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1975 - 1980
1980 - DAVID HENRY BARNETT, a CIA officer, was indicted 24 October 1980 for having sold to the Soviet Union details of one of the CIA's most successful undercover operations, code-named “Habrink.” Following a tour of duty in Indonesia between 1967 and 1970, Barnett resigned from the CIA to enter private business. In late 1976, faced with failure and debts of $100,000, he offered to sell classified information to the KGB. Barnett handed over full details of Habrink to the KGB, including CIA information on the Soviet SA-2 surface-to-air missile and the Whiskey class diesel-powered submarine. He also revealed the names of 30 CIA intelligence officers as well as the identities of informants recruited by the CIA. In all, Barnett was paid approximately $92,000 by the KGB for information supplied between 1976 and 1977. US agents reportedly spotted Barnett meeting the KGB in Vienna in April 1980; he was questioned by the FBI upon his return to the US. Barnett entered a plea of guilty and received an 18-year sentence. He was paroled in 1990.
New York Times 23 Oct 1980, “Alleged Spy Sought 2nd Post, Aides Say”
New York Times 30 Oct 1980, “Ex-Agent of C.I.A. Pleads Guilty”
Washington Post 30 Oct 1980, “Ex-CIA Agent Pleads Guilty to Spying”
1980 - RUDOLPH ALBERT HERRMANN, KGB career officer, entered the US illegally with his family from Canada in 1968 and operated as a Soviet agent within the US under the guise of a free-lance photographer. His primary assignment was to gather political information. While Herrmann claimed not to have recruited Americans for espionage, he admitted to having transmitted sensitive information collected by other spies and to acting as a courier for the KGB. Apprehended by the FBI in 1977, he agreed to operate as a double agent until the operation was terminated in 1980. Herrmann and his family were granted asylum in the US have been resettled under a new identity.
New York Times 4 Mar 1980, “Double Agent Revealed by FBI”
Washington Post 4 Mar 1980, “Soviet Spy Became a ‘Double Agent’
John Barron, The Inheritor: A Tale of KGB Espionage in America, 1982
1979 - LEE EUGENE MADSEN, a Navy Yeoman assigned to the Strategic Warning Staff at the Pentagon, was arrested 14 August 1979 for selling classified material to an FBI undercover agent for $700. None of 22 highly classified documents taken by Madsen is known to have fallen into the hands of foreign agents; however, it is believed that he had intended to sell them to organized crime figures dealing in narcotics. Madsen, a homosexual, is quoted as saying that he stole Top Secret documents “to prove...I could be a man and still be gay.” On 26 October 1979 he was sentenced to eight years in prison.
Washington Post 27 Oct 1979, “Sailor Receives 8 Years in Jail”
1978 - VALDIK ENGER and RUDOLF CHERNYAYEV, both Soviet employees of the UN Secretariat, were arrested by the FBI in New Jersey in May 1978 for accepting classified information on antisubmarine warfare passed by a US Naval officer acting on instructions of the Naval Investigative Service and the FBI. The officer, Navy Lieutenant Commander Art Lindberg, acted as a double agent in a counterintelligence operation called Operation Lemonaid. In August 1977, LCDR Lindberg took a trip on the Soviet cruise ship Kazakhstan. Upon the ship's return to New York, he passed a note to one of the Soviet officers containing an offer to sell information. He was later contacted by telephone by a Soviet agent. During subsequent telephone calls, LCDR Lindberg was given contact instructions on the type of information to get and the locations of drop sites where that information could be left and payment money could be found. Naval Investigative Service and FBI agents kept the drop zones under surveillance and later identified the Soviet agents. On 20 May 1978, FBI agents moved into the drop zone and apprehended three Soviets, Enger, Chernyayev and another man, VLADIMIR ZINYAKIN, third secretary at the Soviet Mission to the United Nations. Zinyakin avoided arrest due to diplomatic immunity. Enger and Chernyayev, the first Soviet officials ever to stand trial for espionage in the US, were convicted and sentenced to 50 years in prison. Altogether they paid the Navy officer $16,000 for materials he provided. Enger and Chernyayev were later exchanged for the release of five Soviet dissidents.
New York Times 21 May 1978, “2 Russians Arrested by F.B.I. for Spying”
Washington Post 24 Dec 1978, “The Spy Who Came Into The Cold”
Los Angeles Times 24 May 1979, “Navy Officer ‘Drafted' as Counterspy”
Naval Investigative Service Command, Espionage, 1989
1978 - RONALD HUMPHREY, an employee of the US Information Agency, and DAVID TRUONG, a Vietnamese immigrant, were indicted in early 1978. A search of Truong's apartment at the time of his arrest in January uncovered two Top Secret State Department documents. Humphrey had turned over classified cables and documents to Truong who in turn sent them to the North Vietnamese delegation in Paris via a woman who was a Vietnamese double agent working for the FBI. Testimony indicated that Humphrey supplied documents to Truong in order to obtain the release of his common-law wife and her four children from communist Vietnam. Both Humphrey and Truong were convicted on six counts of espionage on 20 May, and on 15 July each received a 15-year sentence.
Washington Post 21 May 1978, “FBI Continues Spy Case Investigation”
Washington Post 24 May 1978, “Cables in Spy Case Larded with Gossip”
1978 - WILLIAM KAMPILES, served as a watch officer at the CIA Operations Center from March to November 1977. He was arrested in August 1978 on charges he stole a Top Secret technical manual on the KH-11 (“Big Bird”) reconnaissance satellite and later sold it for $3,000 to a Soviet agent in Athens, Greece. According to press reports, the satellite was used to monitor troop movements and missile installations in the Soviet Union. Kampiles had resigned from the CIA in November 1977, disappointed at having been told that he was not qualified for work as a field agent (he fervently wished to join the covert part of CIA operations). Before leaving the agency, he smuggled out of the building a copy of the KH-11 manual. He proceeded to Greece in February 1978 where he contacted a Soviet military attaché. Kampiles was the son of Greek immigrants and had family connections in that country. He claimed to have conned the Russians out of a $3,000 advance for the promise of classified information and on his return to the US bragged to friends about his exploits. About this time the CIA was investigating possible leaks concerning the KH-11, since the Soviets were beginning to take countermeasures against the collection platform. Kampiles’ identification as a suspect in part followed receipt of a letter to a CIA employee from Kampiles in which he mentioned frequent meetings with a Soviet official in Athens. He hoped to be rehired by the CIA and admitted during a job interview that he had met with Soviet agents in Athens in what he intended as a disinformation exercise to prove his abilities as a first-rate agent. CIA counterintelligence was concerned by these reports and contacted the FBI, who questioned Kampiles until he confessed the theft of the manual and its sale to the Soviets. The former CIA employee maintained that his objective had been to become a double agent. He was sentenced on 22 December to 40 years in prison.
Washington Post 23 Aug 1978, “CIA ‘Big Bird’ Satellite Manual Allegedly Sold to Soviets”
New York Times 12 Nov 1978 “Spy Trial Focusing on Security in C.I.A.”
New York Times 23 Dec 1978, “Ex-Clerk of C.I.A. Gets 40 Years in Sale of Space Secrets to Soviets”
Washington Post Magazine 4 Dec 1983, “Spy Rings of One”
Minnick, W.L., Spies and Provocateurs, 1992
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
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”
1976 - EDWIN G MOORE II, a retired CIA employee, was arrested by the FBI in 1976 and charged with espionage after attempting to sell classified documents to Soviet officials. A day earlier, an employee at a residence for Soviet personnel in Washington, DC, had discovered a package on the grounds and turned it over to police, fearing it was a bomb. The package was found to contain classified CIA documents and a note requesting that $3,000 be dropped at a specified location. The note offered more documents in exchange for $197,000. Moore was arrested after picking up what he thought to be the payment at a drop site near his home. A search of his residence yielded 10 boxes of classified CIA documents. Moore retired from the CIA in 1973 and, although financial gain was a strong motivational factor leading to espionage, it is known that he was disgruntled with his former employer due to lack of promotion. Moore pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, but was convicted and sentenced to 15 years in prison. He was granted parole in 1979.
Washington Post 13 Apr 1977, “Thought He Was on Assignment for CIA”
Washington Post 25 Apr 1977, “Trial of Ex-Agent...”
Washington Post 6 May 1977, “Moore Guilty of Trying to Sell CIA Files”
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
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