Spying on one’s friends is generally considered a no-no, but some in the British upper class famously elevated it to high art. A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal delves into the story of arguably the most famous case. “Kim Philby was the most notorious British defector and Soviet mole in history. Agent, double agent, traitor and enigma, he betrayed every secret of Allied operations to the Russians in the early years of the Cold War.
By Steve Chawkins, Los Angeles Times
Arthur J. Walker, a conspirator in one of the biggest U.S. spy cases since World War II, was a surprisingly trusting soul.
When FBI agents wanted to talk to him in 1985 after arresting his brother John on suspicion of espionage, Walker voluntarily chatted, over several sessions, for a total of 32 hours — without a lawyer.
When a prosecution witness at Arthur’s trial had a hard time identifying him in a Virginia courtroom, he helpfully raised his hand. After all, he had been wearing a hairpiece when the witness last saw him.
And even after U.S. District Judge J. Calvert Clarke Jr. took all of 16 minutes to convict him of espionage, Walker asked his astonished attorney, “What do you think, maybe a two-year suspended sentence? I won’t have to go to prison, will I?”
He was given a life term, but under federal sentencing guidelines that were stiffened after his conviction, he was eligible for parole. Another hearing was to be held next month.
Walker, who made $12,000 for selling classified documents to Soviet agents through his brother, died July 5 in a federal prison in Butner, N.C. He was 79. His death was confirmed by the Federal Bureau of Prisons. No cause was disclosed.
John Walker, who is incarcerated in the prison where his brother died, is said to have throat cancer. He is to be released next May, according to federal authorities.
When the family espionage ring was uncovered, John was cast by authorities as its amoral mastermind, a manipulator who got his son Michael, his older brother Arthur, and his best friend Jerry Whitworth to join him.
John Walker started spying in 1967 during his Naval career and sold the KGB “vital U.S. cryptographic secrets that had allowed Russian agents to decipher approximately one million coded Navy dispatches,” wrote Pete Earley, author of “Family of Spies: Inside the John Walker Spy Ring.”
By comparison, Arthur, a retired Navy lieutenant commander, seemed to be a small fish. He was convicted of stealing two sets of documents, both with the government’s lowest classified designation, from a Virginia defense contractor that employed him as an engineer. He later said he used the windfall for a new set of brakes, a gas grill and a toupee. He also gave some of the money to his brother to repay a business loan. Bailing Arthur out after the failure of his car stereo business, John urged him to take a defense job for its proximity to military secrets.
Walker admitted to FBI agents that he photographed documents but insisted that they were worthless. He said he chose those particular items only to convince his brother that he had no access to anything important. The documents concerned repairs on a class of Navy amphibious assault ships and detailed plans for responding to emergencies on the Blue Ridge, a communications ship.
Testifying during Walker’s trial in Norfolk, Va., a Navy official described the documents as “a Bible for sabotage.” Walker did not testify, nor did any witnesses appear on his behalf. He asked that his case be heard only by a judge, fearing backlash from jurors in a region with a huge Navy presence.
Born in Washington, D.C., in 1934, Arthur James Walker grew up in Richmond, Va., and West Scranton, Pa. He enlisted in the Navy in 1953. He and his wife had two daughters and a son. Information on surviving family members was not immediately available.
AFP Photo / Lionel Bonaventure
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By Paul Richter, Tribune Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON — Germany demanded the departure from the country of the top spy at the U.S. Embassy in Berlin on Thursday, dramatizing its deepening unhappiness with reports of U.S. intelligence operations targeting its officials.
Following accusations of two cases of U.S. spying, government spokesman Steffen Seibert announced that “the representative of the U.S. intelligence services at the U.S. Embassy has been asked to leave Germany.”
He said in a statement that the request came against the backdrop of German prosecutors’ investigation of the two recent cases, and the questions that were raised earlier about National Security Agency intelligence-gathering.
“The government takes the matter very seriously,” he said.
One German has been arrested and an investigation has been launched into another in the past two weeks on suspicions of espionage. Both are suspected of passing secrets to the United States, German news organizations have reported.
The expulsion of what some news reports termed the CIA station chief in Berlin reflected German officials’ unhappiness that the Obama administration has been, in their view, too casual about disclosures of the spy operations.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said earlier Thursday that the two countries had “very different approaches” toward intelligence-gathering and needed to increase mutual trust.
Thomas de Maiziere, Germany’s interior minister, said that while the information turned over by one of the suspects appears so far to be “laughable … the political damage is
already disproportionate and serious.”
In Washington, the CIA declined comment on the German order.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest refused to comment on intelligence matters, saying that “any sort of comment on any reported intelligence acts would put at risk U.S. assets, U.S. personnel and the United States national security.”
He said he knew of no contact this week between Obama and Merkel.
The conflict between the two governments began last year when former NSA contractor Edward Snowden exposed U.S. spying operations in Germany, including the monitoring of Merkel’s cellphone. In October, Der Spiegel published an article about NSA operations at the U.S. Embassy with the headline, “The NSA’s Secret Spy Hub in Berlin.”
The rising tensions between the allies comes at a time when they are trying to work together on a range of sensitive issues, including Russia’s intervention in Ukraine, international talks on Iran’s nuclear program, and a transatlantic trade agreement.
Concerns about U.S. spying are broadly shared by the German public. The revelations have further soured public attitudes toward the United States and President Barack Obama, once strongly supported in Germany.
Caitlin Hayden, a National Security Council spokeswoman, declined comment on the “purported intelligence matter.”
But she said: “Our security and intelligence relationship with Germany is an important one, and it keeps Germans and Americans safe. It is essential that cooperation continue in all areas, and we will continue to be in touch with the German government in appropriate channels.”
Staff writer Brian Bennett in Washington contributed to this report.
AFP Photo / Odd Andersen
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By Richard A. Serrano, Tribune Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON — Edward J. Snowden, charged with leaking thousands of U.S. classified secrets, maintains he was “trained as a spy” and that his government handlers repeatedly gave him code names and undercover assignments abroad that made him far more than just a low-level computer analyst.
In an interview with NBC News, Snowden further claimed that it was the U.S. that forced him to seek asylum in Russia after revoking his passport once he landed at a Moscow airport.
“In reality I never intended to end up in Russia,” he said after a year in that country. “So when people ask why are you in Russia, I say, ‘Please ask the State Department.’”
Snowden also maintained that he has worked under aliases overseas for both the CIA and the National Security Agency, as well as Department of Defense intelligence operations.
“I was trained as a spy in sort of the traditional sense of the word in that I lived and worked undercover overseas, pretending to work in a job that I’m not — and even being assigned a name that was not mine,” he said.
Secretary of State John Kerry scoffed at Snowden’s assertions, saying on NBC’s “Today” show that he “should man up and come back to the United States” to face criminal prosecution. If Snowden agreed, Kerry said, “we’ll have him on a flight today.”
AFP Photo
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