Spy Suspect Had Contingency Wartime Plans

In the most detailed description yet of classified material possessed by suspects in the naval spy ring, an FBI agent disclosed Friday that a search of Jerry A. Whitworth’s home turned up contingency plans for military communications in the event of hostilities in the Middle East.

The confidential military document would have had “significant value to the Soviets,” said William Smits, local head of the FBI’s counterintelligence section dealing with the Soviet Union. Smits testified at a detention hearing for Whitworth in federal court here.

Held Without Bail

After Smits’ testimony, U.S. Magistrate Frederick Woelflen ordered Whitworth held without bail, saying there was “clear and convincing evidence” that the 45-year-old retired Navy radioman was part of a conspiracy to transport “highly secretive” information to the Soviets. The conspiracy constituted a danger not only to “the community but to the nation as a whole,” Woelflen said.

Whitworth, who was custodian of classified records at Alameda Naval Air Station, is accused of conspiring to help his longtime friend, John A. Walker Jr., pass military secrets to the Soviets in what authorities say is a spy ring that operated for as long as 20 years. He remains in federal custody here.

Searches of Whitworth’s trailer home in late May uncovered also confidential training manuals for naval communications specialists, Smits said, adding that while Whitworth was in the Navy he had a “top secret crypto-clearance.”

Smits said that agents had also found a document describing how secret messages were to be handled when they arrived at the Alameda Naval Air Station, where Whitworth was stationed at the time of his retirement in October, 1983, after 23 years in the Navy.

It was not clear from the testimony whether Whitworth had passed copies of the documents along to Walker or whether he might have intended to, and federal authorities here would not expand on the testimony after the hourlong hearing.

Smits testified that searches of John Walker’s belongings uncovered letters to his alleged Soviet contact in which he said that “S”--who authorities believe is Walker’s son, Michael--had enough documents to fill two shopping bags. John and Michael Lance Walker both are charged with espionage. Michael was arrested aboard the aircraft carrier Nimitz, where he was a member of the crew.

Voluminous Information

The information was so voluminous that Walker was having trouble photographing it and was trying to figure out a way of filming it with an 8-millimeter movie camera capable of shooting single frames, the agent testified.

John Walker had also made reference to “F” in one letter to an alleged Soviet contact. Government sources have said that “F” refers to Walker’s half brother, Gary, who also is in the Navy, but authorities say Gary Walker has passed a polygraph examination and is not considered a a suspect.

In the letter addressed to “Dear Friend,” Walker said that “F” was in a temporary assignment without access to classified information. The letter, which was seized last month, said also that “F” felt a need to help support the Walkers’ father, who had a “significant drinking problem,” Smits testified.

Stock Purchases Cited

An Internal Revenue Service agent testified that Whitworth invested $22,000 in stocks between August, 1979, and October, 1983, exchanging cash for cashier’s checks that were used to buy the securities.

Louis Hiken, Whitworth’s lawyer, said the transactions were not unusual, noting that Whitworth made $35,000 a year in the Navy.

Hiken had asked Woelflen to delay the bail hearing to allow him time to contact friends of Whitworth who, Hiken said, would have vouched for him.

Hiken said he had hoped to contact Whitworth’s mother in Oklahoma to ask that she put up the family farm as bail but he had not reached her.

Whitworth remained silent and showed no emotion during the hearing.

Surge in Espionage Cases

Meanwhile, in Washington Friday, FBI Director William H. Webster said that the apparent surge in espionage cases in the United States reflects both stepped-up Soviet-bloc intelligence efforts and the FBI’s substantially improved counterintelligence techniques and training.

Although refusing to discuss the current case directly, Webster said also that the publicity of such cases “tends to make people think about the problem and to report on activities they believe suspicious--perhaps occurring within their places of employment.”

He cited the FBI’s new counterintelligences techniques, “both on the human and technical side,” and said: “The successes that we have been experiencing are not accidental.”

Webster made the comments in written responses to questions submitted to his office by The Times while he was out of the capital. Among other subjects, the FBI director was asked to comment on why the United States appears to be experiencing more espionage today.

Cooperation Among Spies

In his response, Webster cited “a significant increase” in cooperation between the intelligence services of the Soviet Union and those of other Communist-bloc nations. “What one service is unable to obtain, another acquires with perhaps less risk and at less cost,” he said.

In the past, the Soviet KGB has been disdainful of its counterparts in Soviet Bloc nations, often assigning them tasks that its agents regarded as menial, according to U.S. intelligence sources.

“This cooperative effort demands increasingly sophisticated counterintelligence activities on our part,” Webster said.

Staff writer Ronald J. Ostrow in Washington contributed to this story.