FBI Tricked Him, Admitted Spy Testifies

Testifying in his own defense, accused spy Ronald W. Pelton Monday admitted selling secrets to the Soviets but contended that the FBI agents who arrested him last November violated his constitutional rights.

Pelton, 44, a former communications technician for the National Security Agency, said he thought the two agents were trying to recruit him as a counterspy when they questioned him for five hours in two separate sessions on Nov. 24.

In acknowledging that he had been a spy, Pelton said he had made three trips to Vienna, where he twice stayed at the Soviet ambassador’s home. There, he recounted from memory sensitive secrets about how the United States collects and analyzes Soviet communications.

Received $35,000

In his daylong testimony, Pelton, the defense’s first--and possibly only--witness, generally confirmed the agents’ version of the interrogation at an Annapolis, Md., hotel, during which Pelton recounted how he had sold the sensitive information to the Soviets for $35,000. Pelton had been under surveillance before the agents questioned him.

Thus, Pelton’s defense rests chiefly on his contention that the agents tricked him into confessing and did not inform him, until shortly before his arrest, that he did not have to answer their questions.

“I never would have talked at all if I had understood their intent was to use it for prosecution,” he said.

For its part, the prosecution has asserted that Pelton always was free to leave during the questioning and that the agents were not obligated to read him his rights unless he was under arrest.

At times, Pelton spoke so softly and rapidly that jurors could not understand him. Often, his microphone picked up his heavy breathing.

Sought ‘Guarantees’

He said he had repeatedly told FBI agents David E. Faulkner and Dudley F. Hodgsdon that he did not want to continue talking unless he had “guarantees” that what he was saying would not be used against him.

At one point, he said that anyone in his position “would be crazy” to continue talking without a lawyer present. But, he said, Faulkner cautioned him that he and his partner “would lose control of the situation” if a lawyer were brought in.

“It became kind of clear that he did not want an attorney there,” Pelton said.

Pelton contended that Hodgsdon had told him that his cooperation would head off an impending “overt investigation.” At the same time, however, Faulkner told him any decision on the disposition of his case depended on a “higher authority” within the FBI, Pelton said.

Nevertheless, Pelton testified, he initially believed the interview had “something to do with working together” and that he continued talking because he wanted the agents “to clarify” how they wanted to use him.

Secret Site Disclosed

Pelton is accused of having informed the Soviets about the location of an NSA project that intercepted and decoded Soviet communications dealing with troops and military equipment. During the trial, the top secret project has been referred to only as Project A. Last week, Pelton’s attorney, Fred Warren Bennett, started to call it by its NSA code name, Ivy Bells, catching himself after pronouncing most of the first word.

Pelton acknowledged that he had circled a spot showing Project A on a map for the FBI agents, as he had done for the Soviets, but played down the significance of the information.

“I couldn’t see there would be any harm to the United States,” he said, adding that an “event” that took place a year or two ago had already compromised the project. He did not elaborate.

“I did comment it could have been expensive,” Pelton said, because the information allowed the Soviets to change their communications.

In an effort to show that the agents took advantage of him, Pelton testified that, on the day of the interviews, he and Ann Barry, his girlfriend at the time, had drunk a lot and used drugs.

‘Mellow’ and Tired

This had left him “mellow,” Pelton testified. He said also that he was tired when he signed a form waiving his rights to remain silent. “Questions were coming left, right and sideways,” he said, explaining why he signed. “I was plenty scared by then.”

Earlier, U.S. District Judge Herbert F. Murray dismissed one of six counts facing Pelton. The charge held that Pelton had traveled from his home in suburban Maryland to the Soviet Embassy in Washington, D.C., and passed on information. The defense argued that the prosecution had failed to show that Pelton was in Maryland when he set up the meeting, and the judge agreed that the issue should not be tried in a court in Maryland.

If convicted on the other counts, Pelton could be sentenced to life in prison.