Pelton Guilty as Red Spy, Faces 3 Life Terms

A federal jury today convicted former National Security Agency employee Ronald Pelton on four counts of the five-count indictment and acquited him on one other.

The spying conviction means that Pelton could be sentenced to three life terms plus 10 years for selling defense and communications secrets he gained during his 14-year career at the NSA.

The jury acquitted Pelton on count three of the indictment, which charged that “in or about 1980, the precise time and date being unknown” Pelton tranferred “information relating to the national defense of the United States of America” to the Soviet KGB intelligence service.

The jury did not explain why it acquitted of that charge, which carries a life sentence, while convicting him on one count of conspiracy, and three other espionage charges.

Pelton, 44, who worked 14 years for the NSA before resigning in 1979, was accused of passing sensitive information about the agency’s interceptions and decoding of Soviet electronic signals for $35,000 plus $4,000 to $5,000 in expenses.

The government charged that in 1980 and again 1983 Pelton traveled to Vienna, where for eight hours a day, three to four days per visit, he wrote answers to written questions posed by KGB agent Anatoly Slavnov.

Pelton also was accused of an unsuccessful attempt to sell secrets to the Soviets during a trip to Vienna in April, 1985, when he missed a meeting with a Soviet contact.

An FBI agent testified that Pelton told him he decided to sell secrets to the Soviets after filing for bankruptcy in 1979 and quitting NSA.

“He said that walking into the Soviet Embassy on Jan. 15, 1980, was the biggest mistake of his life, but that when you are broke, you do some crazy things,” Special Agent David Faulkner testified.

Pelton told the jury he never made the remark quoted by Faulkner.

Pelton said he went deeply into debt to buy land and materials to build a house for his family and was forced into bankruptcy after the supplies were stolen. He said he quit NSA to avoid embarrassment over his financial problems.