Insists He Was Speaking ‘Hypothetically’ : Accused Spy Denies Confessing to FBI

Attorneys for accused Soviet spy Ronald W. Pelton argued in federal court Wednesday that he was drunk and speaking “hypothetically” last week when he told FBI agents that he had sold defense secrets to the Soviet Union, but a skeptical U.S. magistrate nevertheless ordered him held without bail for later trial.

U.S. Magistrate Daniel E. Klein said Pelton, a former National Security Agency worker charged with giving the Soviets data on U.S. intelligence operations, appears to have “substantial ties to a government that’s not in our ballpark” and could pose a national security threat if he were freed.

His lawyers disclosed that Pelton’s father and his current employer, a boating firm owner in Annapolis, Md., had offered to post a total of $55,000 in bail for him. They said his estranged wife had promised to take him back if he were freed pending his trial.

But federal prosecutors, saying that Pelton had all but dared them to arrest him after two Sunday interviews in an Annapolis hotel, argued that he would flee the country if he were allowed to stay out of jail.

Pelton remained silent during the three-hour detention hearing, in which lawyers outlined a model life--a blemish-free military hitch, a steady job, a stable marriage--that seemed to disintegrate after he quit his top-secret NSA job in 1979.

The casually dressed Pelton was painted by defense lawyer Warren Brown as a solid citizen snared by “leading questions” from the FBI during two interviews Sunday.

But Brown was unable to dent testimony by FBI counterintelligence agent David E. Faulkner that Pelton had openly admitted his Soviet spying escapades.

Faulkner said he and another agent grilled Pelton for four hours in a waterfront hotel in which Pelton quickly “abandoned his premise of innocence” and confessed to espionage.

According to Faulkner, Pelton said he was “concerned for his safety because of his association with the Soviets” and discussed going overseas with the FBI to point out the locations in Vienna, Austria, where he is alleged to have met KGB officials.

Faulkner, the day’s only witness, denied suggestions by Brown that Pelton was speaking hypothetically. But he said Pelton did engage briefly in “a hypothetical discussion of the person” who might have disclosed secrets before admitting his guilt.

Faulkner also disputed Brown’s suggestion that Pelton was intoxicated during a second hour-long evening meeting, saying he “indicated he had one or two drinks, but he was fine.”

Near the end of that session, Faulkner said, Pelton told the two agents, “You have everything you’re going to get and if you can make a case with it, go ahead with it.” They arrested Pelton shortly afterward.

Defense lawyers said that Pelton filed for bankruptcy shortly before leaving the NSA in 1979 and switched jobs four times in succeeding years. Prosecutors contend that Pelton began spying for the Soviets barely six months after quitting his intelligence job.

Pelton separated from his wife, Judith, two months ago.