Spy tour brings government employee espionage to light

The word "spy" conjures up images of James Bond and Mata Hari, not the typical GS-14. But since 1975, half of the spies arrested in the United States have been government employees, according to a former FBI agent.

Rusty Capps, a retired FBI special agent, said that over the last 25 years, the United States has arrested 141 people for espionage--70 of whom worked for the government and had direct access to sensitive intelligence data.

Capps and partner David Major, a retired FBI special agent and former director of counterintelligence, intelligence, and security programs at the National Security Council, run Major, Capps & Associates, Inc., a group of intelligence and counterintelligence experts that provide security training and research for government and industry. The group also operates "SpyDrive", a two and a half hour bus tour of Washington's espionage-related landmarks--most of them ordinary hotels, restaurants, and apartment buildings around the city.

Although many spies operated during the years of the Cold War, the second World War provided fertile ground for espionage among government employees--some of them top agency officials. According to Major and his colleague, retired KGB Major General Oleg Kalugin, Soviet KGB agents infiltrated every major federal agency in Washington during the 1940s, particularly the Treasury Department. In fact, Harry Dexter White, the deputy secretary of the Treasury at the time, was a spy for the KGB.

Duncan Lee, the special assistant to the director of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), also spied for the Soviets during World War II. The OSS was the forerunner to the present CIA.

Both Major and Kalugin said espionage and intelligence collecting are on the rise, despite the end of the Cold War.

"Spying on America by foreign countries did not stop at the end of the Cold War," said Kalugin. "In many ways it has increased, especially in the area of economic and technical espionage."

Kalugin differentiated between "ideological spies," people like Kim Philby, a British intelligence officer who spied for the Soviet Union in the 1930s and remained loyal to the Soviet system, and "mercenaries" such as Aldrich Ames who spied for personal gain.

According to Major and Kalugin, Washington boasts a storied history of clandestine meetings between members of the spy and intelligence communities at places such as the Mayflower Hotel, the Occidental Grill restaurant and the former Soviet embassy.

Some notable spies who worked for Uncle Sam included:

• John Walker, U.S. Navy Warrant officer: Walker provided coded Navy communications to the Soviet Union from 1967 to 1976, and was arrested in 1985. Eighty percent of top-secret ship-to-ship and ship-to-shore information was supplied to the Soviets, who then shared the data with the North Vietnamese.
• Ronald Pelton, former National Security Agency employee: Pelton sold the Soviets sensitive information about U.S. electronic eavesdropping techniques, and was arrested in 1986.
• Aldrich "Rick" Ames, GS-14 CIA officer: Ames worked for Soviet and then Russian intelligence for money from 1985 until his arrest in 1994.
• Earl Pitts, former senior FBI special agent: Pitts specialized in counterintelligence work and spied for the KGB from 1987 to 1992. He was arrested in 1996.
• Mariano Faget, GS-17 senior officer at the Immigration and Naturalization Service: Faget spied for Cuba and was arrested in 2000.

Spy Spots

Here's a rundown of some everday places in Washington D.C. that have a place in espionage history:

Aldrich Ames, infamous CIA officer and Russian spy, received his first $50,000 from the KGB [Soviet intelligence] at the The Mayflower Hotel (127 Connecticut Ave. NW). Shortly thereafter John Walker, a Navy warrant officer who was also spying for the Soviets was arrested. Fearing he might be next, Ames sold to the KGB the names of more than 10 CIA and FBI sources that might expose him. The transaction took place at Chadwicks Restaurant (3205 K Street, NW) in Georgetown. Oleg Kalugin, retired KGB major general, used to meet sources at the following locations when he worked in Washington:

• Army Navy Club (901 17th Street, NW)
• Occidental Grill (1475 Pennsylvania Ave. NW)
• National Press Building (corner of 14th and F streets)

Karl Koecher, a former CIA employee and Czech intelligence agent, and his wife frequently met at the Exchange Restaurant, formerly located near the Farragut West metro, to develop sources and to engage in "wife swapping" with other couples.

Elizabeth Bentley, a former courier for Soviet intelligence who later broke with communism and revealed spy rings to the FBI, used to meet sources at Martin's Tavern (1264 Wisconsin Ave. NW) in Georgetown. R Street, in Georgetown, was home to Duncan Lee, a U.S. intelligence officer who spied for the Soviets during World War II. P Street, in Georgetown, was home to Alger Hiss and Lauchlin Currie; an American and Canadian who turned Soviet spies. Jonathan Pollard, a Navy intelligence officer who spied for Israel met with Israeli intelligence officer Col. Aviem Sella at Dumbarton Oaks(1703 32nd St. NW).