Inquiry Turns Up ‘Missed Warning Signals’ on Spying

Investigation into the sex-and-spy scandal at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow is turning up evidence that intelligence and military officials “missed a bunch of warning signals” that could have alerted them earlier to potential security lapses by Marine guards, according to sources close to the inquiry.

And, as the inquiry has spread to other embassies, it has raised troubling questions about whether officials responsible for the security of U.S. embassies have been sufficiently alert for signs of potential trouble among American personnel.

Two Marine security guards have been accused of espionage after allegedly becoming sexually involved with Soviet women and then allowing KGB agents access to sensitive areas of the Moscow embassy. Now, all Marine guards have been recalled from Leningrad as well as Moscow.

But the case of 25-year-old Sgt. Clayton J. Lonetree--the first Marine embassy security guard ever charged with espionage--has provided investigators with unusually stark examples of “missed signals,” sources said:

--Months before his arrest, Lonetree was officially admonished by the Marine Corps for “excessive drinking” during off-duty hours. No other action apparently was taken, although counterintelligence experts say alcohol abuse by individuals in sensitive positions should always be viewed as cause for concern.

--After leaving Moscow for a new assignment in Vienna last year, Lonetree used U.S. government telephones to make numerous long distance calls to the Soviet capital. When the calls were discovered, the Marine was asked to reimburse the government for the cost, but it is unclear whether U.S. officials at the time sought to determine whom he was calling.

--Lonetree’s fellow Marine guards were aware of his relationship with a Soviet woman and have told investigators that he had taken the “communist side” in barracks’ arguments about politics.

While much remains to be learned about the breaches in security at U.S. embassies, details from Lonetree’s career suggest that many elements in the problem might well have been expected, if American officials had been more sensitive to traditional warning signs of a security risk.

A former government counterintelligence officer expressed surprise that reports of Lonetree’s “excessive drinking” did not trigger an immediate investigation.

Triggering Alarm Bells

“That was always high on the list of things to watch for, along with drug use and financial problems,” this expert said. “These things are supposed to touch off all sorts of alarm bells when they involve someone in a sensitive position.”

One Administration official said part of the problem with security at the Moscow embassy was that “there’s nobody in charge . . . nobody is thinking about it systematically.”

“You have 30 Marine guards over there controlling access to the most sensitive U.S. outpost in the world,” he said, “and who is looking after them? Marine headquarters? Nope. The ambassador? Nope. The (State Department’s) regional security officer in Moscow? Well, maybe a little. But basically, it was a measly gunnery sergeant with not much more training than (the guards) had.”

This official said “some people were surprised” that sex apparently was used by the Soviets to gain access to secrets. “This was no surprise. Enemies have been using sex for intelligence purposes for maybe 10,000 years,” he said.

Sexual Entrapment

Like all Marines who complete training as embassy guards, Lonetree was given warnings about sexual entrapment before his assignment to Moscow in 1985. He had joined the Marines in 1980 soon after graduating from high school in St. Paul, Minn., where he lived with his father, a Winnebago Indian. His mother, a Navajo, lives in Arizona and, as a child, Lonetree attended a boarding school near the Navajo reservation in New Mexico.

One of Lonetree’s lawyers, Michael Stuhff of Las Vegas, described him as a reserved, shy young man who became “very enamored” of a Soviet woman who worked at the Moscow embassy as a translator. Investigators say they now believe the woman, named Violetta, was placed there specifically by the KGB to use sex to subvert U.S. personnel.

In a telephone interview, Stuhff said that as the relationship developed, the Marine even “discussed marriage” with Violetta. “He was looking for some permanence . . . he thought they were in love . . . he wanted to find some way to continue that.”

Met ‘Uncle Sasha’

Intelligence and military officials apparently were unaware of Lonetree’s affair with Violetta until he turned himself in to authorities last December and told how she had introduced him to “Uncle Sasha,” a man prosecutors say was actually a KGB agent. But sources say interviews conducted by military investigators in recent months indicate the relationship was well known to other Marine guards.

According to sources, Marine guards in Vienna recalled Lonetree’s showing them a photograph of the attractive young Soviet woman he said he loved and missed.

Some of those interviewed recently by investigators also mentioned that Lonetree took the “communist side” in arguments with his Marine colleagues. He had also decorated his room in Vienna with Soviet military mementos.

At the time, though, officials apparently had no suspicions. Stuhff asserted that “there was nothing ever indicating he had sympathies toward the Soviet system.”

‘A Fine Distinction’

“He would make a distinction, which is perhaps a fine distinction for some Marines to understand, between the Russian people, for whom he did have an interest and had developed some affection for, and the government,” Stuhff said. “He told some of his fellow Marines the Russian people had no choice in how their government was and he felt sorry for them being burdened with that.”

The investigative interviews also have included references to Lonetree’s drinking, and Stuhff acknowledged that his client experienced “periodic episodes of overdrinking.”

“Before he went into the Marines, he didn’t drink,” the lawyer said, but at the Moscow embassy there were “lots of parties; liquor was very freely available.”

“He developed the problem--it was noticed in Moscow,” Stuhff said. “He’d drink beer or whiskey; he’d not drink every night but when he would drink, he would drink to excess . . . he would not stop at just a couple of drinks.”

Didn’t Drink on Duty

The lawyer said there was “no indication that he drank on the job.” The admonishment for excessive off-duty drinking was entered in Lonetree’s Marine records last year after he transferred from Moscow to Vienna, sources said. He remained on guard duty.

Besides the drinking and sexual affair, the investigative interviews and a review of government records revealed other signs that intelligence experts say should have triggered security concerns.

For example, an employee of the Vienna embassy responsible for typing toll charges for private calls placed on embassy telephones told investigators of “numerous charges” for calls Lonetree made to Moscow numbers other than the U.S. Embassy there. But sources said there was no indication that security personnel sought at the time to determine the nature of the calls.

It was not immediately known whom Lonetree called, but investigators have said that after moving to Vienna, he apparently kept in touch with Violetta, Uncle Sasha and perhaps other Soviets.

Relationship Flourished

While government counter-intelligence services apparently were missing the warning signs about Lonetree, sources said his relationship with Violetta and Uncle Sasha flourished.

The woman, Stuhff said, “convinced him that she herself was very worried about the KGB, that she didn’t like them” but suggested she had no choice but to cooperate with the KGB. “He believed that.”

When Sasha began promising to introduce him to a friend who was a KGB general and member of the Central Committee, Stuhff said Lonetree decided “to do something above and beyond the call of duty.”

“He thought if he could identify and bring in a Russian KGB general that that would certainly be the sort of coup that he would be able to use” to achieve his ambition of becoming an intelligence officer or a Foreign Service officer, Stuhff said.

Need for Accomplishment

“He knew in order for him to be able to obtain such a position, he would have to be able to deliver something or have some sort of accomplishment because he knew he wasn’t going to be able to do it on his test scores and his education,” the lawyer said.

Lonetree was an avid reader of books on espionage and intelligence operations but “he just didn’t have the background or experience or ability” to carry out his plan, Stuhff said.

He became confused and finally told U.S. authorities of his activities, his lawyer said. Investigators have arrived at a different conclusion. They say they believe Lonetree may have turned himself in because he thought, mistakenly, that he had come under surveillance by American agents in Vienna and was about to be arrested. Actually, they said, he was apparently being watched by Soviet agents who were monitoring the operation.

“He got in way over his head,” Stuhff said, “and that’s something a lot of very intelligent people have done.”