House Votes for Military Spying Death Penalty

WASHINGTON —  The House voted overwhelmingly Thursday to reinstitute the death penalty as a punishment for peacetime espionage by military personnel.

The measure, passed on a voice vote as an amendment to the fiscal 1986 defense appropriation bill, was prompted by the Walker family spy case, in which four former and current Navy men are accused of passing U.S. military secrets to the Soviet Union.

Since 1972, when the Supreme Court struck down death penalty statutes, espionage has been a capital offense for military personnel only during wartime. Congress has reinstituted it for only one other offense: air piracy.

Amends Military Code

The espionage measure, sponsored by Rep. Bill McCollum (R-Fla.), would amend the Uniform Code of Military Justice to allow military courts to impose the death penalty. To conform to the Supreme Court ruling, it provides that mitigating and aggravating circumstances be taken into account in sentencing.

Rep. George W. Gekas (R-Pa.) described the amendment, passed after virtually no debate, as “a first step toward capital punishment for all espionage.”

Sentiment for new measures to counter Soviet espionage has been steadily building in Congress since John A. Walker Jr., a private investigator in Norfolk, Va., was arrested last month after allegedly placing classified military documents at a Soviet drop site in Maryland. The FBI then arrested Walker’s son, Michael Lance, a sailor on the nuclear aircraft carrier Nimitz; his brother, Arthur, a retired Navy officer, and Jerry A. Whitworth, whom John Walker had met in the Navy, on espionage charges. John Walker had been a Navy communications specialist.

Lie Tests Considered

Another spy case, in Los Angeles, involving Richard W. Miller, the first FBI agent in history to be charged as a spy, has caused that agency to consider requiring spot polygraph testing of its counterintelligence agents, an FBI official disclosed Thursday.

“The case has heightened the need for consideration of use of the polygraph. It’s a serious consideration, but one we’re still studying,” Assistant FBI Director William Baker said.

Baker made his comments as government prosecutors prepared for the trial of Miller, 48, a counterintelligence agent who was arrested on Oct. 2 with Soviet emigres Svetlana and Nikolai Ogorodnikov. He is accused of passing secret FBI documents to Soviet intelligence agents in exchange for sex and a promised $65,000 in gold and cash.

On Wednesday, the Ogorodnikovs pleaded guilty to conspiring with Miller, in a plea-bargain arrangement in a Los Angeles federal court. Ogorodnikov, 52, was sentenced to eight years in prison and his wife is to be sentenced to an 18-year prison term on July 15.

In another sign of sentiment for new measures to counter espionage, the House passed a bill Wednesday that would give the Pentagon broad authority to subject military and civilian employees to polygraph testing before they receive high-level security clearances. The Senate has approved a more limited testing program.

11 Admit Spy Contacts

The Pentagon disclosed Thursday that, under its current testing program, which is limited to 3,500 lie-detector examinations a year, 11 persons admitted that they had been recruited or had actually served as spies.

According to a newly declassified report released by the Defense Department, four other applicants for intelligence jobs acknowledged during testing that friends or relatives had spied.

The report did not include dates and names but said each of the incidents occurred in the last three years, after the applicants had passed background investigations.

Polygraph testing has long been used to screen applicants for jobs with the National Security Agency and in criminal investigations. But Congress has limited its routine use by the Defense Department because of privacy concerns and worries that the tests are not accurate.

The FBI has long considered requiring spot polygraph tests for counterintelligence agents but has been reluctant to institute such a program, being wary of adverse reaction from the Administration, Congress and the public.

Tests May Start at Top

However, on Thursday, the FBI’s Baker said in a telephone interview: “I wouldn’t think most counterintelligence agents would mind submitting to polygraphs. We’re considering it for those with a high degree of access, starting with the director on down.”

FBI counterintelligence agents in Los Angeles confirmed that polygraph testing has been discussed with increased seriousness since Miller’s arrest. One agent said top counterintelligence officials have already taken polygraph tests to set an example for subordinates.

Miller, whose trial is scheduled to begin on Aug. 6, initially denied passing documents to the Ogorodnikovs during five days of FBI questioning prior to his arrest. After he was told, however, that he had failed polygraph tests during his questioning, he gradually changed his story and allegedly admitted that he had shown FBI documents to Ogorodnikova.

Sara Fritz reported from Washington and William Overend from Los Angeles.