Fellow Agent Was Protecting Self, Miller Says

Former FBI Agent Richard W. Miller said Wednesday he and another agent once talked “man to man” about the sex appeal of a Soviet woman they were trying to recruit as an informant.

But Miller, the first FBI agent ever accused of spying, said that the other FBI man, John Hunt, insisted that he had never been physically involved with Svetlana Ogorodnikova. Miller said he believed Hunt was probably trying to “protect himself” by making the statements.

“It was sort of on a man-to-man kind of thing,” Miller said of their discussion, “that she was very attractive and it wouldn’t be hard to be tempted into getting involved with her on a physical level,” Miller said.

But he said that when he quizzed Hunt about his own relationship with the woman, “he (Hunt) was very emphatic about saying he had never been involved in such a way.”

Claim of Love Affair

Miller’s comments came during the first day of cross-examination by attorneys for Ogorodnikova, who is on trial along with her husband on spying charges. Her attorneys claim that the 35-year-old Soviet emigre had a love affair with Hunt before she became involved in a similar affair with Miller.

Hunt denied this during his testimony earlier in the trial.

Defense attorney Brad Brian suggested that perhaps Hunt had “protested too much” in denying a love affair.

“It appeared to me,” said Miller, “that all agents like to protect themselves. He was trying to impress on me that since that was a bureau no-no he wasn’t involved. I thought it was overstated.”

Focus on Statements

As the defense attempted to discredit Miller’s earlier prosecution testimony considered damaging to his co-defendants, Brian focused on Miller’s statements in the days before his arrest last Oct. 2.

Miller insisted that he had no idea he was under suspicion when the FBI flew investigators from Washington to interview him and informed him of his right to remain silent.

“I had no idea I was the guy with the black hat,” Miller said. “I thought I was the guy with the white hat and that we were working in tandem, not against each other.”

“So you had no idea you were under investigation?” Brian asked.

“That’s right,” Miller said. “I hadn’t done anything wrong in my own mind. I thought it was a little strange they would give me my rights. But I thought it was part of the procedure.”

Attorney’s Strategy

Brian sought to show that Miller finally confessed his involvement with Ogorodnikova to the FBI because he had found out that he was being followed by agents and knew that he was about to be discovered.

Miller adamantly denied this and said he went to his boss with the information only because he felt he was about to infiltrate the Soviet intelligence network and wanted FBI support.