Says Spate of Arrests Reflects ‘Change of Attitude’ : Spy Catcher Sees Trend to Try Suspects

The spate of recent espionage arrests in the United States reflects a notable change in the counterintelligence community’s traditional preference for working in the dark, according to John L. Martin, the Justice Department’s chief spy catcher.

“For many years, people felt there was a basic contradiction between counterintelligence and prosecution,” with the danger of disclosing sources and methods of counterspy work in a public trial, Martin noted in an interview last week.

But now, after two years of record activity in which 25 persons have been charged with espionage against the United States, Martin said: “I’m detecting enthusiasm to prosecute” from quarters that had been notably unenthusiastic. “That’s quite a change of attitude.”

Shows ‘Our Ability’

While he believes that the Soviets and Soviet Bloc countries have been stepping up efforts to steal U.S. secrets, Martin thinks that the spurt in prosecutions demonstrates “our ability to detect spying that has always gone on.”

Justice Department and intelligence community sources say he has been key in overcoming resistance to prosecutions at the CIA and in the counterintelligence hierarchy.

Martin, who played a central role in the recent exchange that gained freedom for imprisoned Soviet dissident Anatoly Shcharansky, said he thinks the Soviets were motivated by more than the propaganda value of releasing Shcharansky in a trade for spies.

Noting that the deal included the U.S. release of Karl F. Koecher, accused of passing CIA secrets to the Czech intelligence service, Martin said the Soviets have “an intelligence interest in showing their people (spies) that they can do something for them.”

Tested Soviet System

Martin, who walked across the bridge from East Germany into West Berlin with Shcharansky, stressed that the dissident “is not and has never been a spy for the United States. He’s a genuine bona fide dissident who challenged the (Soviet) system.”

The Shcharansky exchange was the third in which the United States has taken part and that Martin has helped arrange since last June. But there appears little likelihood that more will follow soon.

“We’ve got to replenish the stock” of Soviet Bloc spies in U.S. hands before any more exchanges, Martin said. “It’s tougher for us than the Soviets” to build up the stock, he said. “We have more (legal) restrictions, with spies entitled to the full constitutional rights that protect Americans.”

Soviets ‘Not Interested’

The exchanges also should send a message to Americans who might be interested in spying for the Soviet Bloc that the Soviets “are really not interested” in winning their freedom if they are caught, Martin said.

As a case in point, he cited attempts by the lawyer for Christopher J. Boyce to interest the Soviets in including his imprisoned client in an exchange. The Soviets showed no interest in Boyce, who had provided them with CIA satellite intelligence.

‘He’s Cannon Fodder’

An American who spies for the Soviets is “expendable,” Martin said. “He’s cannon fodder.”

A career government lawyer, Martin heads the Justice Department’s internal security section.

Before rejoining the government in 1971 after three years of private law, Martin worked as an FBI agent.