Engineer Pleads Guilty to Espionage : He Tried to Sell ‘Stealth’ Bomber Secrets to Undercover Agents
A former Northrop Corp. aerospace engineer who tried to sell secret defense plans to two undercover FBI agents posing as Soviet spies pleaded guilty to espionage charges Thursday in Los Angeles federal court.
Thomas Patrick Cavanagh, speaking so softly that he had to be told to repeat his comments, admitted that he believed he was selling classified documents about the U.S. “stealth” bomber program to agents of the Soviet Union.
Questioned in detail by U.S. District Judge Matthew Byrne Jr. before his guilty plea was accepted, Cavanagh said he knew the information he tried to sell would be helpful to the Soviet Union.
However, the 40-year-old Downey resident, who once told the undercover FBI agents that he was after “big money” as a spy, said he never intended to harm this country by his actions.
“It would not be injurious to the United States; it would be to the advantage of the Soviet Union,” Cavanagh said, describing his assessment of the information he attempted to sell.
Cavanagh was arrested Dec. 18 after meeting three times with FBI agents David A. Silva and Daniel P. McLaughlin, who posed as Soviet spies interested in obtaining information about the top-secret bomber program.
The undercover operation began in early December after the FBI intercepted attempts by Cavanagh to communicate with Soviet officials in this country.
Highly Secret
The details of how the FBI learned of Cavanagh’s attempt to contact Soviet officials have remained secret since his arrest, but government sources have indicated that it was the result of electronic surveillance of the Soviet Consulate in San Francisco and the Soviet Embassy in Washington.
U.S. Atty. Robert C. Bonner, disputing Cavanagh’s contention that the information he wanted to sell to the Soviets would not have hurt the United States, said the documents he turned over to the undercover agents would have caused “great harm and injury” if they had actually been provided to the Communist country.
The stealth bomber program is a highly secret Northrop Corp. defense project aimed at developing an advanced-systems aircraft that will be virtually invisible to Soviet radar.
Bonner said the two FBI agents, who arranged to pay Cavanagh $25,000 for the documents, performed an “absolutely extraordinary job” under difficult circumstances.
“The two agents did pose as Russian agents,” he said. “Both are fluent in the Russian language, and they used that in the case. . . .”
Cavanagh pleaded guilty to two counts of espionage stemming from meetings with the FBI agents on Dec. 12 and Dec. 18. Byrne, noting that he could impose two consecutive life terms, set sentencing for April 22.
Described by his attorney, Manuel Araujo, as extremely depressed and remorseful about his actions, Cavanagh indicated under questioning by Byrne that he did not believe that he was illegally entrapped by the FBI undercover agents.
But, consulting with Cavanagh as he stood before the judge with his client, Araujo added that Cavanagh believes that he has been treated too harshly by the government.
“He feels the government could have fired him instead,” Araujo said.
Cavanagh’s first meeting with the agents was on Dec. 10 at the Cockatoo Inn in Hawthorne. At that meeting, according to FBI documents, Cavanagh explained that he was having financial problems and needed $25,000 to “get the creditors off my back.”
At a second meeting on Dec. 12 at the Lucky Lodge Motel in Bellflower, Cavanagh provided manuals and blueprints about the stealth bomber program, reportedly telling the agents that the information could save the Soviet Union “billions” of dollars.
In recounting the meetings to Byrne on Thursday, Cavanagh said he expected to be paid at the Dec. 12 meeting but was not. It was at the Dec. 18 meeting at the Hyatt Hotel in the City of Commerce, according to the FBI, that Cavanagh was actually given the $25,000.
Needed Money
Cavanagh told the judge that he had some suspicions about the agents but proceeded with the meetings despite his doubts because he needed the money.
Before the third meeting, when he was arrested after turning over more documents, Cavanagh said he stopped for one drink. He also took a .45-caliber pistol with him to the meeting but then handed it to the agents before his arrest.
“I wasn’t quite sure if I was going to be able to leave the room in one piece,” Cavanagh told the judge.
Cavanagh said before his arrest he had made arrangements to sell the agents more documents for another $30,000. He had been quoted earlier by the agents as saying that $25,000 was a “drop in the bucket” and that he was after “big money” as a spy.
His guilty pleas were accepted by Byrne, after the judge dismissed a motion by Araujo challenging the government’s use of evidence obtained against Cavanagh under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which regulates the use of electronic surveillance in national security cases.
Accepted Pleas
Byrne accepted the pleas on the conditional basis that his dismissal of Araujo’s motion will stand up under appeal. If Byrne is overruled on the question, the guilty pleas would be withdrawn.
Assistant U.S. Atty. Percy Anderson, who prosecuted the case, said that in exchange for the guilty pleas to two espionage counts, the government will drop a third espionage count and a charge of illegal possession of an automatic rifle that was found in Cavanagh’s Downey apartment after his arrest.
