12th Spy Suspect of Year Seized, Linked to Soviets

The FBI late Friday arrested a clerk at a Washington printing and reporting firm on charges of “gathering and attempting to deliver” U.S. defense secrets to the Soviet military mission here.

Randy Miles Jeffries, 26, was picked up by FBI agents at 9:11 p.m., six days after he tried to pass military documents to the Soviet defense office just north of downtown Washington, FBI spokesmen said in a prepared statement.

Jeffries’ arrest marked the 12th time this year that an American has been arrested on charges of spying for a foreign power and the fourth espionage-related arrest involving a U.S. citizen since November.

Law enforcement officials said that Jeffries’ case appeared unrelated to last month’s string of spying cases. Nor did it appear related to two other espionage cases allegedly linked to Vitaly Yurchenko, the Soviet KGB officer who fled to the United States in August and “re-defected” to the Soviets last month, the officials said.

Jeffries, who the FBI said was married, was arrested at a downtown Washington hotel about six blocks north of the White House. Officials did not disclose why he was there or why they waited almost one week to arrest him.

An FBI spokesman said that Jeffries had been the subject of a “24-hour investigation” and said that his arrest came unexpectedly, but declined to elaborate.

Officials said Jeffries was expected to be brought before a Washington federal magistrate early today to determine whether he should be held on the charges.

The FBI said Jeffries “obtained information relating to the national defense by virtue of his employment with a local printing and reporting firm, which does business under contract with the U.S. government.”

FBI spokesman Bill Carter said the firm’s name would not be disclosed.

Webster Praises Efforts

FBI Director William H. Webster said the arrest indicated that the agency continues “to have tremendous success with the interdiction of people attempting to deliver our secrets to hostile intelligence services.”

Webster said Jeffries, a resident of northwest Washington, had attempted to deliver defense information to the Soviet Military Office Dec. 14, in violation of federal espionage statutes. The address the FBI gave for the Military Office was on Belmont Road, the location of a military and naval office of the Soviet Embassy.

Webster said the arrest was authorized by Justice Department attorneys and the U.S. attorney in Washington “based on facts developed during an investigation conducted by the Washington field office of the FBI.”

“The American public can be assured that with their assistance and continuing support provided by the Administration and the U.S. Congress, the FBI will fulfill its counterintelligence mandate,” Webster said.

If convicted on a charge of violating Title 18 of the U.S. Code, Section 794, the espionage statute, Jeffries could be sentenced to a maximum penalty of life in prison, the FBI said.