Retired Navy Specialist Held on Spy Charge

FBI agents arrested a retired Navy specialist Monday in an alleged scheme to deliver to the Soviets classified Navy information--including material believed to be from the nuclear aircraft carrier Nimitz, aboard which the defendant’s son is serving.

Agents arrested John Anthony Walker Jr. before dawn at a motel in suburban Rockville, Md., after they had trailed him to an apparent “drop site” where they found a shopping bag containing 129 Navy documents, according to an affidavit filed in federal court in Baltimore.

Walker, 47, who is a private detective in Norfolk, Va., retired as a chief warrant officer in 1976 after 20 years of service as a communications specialist. His son, Yeoman 3rd Class Michael Lance Walker, is assigned to the Nimitz, which is now in Haifa, Israel.

The material found in the shopping bag included “copies of classified documents which appear to have come from the USS Nimitz,” the FBI affidavit said. William Baker, the FBI’s assistant director for public affairs, refused to say whether the younger Walker is a suspect, although he said: “The investigation is continuing.”

But other sources familiar with the investigation said that the son is a suspect and noted that agents probably lacked “probable cause” to make an arrest until the material was recovered.

A letter also found in the shopping bag, purportedly written by the elder Walker, stated: “This delivery consists of material from ‘S’ and is similar to the previously supplied material. The quantity is limited, unfortunately, due to his operating schedule and the increased security prior to deployment. His ship departed in early March, and they operated extensively just prior to deployment.”

25 Miles From Capital

The FBI affidavit noted that the drop site was close to 25 miles from the center of Washington, the limit to which Soviet nationals assigned to their embassy here can travel. A Soviet national assigned to the embassy was seen in the area of the drop site while FBI agents were watching Sunday.

Baker said that the FBI assumes Walker previously had provided the Soviets with information. The letter found in the shopping bag said: “Since ‘S’ is providing a large quantity of material, the quantity of film to shoot is all (sic) is also becoming large. I have been trying to figure out an alternative method that will decrease the size of the packages to deliver. I have a Super 8mm movie camera which is capable of single frame shots . . . .

“I have enclosed a short sample of a document shot with a camera using different focusing methods . . . . They don’t look very good to me, but I thought you may have an idea on how we could make this method work.”

Damage Being Assessed

An assessment of the value to national security of the shopping bag papers--classified as “confidential” and “secret”--has not yet been done, Baker said. Among other things, the documents discussed “the deployment of Soviet vessels in the Mediterranean and movements of Soviet merchant marine vessels,” the affidavit said.

Such material could be helpful in assessing the scope of U.S. surveillance and in breaking U.S. codes, according to a government intelligence source.

According to the FBI, Walker threatened the agents who arrested him with a revolver. When agents followed Walker from his home in Norfolk to Maryland on Sunday, he drove “in a circuitous fashion, making numerous U-turns and stopping, in an attempt to detect surveillance,” the affidavit said.

Walker has been charged with violating a section of the espionage law. If convicted, he could be sentenced to life in prison.