The Region - News from Feb. 26, 1986

As opening statements began in the espionage retrial of former FBI Agent Richard W. Miller, U.S. Atty. Robert C. Bonner described Miller as “a classic target for a KGB recruitment operation.” Bonner detailed Miller’s chronic weight problems during his FBI career, his excommunication from the Mormon Church for adultery and frequent financial difficulties as characteristic of the “losers” that Soviet intelligence agents look for in their efforts to infiltrate U.S. counterintelligence services. Bonner’s opening remarks were virtually a word-for-word replay of his opening statement in the first Miller trial, which ended Nov. 6 in a deadlocked jury. Miller, 49, was arrested Oct. 2, 1984, on charges of passing secret FBI documents to the Soviet Union.