Airman Accused of Selling Documents ‘Not Psychotic,’ Expert Says

An Air Force clerk accused of trying to sell military documents to the Soviet Union is “not psychotic” but shows signs of “emotional adjustment difficulties,” a military psychologist has testified.

“You don’t have to look for psychosis, it stares you in the face. Usually it becomes easily identified,” said Maj. Alan Brooker, of Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield, Calif.

Brooker testified Friday as a prosecution witness in the court-martial of Airman 1st Class Bruce Ott, 26, of Erie, Pa., accused of passing information on America’s high-altitude reconnaissance planes to FBI agents posing as employees of the Soviet Union.

Ott’s trial resumed Friday with the prosecution trying to rebut earlier defense testimony that Ott had a borderline case of psychosis. Final arguments are expected to begin Monday.

Arrested at Rendezvous

Ott, who was arrested by the FBI in January at a rendezvous with supposed Soviet agents at a Davis, Calif., motel, faces a sentence of up to 32 years in prison if convicted of four violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. He is stationed at Beale, 120 miles northeast of San Francisco, home of the Air Force’s SR-71 espionage planes.

Questioned by the assistant prosecutor, Air Force Capt. Michael Boomgarten, Brooker said Ott showed no signs of organic brain disorder or psychosis when he underwent 10 hours of psychological testing.

“My initial impression of him was that he was very affable, socially appropriate, very loquacious, a person who followed directions,” Brooker said. “He was a person who gave the impression he was worried, was anxious, was apprehensive.”

Functioning ‘Very Well’

Brooker, who examined hostages released from the American embassy in Tehran in 1981, said Ott “was functioning very well in comparison to people who have psychotic disorders.”

Brooker also cautioned that the tests he gave Ott would not determine if Ott suffered from transitory psychosis. “Psychosis is not like a light which you can turn on and off,” the psychologist said. “A person either has psychosis or he doesn’t. That’s my professional opinion.”

Brooker quoted Ott as saying that he “felt useless at times and felt he was losing his mind.”