Ex-Campus Radical Admits to Role in Spy Ring

A one-time campus radical admitted Wednesday that he was part of a spy ring that offered secrets to the former East Germany and other governments.

James Michael Clark pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to commit espionage, averting a trial on a charge of actual espionage scheduled for next month.

Clark, 50, may testify against two old friends from his college days, one of whom allegedly recruited Clark to spy for East Germany in 1976.

U.S. District Judge Claude M. Hilton set sentencing for Sept. 11. Clark, a former Army paralegal, remains jailed.

Under federal sentencing guidelines, Clark faces 13 to 20 years in prison.

He may win a shorter sentence if he cooperates with prosecutors as they pursue the attempted espionage case against former Pentagon lawyer Theresa M. Squillacote and her husband, Kurt A. Stand, who allegedly recruited Clark.

All three, who met as campus Marxists at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, were charged with conspiring to spy on the United States for the former East Germany, the former Soviet Union, Russia and South Africa. They were arrested last year after a sting operation in which Clark detailed the ring’s past work for an undercover FBI agent, according to court documents.

Only Clark was charged with committing espionage.

Clark was given the code names “Brother Michael” and “Jack,” court papers signed by Clark said. Over the years, Clark sent documents, notes and pictures to Marxist handlers, sometimes hiding the materials inside toy dolls, the statement of facts said.

Clark, a slight, bearded private investigator, suspected for months that the FBI was following him, according to the indictment.

He was right.

The FBI tape-recorded him pacing in his apartment, ruminating aloud that the place was bugged.

Clark’s lawyer said there is no evidence his client ever harmed U.S. national security.

“The only harm he did was to himself,” attorney Clark said.