Alleged U.S. spy sent home

Press, 27 May 1985, Page 10

Alleged U.S. spy sent home

NZPA-NYT Washington A Navy yeoman, aged 22, accused of helping his father and others spy for the Soviet Union was returned to the United States as investigators tried to assess whether national security was damaged by the purported espionage ring. Under heavy security, the yeoman third class, Michael Walker, stepped off a Navy

transport plane at Andrews Air Force Base near Washington yesterday and into the custody of several agents of the F. 8.1. He showed no emotion as he was placed, handcuffed, into an unmarked F. 8.1. car. Walker has been charged with smuggling secret documents from the aircraft carrier Nimitz to his father, John Walker, a retired Navy communications officer.

Walker, who was arrested aboard the carrier in Israel, has provided investigators with “extensive” information about the conspiracy, according to a highly placed Government official. Navy officials say that Soviet agents would have found use for information gathered on the Nimitz by Walker, who apparently had access to trash containers where copies of secret docu-

ments were discarded for burning. Because of his relatively low security clearance, they said that they doubted that the information could have jeopardised national security. The data accumulated by the elder Walker over his 20-year Navy career which ended in 1976 would have done much more damage, they said.