Weinberger Says Navy Secretary Erred in Criticizing Plea Agreement in Spy Case

In a rare public rebuke, Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger said Friday that Navy Secretary John F. Lehman Jr. had made “several injudicious and incorrect” remarks when he criticized the government’s plea agreement with John A. Walker Jr., the admitted spy.

Weinberger said Lehman now fully agrees with that decision.

The defense secretary said that Lehman did not have all the facts when he accused the Justice Department of treating espionage as “just another white-collar crime.”

The Pentagon released the statement by Weinberger, who himself in June had said that Walker and his three alleged conspirators in a spy ring for the Soviets “should be shot,” if convicted.

Walkers Pleaded Guilty

John Walker and his sailor son, Michael Lance, 25, pleaded guilty in federal court in Baltimore on Monday. The plea agreements called for John Walker to receive a sentence of life in prison and his son, 25 years. John Walker will be eligible for parole in 10 years and Michael Walker in a little over eight years.

After the guilty pleas, Lehman contended in interviews that the Walkers’ spying “very well could have” cost American lives in the Vietnam War, and that the Walkers should be “shot or hanged.”

A Pentagon official said that Weinberger read of Lehman’s public criticism of the Justice Department’s decision upon returning from a North Atlantic Treaty Organization meeting in Brussels and that he summoned the Navy secretary to his office for a dressing down.

Lehman Now Understands

Weinberger’s statement said that Lehman, having fully “reviewed completely the facts and circumstances,” now understands that John Walker’s cooperation will help in prosecuting “all the participants in this crime.”

This was a reference to Jerry A. Whitworth, Walker’s Navy friend and the accused fourth member of the spy ring. Walker has promised to testify against Whitworth, whose trial is scheduled to start in San Francisco on Jan. 13.

Without Walker’s testimony, the evidence against Whitworth is not believed to be as strong as that against John and Michael Walker, and against John’s brother, Arthur J., a retired Navy lieutenant commander who has already been convicted in a separate trial.

Weinberger’s criticism of Lehman was highly unusual for a team player-minded Administration, and all the more so in the Defense Department, where chain-of-command is the accepted tradition.

‘Out of Line’

“John (Lehman) realized he was out of line and had not been loyal to Cap (Weinberger),” a Pentagon official told The Times. “Cap gets decisions from the White House all the time that he doesn’t agree with and he wins some and loses some. But he never criticizes the President or his decisions. And he expects the same loyalty from others. John realizes he made a mistake.”

The official said that Weinberger regards Lehman as a good Navy secretary and retains full confidence in him.

Lehman refused to comment further on the matter. “He’s said all he’s going to say,” a Navy spokesman said.

Weinberger, in listing the facts that he said Lehman now understands, noted that John Walker’s cooperation “will enable us to conduct a complete assessment of the damage that has been done to our national security.”

Weinberger noted that the Walkers’ guilty pleas had avoided “lengthy trials that might have resulted in acquittals based on technicalities” and proceedings that “would have required the government to disclose additional classified materials.”