Boyce Calls Espionage a Growing Cancer : Soviets ‘Never Let Go,’ Jailed Spy Says

Convicted spy Christopher Boyce today likened spying for the Soviets to a growing cancer and warned Americans not to contemplate such actions because KGB control agents “never let you go.”

When asked in a television interview what he remembers most about the KGB, Boyce said, “They never let go. They’re always there. When things begin you realize that you’ve committed a total act of folly because they are going to want to stay with you for the rest of your life.

“They just become . . . this monkey on your back. There isn’t anything that’s really yours anymore. It’s like having cancer.”

Boyce gave separate interviews on CBS and ABC from a federal prison in Marion, Ill., where he is serving a 68-year sentence for his conviction in 1977 on eight counts of espionage and subsequent escape and bank robbery charges. His spying became the basis of the book and movie, “The Falcon and the Snowman.”

Boyce, who was 21 when he began supplying information to the Soviets, said death is never a threat used by the KGB because “there are so many worse things you can do to people than just kill you.”

“They don’t want to kill you as long as they can keep on exploiting you and using you up and controlling you like a puppet,” he said.

Boyce said federal authorities cannot deter espionage acts by Americans by simply improving security and reducing the number of people with access to classified information.

“No sir, I think the best defense the United States has against espionage and the KGB is to honestly convey to the 4 million Americans who have security clearances exactly what it will mean to them personally as individuals to be under the thumb of a KGB control agent,” he said.

“Then, I think espionage in this country will dry up like a corpse.”

Money as spies’ motive, Page 4.