Part 1, Section 4 of "Counterintelligence Awareness Primer", circa 1987
Joseph G. Helmich, a former U.S. Army Warrant Officer, was arrested on July 15, 1981, at his residence in Jacksonville, Florida for the sale of U.S. cryptography to the Soviet Union. Faced with severe financial problems, he contacted USSR Embassy officials while stationed in Paris. In return for extremely sensitive information related to the KL-17 cryptographic system, then widely used by U.S. armed forces, Helmich received approximately $131,000. After being transferred to Ft. Bragg, N.C., Helmich continued to provide the Soviets with top secret cryptographic information and then travelled to Mexico City and Paris to rendezvous with his Soviet handlers. Helmich came under suspicion because of his unexplained affluence. In early 1981 he was spotted with Soviet agents in Canada. When interviewed by the FBI, he recounted the full details of his espionage involvement. On October 16,1981, Helmich was sentenced to life imprisonment.
As of March 1, 1986, military people convicted of espionage during peacetime may be sentenced to death.
The federal authorities are dead serious about cracking down on spies.
Retired Navy Officer John Walker Jr. was sentenced to life. Also sentenced to life was Thomas Cavanaugh, the Northrop employee who tried to sell blueprints and technical manuals to FBI agents posing as Soviet intelligence officers.
Espionage is a crime far more serious than most people think. "It doesn't have just one victim," said FBI Special Agent Dave Majors. "Espionage hurts all of us. It affects the security of the country and the future of our children."
Because of the seriousness of the crime, a person convicted of espionage will find little chance of parole. "It is doubtful that the parole commission would even grant a hearing," said John Martin.
In the past it was difficult to detect and prosecute crimes of espionage, but that is changing.
Of the 47 convictions in the last decade, half were obtained in the last two years.
Investigators have perfected ingenious techniques for providing evidence linking a suspect with the crime while protecting their sources.
Presidential executive orders have facilitated the exchange of information between the FBI and CIA to fight espionage.
Under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, FBI investigators are permitted to "tap" telephones of visitors to the United States from Soviet Bloc countries, increasing the number of wire taps that can be submitted for evidence.
Also, the Classified Information Procedures Act of 1980 protects U.S. security interests by keeping national secrets out of public record during trials. It allows judges to decide in a closed hearing which secrets a defendant needs to disclose to obtain a fair hearing.
The Soviet Union has never demonstrated any interest in exchanging spies for its American operatives. The lawyer for the convicted spy Christopher Boyce, the former TRW employee sentenced to forty years for espionage, attempted to interest the Soviets in an exchange that would include his client. The Soviets declined.
"The American who spies for the Soviets is cannon fodder," said John Martin. "He is every expendable." [sic]
With the Justice Department batting nearly 1.000 in con-victions for espionage, with little hope of parole or asylum, the American spying for the Soviets, the Chinese, or the East Europeans can only be haunted by what the future holds.
Boyce said, "Not one American who has gone to the KGB has not come to regret it. They bring upon themselves heartache heavier than a mountain."