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Ex-spook tells 2 other countries their codes are toast
http://www.newsday.com/ap/rnmpwh0j.htm
Ex-CIA Worker Charged in Spy Case
By MICHAEL J. SNIFFEN Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A fired CIA covert operative was
charged today with
tipping off two foreign governments that the United
States had broken their code
systems. He was held without bond.
Douglas Fred Groat also was charged with trying to
extort $500,000 from the CIA
in return for not disclosing its secrets.
Groat, a 50-year-old bearded and burly man, worked
for the CIA from May 1980
through October 1996 but spent the last three of
those years on administrative
leave. The grand jury charged that he gave secrets
about U.S. code-breaking to
two foreign governments, which were not named, in
March and April of 1997.
The grand jury said that Groat attempted to extort
money from the CIA began
before his alleged turncoat activities and
continued after them. The grand jury said
the attempted extortion lasted from May 1996 until
February 1998.
All four espionage counts allege that the spying
took place between March 24,
1997 and some time in April 1997.
A federal grand jury said in its indictment that
Groat gave both foreign countries
classified information concerning ``the targeting
and compromise of the
cryptographic systems of ... (the foreign country)
by the United States with intent
and reason to believe that said information would
be used to the injury of the
United States.''
Groat, who was arrested Wednesday night without
incident by the FBI, entered a
not guilty plea through his attorney, at federal
courthouse here, to all five counts
against him. Two of the counts carry a maximum
penalty of death.
Prosecutor Eric Dubelier persuaded U.S. District
Judge Norma Holloway Johnson
to continue holding the burly and bearded Groat
without bail by calling him ``a risk
of flight and a danger to the community.''
``Based on his former employment with the CIA, he
is trained in travel and false
identity and deception,'' Dubelier said. ``He has
no ties to the community and he
possesses sensitive classified information'' that
could be communicated to foreign
nations if he were allowed to go free.
Johnson said that a federal grand jury had returned
a sealed indictment March 27
which included four counts of communicating secret
defense information to a
foreign government and one count of interference
with commerce.
Two of the counts of conveying secrets carry the
death penalty. It was not
immediately known which countries were involved.
Federal officials requesting
anonymity said there was more than one.
Groat himself did not speak during the 10-minute
initial appearance. Muscular and
heavy-set with black hair and a mustache, he
appeared in court wearing dark blue
jail trousers and shirt. He held his hands clasped
in front of him as he stood beside
his attorney, public defender A.J. Kramer.
The judge set a detention hearing for next
Thursday. And Dubelier said the
government would use the Classified Information
Procedures Act to prevent
secrets from being disclosed at trial.
Groat was the third current or former CIA employee
to be arrested for espionage
in the last four years.
He was fired from the CIA under circumstances that
officials would not
immediately disclose. They said he held a lower
rank than two of the biggest spies
ever caught inside the CIA -- Aldrich Ames, who
headed counterintelligence
against Moscow while secretly working for the
Russians, and Harold Nicholson,
who was a CIA station chief abroad while selling
secrets to Moscow. Ames and
Nicholson pleaded guilty in plea bargains with the
government.
An official familiar with the investigation said
the probe into this former CIA
employee ``does not rise to the level of the
Aldrich Ames case'' in terms of the
suspected damage to U.S. security.
Ames was arrested in 1994 and was sentenced to life
in prison without the chance
for parole. Ames gave the Soviets the names of at
least a dozen high-level moles
inside the Soviet government who were providing
information to the CIA. Many of
them were arrested and executed based on Ames'
information.
Nicholson gave the Russians the names of new CIA
recruits whom he helped
train. Officials said that limited where they could
serve later in their careers.
The CIA employee in this case worked at the ageny's
headquarters in Northern
Virginia and it was not clear if he had ever served
overseas.
The FBI was not seeking any accomplices in the
case, but officials would not say
whether any foreign diplomats were being expelled
from this country.
The names of the countries involved with the CIA
employee could not immediately
be learned.
The House and Senate intelligence committees were
kept informed of the
investigation into the spying charges as it
proceeded, congressional officials said
today, speaking on condition of anonymity.
An official said Senators have been actively
involved in following the investigation
since its inception.''
AP-NY-04-03-98 1331EST
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David Honig Orbit Technology
[email protected] Intaanetto Jigyoubu
When exponentiation is outlawed, only outlaws will exponentiate.