Miller Called Easy Prey for Soviet Agents

A federal prosecutor told jurors Tuesday that he would prove that former FBI Agent Richard W. Miller was “a disgruntled and vulnerable American” who became easy prey for a Soviet woman who lured him into espionage.

U.S. Atty. Robert Bonner, in an opening statement at Miller’s spy trial in federal court in Los Angeles, said the Soviets set out to recruit an FBI agent and found in Miller a man who was open to offers of sex and money.

“You will have the opportunity to learn about the world of espionage,” Bonner told the jurors. “It is not the glamorous world of spy novels and movies. It is a much more grimy reality.”

He said the panel would hear much about Svetlana Ogorodnikova and her husband, Nikolai, two Soviet emigres who were portrayed as “utility agents” of the Soviet government in the United States.

Classic Techniques

“You will learn that (Svetlana) Ogorodnikova succeeded in snaring Miller in a web of espionage,” Bonner said. “You will learn how Richard Miller was enticed through classic espionage techniques.”

Miller, 48, a former counterintelligence agent with 20 years in the FBI, sat at the counsel table in the crowded courtroom, taking notes as Bonner spoke. He showed no visible reaction to remarks about his alleged recruitment and his affair with Ogorodnikova.

“Miller was easily enticed into a sexual relationship with Svetlana Ogorodnikova,” Bonner said. “. . . She asked him to provide documents to her government, and he did provide one or more documnts which she took into the Soviet Consulate.”

The Miller case, the first in which an FBI agent has been charged with espionage, is also the first to be prosecuted personally by the U.S. attorney since he took over the office.

He promised to give jurors an insight into how the KGB, the Soviet espionage agency, operates in the United States and how it came to focus on Miller as a target.

“The evidence in this case will show the KGB’s conspiratorial plan was to use Mrs. Ogorodnikov to make contact with a disgruntled and vulnerable American, Richard W. Miller; to establish a clandestine relationship with him, and to use sex and gifts to recruit him,” Bonner said.

Once he was thoroughly compromised, Bonner said, the plan was to have Miller meet with KGB agents outside the United States, where he would be pumped for information, then sent back as an agent for the Soviet Union.

Bonner said one of the prime goals of the KGB in the United States is to conduct subversive activities and infiltrate U.S. intelligence establishments, including the FBI.

‘Main Line of Defense’

“The FBI is our main line of defense against subversive actions in the United States by the KGB,” he said. “The compromise of an FBI agent would allow the KGB to operate more effectively in the United States.”

Earlier, U.S. District Judge David Kenyon instructed jurors that Miller must be presumed innocent until proven guilty.

“He begins the trial with a clean slate, with no evidence against him,” Kenyon said.

During lengthy instructions to the jury, Kenyon read the seven-count indictment against Miller in which he is accused of passing classified documents to the Soviet Union for an offer of $65,000 in cash and gold.

The heavyset Miller, clad in a gray three-piece suit, scribbled notes on a yellow legal pad.

Miller’s mother-in-law and his sister sat in the courtroom’s front row, and Miller communicated in sign language before the trial started. He has a deaf son and is skilled in sign language.

Led to Action

The prosecution says Miller, a 20-year FBI veteran, was willingly led to spying by Ogorodnikova.

During the recent trial of Ogorodnikova and her husband they abruptly pleaded guilty to conspiracy at the end of the prosecution phase of the case and were sentenced to prison.

Ogorodnikova, Miller’s former lover, has been mentioned as a potential witness against him.

During the Ogorodnikovs’ trial, Miller testified that he was a counterintelligence agent with “a James Bond fantasy,” when he became involved with the Soviet woman.

He maintained that he never intended to pass classified documents to the Soviets for payment.

Instead, Miller said, he was trying to convince his lover that he was ripe for recruitment in order to infiltrate the Soviet spy network.

“I thought maybe I could accomplish something that hadn’t been accomplished before, to infiltrate a Soviet intelligence service,” he said.

Many Problems

However, in a trial memorandum filed last week with Kenyon, the prosecution said it intends to show jurors that Miller, beset by problems of obesity, financial setbacks and excommunication from the Mormon Church for adultery, was a ready target for Soviet recruitment.

“In the spring of 1984, Miller had severe financial, marital and career problems,” the memorandum said.

“Thus, at the time Svetlana Ogorodnikov first contacted Miller, he was a ‘classic’ target for recruitment by the Soviets,” the memo said.

The attorneys said they would call experts on Soviet intelligence to tell jurors about KGB methods of penetrating U.S. intelligence services and they would seek to prove that a document Miller allegedly gave to Ogorodnikova related to U.S. national security.

None of the attorneys in the case could comment on his plans for the trial because of a court-imposed gag order.