Son of Spy Suspect Arrested on Carrier : ‘Implicated’ in Case Against His Father, Navy Says

The Navy today announced the arrest of Seaman Michael Walker aboard the aircraft carrier Nimitz, saying he was “implicated” in a case against his father, who is under arrest on charges of spying for the Soviets.

A Navy statement said “an investigation conducted on board the USS Nimitz by Naval Investigative Service agents in support of the ongoing case against retired Chief Warrant Officer John Walker has produced evidence that implicated Seaman Walker in the activities of his father.

“Seaman Walker was subsequently placed in pretrial confinement in the brig of the USS Nimitz.”

Ship in Israel

The nuclear-powered Nimitz was in Haifa, Israel, where it had been berthed since Sunday for a week’s visit.

Lt. Stephen Petropaoli, a Navy spokesman, said he did not know where the younger Walker would be taken next and said he had no information on the substance of the investigation.

Seaman Walker, who had originally been identified in FBI court documents as a yeoman 3rd class, has been assigned to the Nimitz since early 1984, working in the operations division.

An affidavit filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Baltimore in connection with the arrest of Walker’s father said some of the documents he is accused of trying to pass on to the Soviets appear to have come from the Nimitz.

20 Years in Navy

In Washington, the FBI said the senior Walker may have spied for the Soviet Union for much of his 20-year Navy career.

The elder Walker, 47, who retired from the Navy in 1976 as a chief warrant officer, was arrested Monday and accused of dropping about 120 secret or confidential Navy documents in the rural Maryland countryside outside Washington.

Among the subjects covered in the documents were deployment of Soviet navy vessels in the Mediterranean and movements of Soviet merchant marine ships, the affidavit said.

Walker, who now works as a private detective in Norfolk, Va., was ordered held without bond pending a bail review hearing May 29.