DATE=11/30/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=ACCUSED NAVY SPY (S UPDATE & L)
NUMBER=2-256650
BYLINE=JIM RANDLE
DATELINE=WASHINGTON
INTERNET=YES
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: A U-S Navy sailor is in custody, accused of
passing secrets to Russia. V-O-A's Jim Randle reports
that the alleged agent is an expert in what American
spy submarines were learning about Russian military
activities.
TEXT: Navy spokesman Greg Smith says Petty Officer
First Class Daniel King has been in the navy 18 years
and was working with information gathered by American
submarines lurking off the Russian coast when he
allegedly sent secrets to the Russian Embassy in
Washington in 1994.
Mr. King was assigned to the Navy's intelligence
operation in nearby Fort Meade, Maryland at the time.
Fort Meade is the highly secret facility where
information from the U-S Government's massive,
global, electronic eavesdropping operation is decoded
and analyzed.
Mr. King allegedly passed raw data to the Russians on
one occasion, making them aware of weaknesses in their
efforts to protect military secrets. He will face a
military hearing in the next few weeks to determine if
there is enough evidence to charge him with a crime.
/// REST OPT FOR LONG ///
If he is convicted of espionage, he could be executed,
although other recently convicted spies have been
given lengthy prison terms rather than the death
penalty.
Navy officials say Petty Officer King's alleged
disclosure was serious, but not as damaging as earlier
betrayals by Navy Warrant Office John Walker, who sold
Russia critical Navy secrets and codes, or of Jonathan
Pollard who handed suitcases full of U-S secrets to
Israel.
A Navy official says Petty Officer King was promoted
several times in his first seven years of service, but
has been stuck at his current rank for eleven years.
The official says Mr. King's alleged crime may have
been motivated by the perceived injustice of his
stalled career.
Officials say the charges were filed after Mr. King
apparently failed a lie-detector test he underwent as
part of the routine process to renew his clearance to
work with highly secret materials. He is currently
being held at a Marine base near Washington. (Signed)
NEB/jr/gm
30-Nov-1999 00:11 AM EDT (30-Nov-1999 0511 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
.
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