Ex-CIA Officer Charged with Spying (fwd)

nikst wrote:

From nikst@glasnet.ru Fri Apr 3 22:08:12 1998 Message-Id: X-SMTP-Spy: Real message sender is nikst@glasnet.ru via ppp1575.glas.apc.org From: "nikst" Subject: Ex-CIA Officer Charged with Spying

Friday April 3 5:01 PM EST

Ex-CIA Officer Charged with Spying

By James Vicini

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A disgruntled former CIA officer has been arrested on spy charges alleging he passed secrets to two foreign nations about how the agency eavesdropped on their coded communications, U.S. officials said Friday.

Douglas Groat, 50, who worked at the Central Intelligence Agency for 16 years until being fired in 1996, also was charged with trying to extort more than $500,000 from the spy agency in return for not revealing secrets to foreign governments.

During a brief court hearing, a lawyer for Groat entered a not guilty plea to the five charges, two of which carry a possible death penalty. The case was the latest spy scandal to rock the CIA in recent years.

U.S. Attorney Wilma Lewis said after the hearing that Groat participated during his CIA career in classified covert operations aimed at the penetration of cryptographic systems of foreign governments.

He allegedly disclosed national defense information concerning the targeting and compromise of the cryptographic systems of two unidentified foreign governments to those governments, she told reporters outside the courthouse.

The indictment alleged that he handed over the secrets to representatives of the foreign nation "with intent and reason to believe that said information would be used to the injury of the United States and to the advantage of a foreign nation."

"The alleged unauthorized disclosure of these activities could have a significant impact on the national security of the United States," said Lewis, whose office will prosecute the case.

"This case involves highly sensitive classified information that could have a serious impact on the national security of the United States. In short this is a serious espionage case," she said.

The alleged espionage took place in late March and April 1997 while the alleged extortion scheme began in May 1996 and lasted until February 1998, the officials said. Groat was arrested by FBI agents without incident on Thursday.

After prosecutors warned that Groat may try to flee the country, Chief U.S. District Judge Norma Holloway Johnson ordered Groat held without bond until next Thursday, when there will be another hearing.

Prosecutor Eric Dubelier told the judge that Groat had been trained by the CIA "in traveling in false identification and deception."

He said Groat possessed sensitive intelligence information which could cause "grave damage" to national security if disclosed.

Groat, who was dressed in dark-blue prison clothing, stood before the judge during the hearing with his hands behind his back. Groat once conferred with his court-appointed lawyers, but never said anything during the proceeding held under unusually heavy security.

George Tenet, the head of the CIA, said in a statement the full extent of any damage to national security has yet to be determined.

"The charges against Mr Groat are extremely serious," Tenet said. "His arrest demonstrates that the U.S. government will not rest in our efforts against those who would commit espionage ... nor will we be intimidated by threats of blackmail."

Groat worked as a technical officer in the CIA's Directorate for Science and Technology. He last had access to classified information in 1993, when he has placed on administrative leave.

Officials said it will be up to Attorney General Janet Reno to decide whether to seek the death penalty in the case. They said the year-old investigation would continue.

The case is the latest in a series of embarrassing spy cases involving the CIA.

CIA turncoat Aldrich Ames was arrested in 1994 and has pleaded guilty to betraying at least 11 Soviet and East European agents working for the United States in one of the most damaging espionage cases in U.S. history.

Ames, a career officer who spent much of his 31 years in the CIA in counterintelligence, is serving a life sentence in a U.S. prison.

Confessed double-agent Harold Nicholson pleaded guilty last year to spying for Moscow, becoming the highest-ranking CIA officer convicted in a spy case.

Nicholson, a 16-year CIA veteran who uncloaked students he helped train for undercover missions, admitted collecting $300,000 from the Russians.

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- Igor.