Airman Guilty of Trying to Pass Secrets on SR-71

BEALE AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. — A military judge Wednesday found Airman 1st Class Bruce Ott guilty of trying to sell Air Force secrets about the high-flying SR-71 spy plane to the Soviet Union.

The judge, Lt. Col. Howard Sweeney, announced his verdict after 10 1/2 hours of deliberation following an eight-day court-martial in which the defense contended that Ott was too mentally and emotionally impaired to held accountable for his actions.

Just before Sweeney read his verdict, Ott gulped a cup of water and moved to the edge of his chair. His mother, father and sister, as well as his wife, Shellie, were present but registered no emotion. Ott also showed no reaction to the verdict.

Could Get 32 Years

After announcing the verdict, the judge began a sentencing hearing.

Ott could face a maximum prison term of 32 years, a dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of all pay and benefits and reduction in grade to E-1, lowest in the Air Force.

Ott, who did not testify during his trial, chose to have his insanity defense decided by the judge rather than a 10-member jury.

The chief prosecutor, Maj. Charles Wilcox II, had urged Sweeney in closing arguments to ignore the “psychiatric jargon” and find Ott guilty of espionage.

But Ott’s defense lawyer, Lt. Col. William At Lee Jr., emphasized that Ott was a victim of a “borderline personality disorder” that left him confused, unable to fully grasp reality and inclined toward self-destruction.

Pleaded Not Guilty

Ott, 26, of Erie, Pa., pleaded not guilty last month to the charges that he contacted the Soviet Consulate in San Francisco and offered to supply classified documents on the nation’s top-secret SR-71 spy planes based at Beale, about 40 miles north of Sacramento.

At the time of his Jan. 22 arrest in a Davis, Calif., motel room, Ott was an administrative clerk in the spy plane squadron with a “secret” or middle-level security clearance.

Military psychiatrists testifying for the prosecution said that Ott was emotionally disturbed but not psychotic. They said the airman appeared to be “trying to get what he felt he deserved--a large sum of money.”