Soviet in U.S. Embassy Tied to Spying Case

Marine Sgt. Clayton J. Lonetree, held on suspicion of espionage, was seduced by a Soviet woman working in the U.S. Embassy in Moscow and subsequently provided secret information to the KGB both there and from the U.S. Embassy in Vienna where he was later stationed, sources told The Times Tuesday.

Lonetree, 25, was believed to have volunteered a confession rather than being apprehended, according to one source. “No one knew about it until he came forward and confessed,” the source said.

This account could not be confirmed, but a Marine Corps statement said that Lonetree, who served as a guard at the embassies, “acknowledged his involvement to U.S. officials in Vienna.” A Marine spokesman said he could not elaborate on that point.

Lonetree is now in solitary confinement at Quantico, Va., awaiting proceedings on several charges related to taking secret material from the embassies and passing them to the Soviets. He faces a court martial and could be sentenced to death, if convicted.

A Marine spokesman, Maj. Anthony Rothfork, said that no other suspects have surfaced in the case.

“This looks now like a guy by himself,” a U.S. source told The Times, with “a classic seduction followed by her introducing him to a KGB guy who then ran him. He (Lonetree) turned over a lot of stuff from the safes.”

‘Keys to Everything’

Marine guards have a great deal of access to secrets at embassies, where they are entrusted not only with protecting but also destroying classified information. “They have the keys to everything,” another source said, in part so they can lock up any documents that are inadvertently left on desks overnight.

A great deal of sensitive information passes through the embassy in Moscow, largely gathered in the Soviet Union, U.S. diplomats said. Such information could include secrets from Soviet informants working for the Central Intelligence Agency.

According to a Washington Times report Tuesday, investigators suspect that Lonetree and his lover collaborated to allow agents of the KGB, the Soviet secret police, to enter the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, “where they had access to some of the most secret U.S. intelligence, diplomatic data and communications.” It added that the Marine also was suspected of helping the KGB plant electronic listening devices and other spy apparatus in the Moscow and Vienna embassies.

Lonetree was first posted to Moscow in September, 1984, dispatched to Geneva in November, 1985, and reassigned to Vienna last March.

Diplomats Express Surprise

The entrapment of Lonetree by a Russian woman employed by the U.S. Embassy was surprising to many diplomats who have served in the Soviet Union because all U.S. personnel are repeatedly warned of the risk of associating with Soviet citizens, who must be presumed to be KGB agents.

Normally, entrapment of this kind occurs when the KGB woman--commonly called a “swallow”--poses as a Finnish or other Northern European citizen, claiming to be a secretary or clerk at the embassy of her “country” or on a visit to the Soviet Union. This technique has been particularly effective in Leningrad, which is close to Finland and other Nordic countries, diplomats said.