RALEIGH, N.C.--A former American sailor convicted during the
Cold War of leading a family spy ring for the Soviet Union has died
in a prison hospital in North Carolina, officials said Friday.
Retired Navy Warrant Officer John A. Walker Jr. died Thursday at
the Federal Medical Center in Butner, Federal Bureau of Prisons
spokesman Chris Burke said. The cause of death wasn't immediately
released. He was 77 years old.
Walker was sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty in
1985 to passing secrets to the Soviets while he was a shipboard
communications officer.
The security breach was then considered among the largest and
most devastating leaks of military secrets in the nation's
history.
A cryptologist, Walker used his high-level security clearance to
provide Navy codes, ship locations, and other sensitive data in
exchange for cash. After his 1976 retirement, Walker recruited his
son, his brother and a friend to keep providing the Soviets fresh
information. All were convicted.
Walker's spying career began in 1967, when he was based at the
massive U.S. Naval Station in Norfolk, Virginia. Walker went to the
Soviet Embassy in Washington and volunteered to hand over secret
coded material on a regular basis, according to court
documents.
Over the next 17 years, the Soviets used the information
provided by Walker and his accomplices to decode millions of secret
U.S. Navy messages and to learn about the tactics the Americans
deployed against them.
After his arrest, prosecutors said Walker's betrayal of his
country appeared motivated by greed rather than ideology.
In 1985, Walker agreed to plead guilty as part of a deal with
prosecutors to obtain a lighter sentence for his son.
Former Navy Seaman Michael L. Walker served 15 years in prison
and was released in 2000.
The brother, retired Navy Lt. Cdr. Arthur Walker, died at the
Butner hospital in July.
The fourth member of the spy ring, Ex- Navy Chief Petty Officer
Jerry A. Whitworth was convicted in 1986 and later sentenced to a
total of 365 years.
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press.
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