country within 24 hours. Zakharov's expulsion came less than 24 hours after the release of American correspondent, Nicholas Daniloff, who had been arrested in the Soviet Union for alleged espionage activities.

New York Times 24 Aug 1986, “A Soviet Official Assigned to U.N. is Seized as a Spy”
New York Times 25 Aug 1986, “Russian's Arrest Called Example of Spy Threat”
New York Times 26 Aug 1986, “US Investigating Further Spy Cases in New York Area”

Return to  HOME  DATES  NAMES  ORGANIZATIONS