Marine Formally Charged in Espionage

WASHINGTON —  The Marine Corps on Friday formally charged Sgt. Clayton J. Lonetree, a former embassy security guard in Moscow, with espionage, conspiracy and larceny, alleging that he gave Soviet agents the names and photographs of some U.S. intelligence agents in the Soviet capital as well as floor plans and staff assignments in the American Embassy there.

Pentagon officials said they are still trying to assess the extent of damage that the 25-year-old serviceman allegedly caused to national security, which Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger has termed “quite serious.” But a Pentagon source who requested anonymity said the damage may prove to be “of short duration,” suggesting that intelligence methods and operations compromised by Lonetree already are undergoing changes.

The formal statement of 17 charges against Lonetree, who also was accused of passing information about the U.S. Embassy in Vienna to the Soviets, contained no reference to his motive or to any payment from the Soviet Union. However, intelligence sources have said Lonetree was seduced by a female Soviet agent while working as an embassy guard in Moscow from September, 1984, to March, 1986.

Arrested Last Month

The woman, identified Friday as Violetta Sanni, worked at that time as a translator on the embassy’s staff. Lonetree later was transferred to guard duties at the U.S. Embassy in Vienna, where he allegedly kept in contact with Soviet agents until his arrest last month. He has admitted his spying activities to military authorities, the sources said.

Lonetree, of St. Paul, Minn., is being held in the brig at Quantico Marine Base in Virginia. Under military procedures, officials now will conduct a three-week pretrial investigation to review the evidence against him and advise whether he should be brought before a court-martial.

The espionage charge, which carries a maximum penalty of death, dealt specifically with allegations that he stole floor plans of the Moscow and Vienna embassies. The more serious charge that he “did gather names and photographs of covert U.S. intelligence agents,” including some Soviet citizens, was listed as conspiracy.

The statement of charges said Lonetree, who had access to security data, gathered “information regarding floor plans and office assignments for the embassies of the United States” in Moscow last February and in Vienna last November.

Marine guards have a great deal of access to secrets at embassies, where they are entrusted not only with protecting, but also with destroying classified information in “burn bags.”