Nunn Blames All-Volunteer Military’s Emphasis on Pay for Encouraging Spying

Spying for profit by members of the U.S. military appears to be a direct result of the emphasis placed on pay and benefits in the all-volunteer force, Sen. Sam Nunn (D-Ga.), one of the most influential members of Congress on defense issues, said Friday.

In addition, Nunn suggested that the chief reason the United States has been slow to retaliate for recent terrorist attacks against American citizens abroad is because it lacks the technical ability to identify such individuals.

Nunn, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, described as a “real shocker” the indictment Thursday of seven persons, including an Army lieutenant colonel, in an alleged plot to sell sophisticated U.S. and French missiles to Iran. He noted, moreover, that the case came to light in the wake of espionage charges filed against several other U.S. servicemen.

Premium on Pay

“I’ve always feared that the volunteer force, with its premium on pay and benefits, is creating a mentality moving away from patriotism and protection of one’s country,” Nunn said in an interview with The Times. “I think we’ve created too much of a commercial enterprise environment out there--and the ultimate commercial enterprise is taking large hunks of money to betray one’s country.”

Nunn emphasized that he was not familiar with the details of the recent cases. But he said the general trend should be to raise questions within the military about the climate created by heavy emphasis during recent years on pay, benefits, job training and commissary privileges.

“I want the military to be paid well and I want them to be comfortable and their family to be well protected by health benefits,” he said. “But I don’t want that to be the main reason that people join the U.S. military, and I’m afraid that we have moved very far down that road.

“I think service in the military ought to be looked on as an opportunity to protect the country, to defend the homeland and to promote sufficient deterrence to preserve peace.”

Skeptical of Voluntary Service

Nunn, who admitted that he has always been skeptical of the all-volunteer force, said he was not necessarily advocating a return to the draft system. But he said other alternatives should be considered, including voluntary national service with a military option.

At a minimum, he said, the military should “take a look at re-appealing to the patriotism of people.” He added that he approves of moves to cut the number of people in the military who have top-secret clearances and to centralize record-keeping on those who have such clearances.

The senator said that another of his concerns about the all-volunteer military is that it has virtually exempted citizens from middle- and upper-income families from serving--and, thus, within 10 or 20 years there will be no military veterans left in Congress.

“You are going to have responsible people here who have the right to declare war and make speeches to whip up those sentiments that have never served a day,” he said.

Public Rhetoric

Nunn also criticized the Reagan Administration for talking about retaliating for recent terrorist acts against American citizens but failing to do so.

“I think the rhetoric has been much too public,” he said. “It seems to me instead of making the speeches, somebody ought to be asking the hard questions in the Administration: ‘Whatever our policy is, do we have good enough intelligence to carry it out?’ ”

He said there is evidence that such ability was lacking in the recent hijacking of TWA Flight 847 in the Middle East--especially since the government has begun subpoenaing the network television films of the hijackers.

“I find it quite paradoxical that an Administration that has been talking about retaliation against terrorism over and over again publicly, and talking about identifying people who perpetrated it and punishing them . . . is now having to subpoena the news media to get evidence as to who committed the act,” he said.

Terrorist Teams

“You would think that there would be capability in this country to . . . be able to have a few high-powered telescopic cameras to take a few pictures without relying on the news media.”

Nunn said that the U.S. government should have a team designated to identify terrorists, as well as one assigned to rescue Americans in hostage situations.

“Some people are saying it’s a lack of will,” he said. “Partially, maybe, but I’d be more inclined to say it’s a lack of capability.”