Navy Says Parts Theft Caused No Security Risk

Navy aircraft parts stolen for shipment to Iran, but later recovered, would not have constituted a threat to national security, Navy officials in Washington have said.

The officials also said Wednesday that the FBI expects to make more arrests in its investigation of the far-flung operations of the San Diego-based smuggling ring.

Capt. Ed Straw of the Navy Supply Systems Command said that none of the sophisticated parts recovered in the United States, including parametric amplifiers for the Phoenix missile, was classified.

“If they weren’t classified, then they didn’t constitute a breach of national security,” Straw said.

A spokesman for the chief of naval information said that parts recovered in London by British Customs officials also were not classified. The spokesman, who asked not to be identified, and Straw said the equipment had been available to the Iranians before the United States imposed an embargo on sending spare parts to Iran in 1979.

The comments by the Navy officials appear to contradict statements made by prosecutors in the U.S. attorney’s office in San Diego, who have argued in court that the smuggling of critical aircraft parts to Iran may have harmed national security.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Phillip Halpern told a U.S. magistrate July 22 that the stolen parts “may represent a serious breach of national security.” Halpern said that ring members enabled Iran “to obtain military equipment heretofore available only to the United States.”

U.S. Atty. Peter Nunez in San Diego declined to comment on the Navy officials’ remarks.

The parts Straw was referring to are among a list of 178 items confiscated by U.S. Customs Service agents during the investigation of a San Diego-based smuggling ring. He said that investigators do not know if any classified items were shipped to Iran before the first shipments were intercepted in December, 1984.

According to a federal indictment, the ring has been operating since at least January, 1981. Investigators who worked on the case have told The Times that the ring may have operated even before then.

Prosecutors have alleged that the parts were stolen from Navy supply centers stretching from the Philippines to Virginia and from the aircraft carriers Kitty Hawk, Ranger and Carl Vinson, and the helicopter carrier Belleau Wood. Straw said that Navy investigators have determined that no classified parts were stolen from the Kitty Hawk, but they do not know if any classified parts were stolen from the other ships and supply centers.

“We’re hopeful that the ongoing investigation is going to give us some leads to tell us if anything classified reached Iran,” said Straw.

Meanwhile, Navy officials said the FBI has informed them that more arrests of sailors and civilian employes are expected. Nunez said last week that reports of additional arrests in the case were “erroneous.”

“The next step for us (the Navy) is to pull the string on the computer and isolate where the stolen parts were last stored,” Straw said.

“We can’t answer that now. The FBI has asked us not to pursue any further as to where the parts were last stored because they don’t want us to tip off the guys at the other end. The FBI feels they have not caught all of the guys in the ring.”

FBI officials in San Diego on Wednesday referred all questions about possible future arrests to Nunez. He declined to comment.