6 GIs Tied to Cult Are Found After Being Missing From Classified Unit

Six soldiers who disappeared from a classified intelligence unit in West Germany and are believed to be members of a mysterious group called “The End of the World” have been caught in Florida.

The five men and one woman, apprehended over the weekend in this Panhandle city, were being held at Ft. Benning, Ga., pending a counterintelligence investigation.

However, Bob Hall, a spokesman for Defense Secretary Dick Cheney, said that the investigation is being conducted as a matter of routine because the soldiers had access to classified information.

“The Army says this does not appear to be an espionage case,” Hall said.

Maj. Joe Padilla, an Army spokesman at the Pentagon, said he had no information about “The End of the World” group except that the six are apparently members. He could not say if it has any significance in the investigation, or how and when the Army came to know of their affiliation.

All six soldiers were Army intelligence specialists assigned to the 701st Military Intelligence Brigade at Augsburg, West Germany, Padilla said. He would not say what jobs they performed but he said that their training was in analyzing foreign communications.

The Army has not filed charges against the six soldiers, Padilla said.

He said an absent-without-authorization allegation could encompass either absent without leave or the more serious charge of desertion.

Hall and Padilla said that they did not know how the six got to Florida from Germany.

They were caught after one of the men was stopped by a police officer Friday night because the taillights on the van he was driving were not working, authorities said.