Spy ring mastermind John Walker dies in N.C. prison
By Denise M. Watson, The Virginian-Pilot | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
For 18 years,
He eventually enlisted espionage help from his brother Arthur; his son, Michael; and a
The security breach was considered one of the biggest in the nation's history.
____
Special report Traitors -- Series reprint
____
Walker, 77, had been sentenced in 1986 to two life terms, plus 10 years, but his actual prison stay was to have been much shorter because of federal parole guidelines at the time. He had suffered health issues in recent years, including throat cancer. The cause of his death Thursday was not released.
"I think the man was pure evil," said Hunter, who is retired and lives in
Walker's espionage career began in 1967 while he was working at what is now
High-ranking Soviet officials later would say that Walker's information allowed them to have an invisible seat at the
Many speculated that the Soviets shared the information with their allies, including the North Vietnamese during the late 1960s and early '70s, and that Americans were killed in the Vietnam War because of Walker's deception.
The information Walker gathered was considered invaluable to America's most feared Cold War enemy.
"If there had been a war," a Soviet defector once said, "we would have won it."
He began spying shortly after being stationed in
After leaving the military, Walker opened a detective agency in
He also began to look for others who were in the military who had access to classified information.
Walker found a partner in crime in his son, Michael, who had joined the
In the early 1980s,
The Soviets had warned their top spy not to tell friends and family about his activities, but Walker's wife, Barbara, learned of his activities in the late 1960s.
The couple divorced in 1976, and she tipped off the
The
The discovery of Walker's espionage shook the military. Shortly after his arrest, the
People who worked with him, and
"I took pride in my work," said Bell, who lives in
A 1985
Walker, in his 2008 memoir, "My Life as a Spy," insisted that money was not his sole motivation for selling out his country.
Instead, he said, he operated from a "
The lone surviving member of the spy ring,
___
(c)2014 The Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk, Va.)
Visit The Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk, Va.) at pilotonline.com
Distributed by MCT Information Services
Wordcount: | 1137 |
South Florida mastermind of $1 billion-plus swindle sentenced to 20 years in prison
Labor Day Advice for Better Job and More Money? Learn to Speak a New Language
Advisor News
Annuity News
Health/Employee Benefits News
Life Insurance News