Lehman Gets a Scolding From Defense Chief

WASHINGTON —  Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger, irked by Navy Secretary John F. Lehman Jr.’s public criticism of an espionage plea bargain for John A. Walker Jr., said Friday that he has “reviewed” the matter with Lehman and that the Navy chief has seen the light.

“Secretary Lehman now understands that he did not have all the facts concerning the matter before he made several injudicious and incorrect statements with respect to the agreement,” Weinberger said in an unusual public scolding of his lieutenant.

“Secretary Lehman now has all the facts and is in complete agreement with the government’s decision,” Weinberger said.

Earlier last week, after Walker and his son, Michael, pleaded guilty to selling Navy secrets to the Soviet Union, Lehman blasted the Justice Department for accepting a plea bargain. Lehman said the agreement sent “the wrong message to the nation and to the fleet,” adding that it indicated that the Justice Department treated espionage like any other white-collar crime.

Wanted Death Penalty

He also repeated his desire to see the death penalty used in peacetime espionage cases and said the elder Walker’s pledge of future cooperation with investigators would be of little assistance because the Navy already had a picture of the damage done.

Walker pleaded guilty to espionage and conspiracy on Monday and will be sentenced to life in prison for selling secrets to the Soviets over a 17-year period. He will be eligible for parole in 10 years. His son Michael, a Navy seaman, also pleaded guilty and will be sentenced to 25 years in prison under the agreement, which will make him eligible for parole in eight years.

Sources have said that the elder Walker agreed to plead guilty in a bid to ease the punishment for his son. The government was interested, the sources said, because it wants the elder Walker to testify against another defendant in the case, Jerry Whitworth.

Weinberger, in his prepared statement, laid out several “facts” about the plea bargain that he said he had called to Lehman’s attention.

Weinberger said Lehman now “understands that the agreement will greatly assist the United States government in ensuring that it is able to prosecute all the participants in this crime, and will enable us to conduct a complete assessment of the damage that has been done to our national security without lengthy trials that might have resulted in acquittals based on technicalities and would have required the government to disclose additional classified materials.”

Lehman also “understands that this agreement has produced sentences as consistent with the seriousness of the offenses as the present law allows, and sentences which are fully as severe as could have been obtained without an agreement if guilty verdicts had been brought in after trial.”

That latter statement was an apparent reference to the belief of prosecutors that although Michael Walker faced a sentence of life in prison, a judge might not have imposed the maximum because of his relatively limited role in the case.

“Both of us conclude that this agreement is in the best interest of justice,” Weinberger concluded.

Lehman and his aides refused to discuss the matter.

Pentagon and Justice Department sources had disclosed earlier that their leaders were angered by Lehman’s public criticism. They disclosed that Lehman, Weinberger and two other Pentagon officials met with Stephen S. Trott, head of the Justice Department’s criminal division, two weeks ago to discuss the case.