Senate to Investigate Navy Supply Abuses : Espionage Laws, Possible Death Penalty to Be Focus of Wilson’s Subcommittee

Sen. Pete Wilson (R-Calif.) on Wednesday announced plans for a Senate investigation into problems with the Navy defense supply system and raised the possibility that the selling of stolen aircraft parts to Iran may be a violation of espionage laws.

Wilson will chair hearings of the Armed Services Subcommittee on Manpower and Personnel in September to determine if the transfer of stolen Navy equipment from the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk to Iran violated espionage laws, said Bill Livingstone, a Wilson aide.

The issue of the stolen parts will be connected to a current set of hearings about espionage, which include the possibility of changing the law so that servicemen could face the death penalty for conviction of espionage during peacetime, said Livingstone.

The hearings will be held in Washington, but Wilson has not ruled out the possibility of holding some hearings in San Diego, he added.

“If the selling of parts to Iran did not violate espionage laws, maybe the existing laws should be modified to make something like this an act of espionage. We have a case of someone getting access to sophisticated weaponry and selling it. That’s moving technology to an unfriendly power. At what point does this become espionage? Hopefully, the hearings will help us answer this question,” said Livingstone.

Seven persons tied to a San Diego-based smuggling ring, including an Iranian national living in London, have been charged by U.S. authorities with conspiracy, theft of government property and exporting war materials.

Another Wilson aide said Wednesday that officials at the Justice Department and the U.S. Attorney’s office in San Diego told Wilson that more Kitty Hawk sailors will be charged in connection with the alleged smuggling ring. Currently, the only Kitty Hawk sailor charged in the case is Primitivo Cayabyab, a 17-year Navy veteran and aviation storekeeper.

The inquiry by Wilson’s subcommittee will be the third congressional investigation of abuses in the Navy’s supply system. Two subcommittees of the House Armed Services Committee are conducting separate investigations at the behest of two San Diego congressmen. One subcommittee is conducting hearings on instituting new safeguards for the Navy’s massive supply system, while the other is looking into reports of supply abuses on the Kitty Hawk.