Ex-Boeing Official Convicted in Secret Data Case

A federal court jury Thursday convicted a former Boeing Co. marketing executive on 39 counts arising from his possession of secret Pentagon budget documents.

The 12-member jury in U.S. District Court deliberated for about two hours before returning the verdicts against Richard Lee Fowler, who worked for Boeing from 1978 until he was fired in 1986.

Fowler could be sentenced to 310 years in prison and fined $225,000 if the maximum penalties are imposed. The counts on which he was charged included conspiracy, mail fraud and illegal conveyance of classified documents.

Fowler’s attorneys said that they would appeal the verdict, and sentencing was set for Jan. 12. He will remain free on bond.

Boeing has pleaded guilty to receiving classified documents from Fowler and has agreed to pay fines of $5.2 million.

In testimony this week, employees of several defense contractors said that they were part of a nine-company network whose Washington representatives traded Pentagon budget documents in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The documents generally dealt with the Pentagon’s procurement plans, sometimes for the next five years.

The nine firms were identified in testimony as Boeing, Honeywell Inc., Bendix Corp., IBM Inc., RCA (since merged into General Electric Co.), Grumman Corp., Raytheon Co., Rockwell International Corp. and Martin Marietta Corp.

Fowler’s defense argued that he was singled out for prosecution because he had refused to tell where he had got the documents.

“There can be no doubt that Mr. Fowler not only joined the conspiracy but was the linchpin,” Assistant U.S. Atty. Randy Bellows said in closing arguments, referring to the nine-company ring.

“Mr. Fowler was the common thread running through every witness who was trafficking in this secret material,” Bellows said. “Mr. Fowler played a unique role in the conspiracy: He was the supplier.”

Bellows said there was no evidence that Fowler “stole the documents in some midnight black bag job at the Pentagon” but that he got the documents from Defense Department sources he refused to name.

“If Fowler thought he had received the documents legitimately, there was no reason for him not to give the names,” Bellows said.

Fowler’s attorney, John Bray, said the only reason his client was prosecuted was because he refused to divulge his sources.

“Dick Fowler has made a very unfortunate enemy by what he has done--the Pentagon,” Bray said.