AGENT'S PURPORTED SPY CONFESSION TO F.B.I. HELD ADMISSIBLE IN COURT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000201350040-0
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 19, 2012
• Sequence Number: 40
• Publication Date: January 23, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/01/19: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201350040-0
THE NEW YORK TIMES
''?~`~ 5-------- 23 January, 1985
Agent's Purported Spy Confession
ToFB.I. Held Admissible in Court
By JUDITH CUMMINGS
sew to The New rock Times
LOS ANGELES, Jan..22-A Federal The Ogorodnikovs were arrested last Mr. Miller's lawyers, Joel Levine
district judge today rejected a motion Oct. 2, along with Mr. Miller, and were and Stanley I. Greenberg, disputed the
to exclude a purported confession and also charged with espionage conspir. Government's contention that the inci-
other damaging statements from the acy. The Government maintained that dent Mr. Minor described constituted a
forthcoming trial of Richard W. Miller, Mr. Miller was to receive $65,000 in confession. Mr. Levine asserted that
the first agent of the Federal Bureau of cash and gold for providing classified the bureau investigative notes showed
investigation to be charged with eau of documents that could detailed picture that Mr. Miller had offered "to s'
of this country's intelligence activities. ,
nage.
1 a maior setback for Mr. Mill er, Conviction could bring a life prison sen- ov over yrhing'with. rlust. to get Minor the denied inte this.
tence.
a ed .
Judge David V. Kenyon ruled that Mr. Mr. Miller's lawyers
According to court documents filed Government "bad faithi "a and th the
Miller's statements to F.B.I. question- by the Government el apated
nd the the
ers were "purely voluntary." , Mr. Miller has resu A major were "part of Mr. Millers said he became romantically involved personnel who pabe ci e " in the
u- with Mrs. Ogorodnikov whilassociat- tion.,tigation of deliberate rest ep?
meat an the request focused e his argu-
tsarina that he was coerced into a con- ing with her in his counterintelligence
fession by religious pressure to "re- work. The bead of the Los E,ngeles of-
of-
hce of the bureau, the Ogorodn said
pent from the special agent in charge last October that thMr. Bretzing,
e
of the bureau's Los Angeles office, were ov
Richard T. Bretzing. were suspected as "covert agents" of
But Judge Kenyon told a courtroom the K.G.B., the Soviet intelligence
of spectators, who included Mr. Mill- service. Mr. Miller was dismissed
er's wife, that he believed "that re- from the agency shortly before his ar.
gardless of what Mr. Bretzing said, the rest' Mr Miller, who is 48 and a 20-year
defendant would have made the exact
same statements and acted the exact veteran of the bureau, has asserted
same way that he did," and that the that he maintained his relationship
statements did not have any effect on infiltrate with the Soviet woman in
attempt e-
an to
M.-. Miller's conduct. a unit of the K.G.B., some-
Judge Kenyon also rejected an ergo. thing that he said had never before
ment by Mr. Miller that bureau agents, been achieved by the F.B.I. and that
who Mr. Miller maintained viewed him would bring honor on the agency.
as "a parasite" for his purported be- Judge
y on the m Kenyon e mbegan Jan. 9. testa-
trayal, had acted deceptively and in The many matter on Jan. e
bad faith while investigating him. The question by isr. before the
judge said that there was nothing court key rt was a motion by Mr. Miller to ex-
wrong with the investigators not telling chide from his trial incriminating
statements he made
a suspect everything they knew about bureau investigators in over a interviews
fi veda-day
his actions. bureau invy
The judge also ordered that Mr. period preceding his arrest.Mrs. Ogo-
Miller be tried separately from his co- f0ov defendants, Svetlana and Nikolay Ogo. A. the incriminating statements
odnikov. But Judge Kenyon turned was Mr. Mr. Miller's purported confession.
down a Government request that Mr. The bureau's chief polygraph, or lie-de-
Miller's trial proceed first, saying that fie d f ed at the hehe hears Paul K Minor, testa.
the only probable reason for such are- on Oct. last week that Mr.
quest was the Government's hope to ~~ 1, identified thp specific
glean information that would later be classified ed material he turned over to
damaging against the Ogorodnikovs. [Mrs. Ogorodnikov.
The trial of the three is scheduled to The bureau has said it was a 25-page
begin Feb. 12, but Judge Kenyon said classified document titled "Reporting
he expected to rule Thursday on a re- Guidance: Foreign Intelligence Infor-
quest by Mrs. Ogorodnikov's lawyers mation," which the bureau said could
for a two-month delay. yield to Soviet intelligence "a detailed
Mr. Miller, a former agent in the picture of F.B.I. and U.S. intelligence
counterintelligence section of the bw
reau's Los activities, techniques and requite-
Angeles office, is charged meats."
.
with conspiring to pass classified na- Robert C. Bonner, the United States
tional security information to the 34- i Attorney for the Central District in
year-old Soviet woman, Mrs. Ogorodni- , California, said the bureau had video.
kov. and her husband, Nikolay, 51. The taped Mr. Miller in the act of giving
couple's surname is pronounced Oh-go- Mrs 0 orodnikov the document in her
RAWD-nee-kov, according to the two ! car on Sept. 12. Mr. Miller has said the
Russian-language interpreters who ac. envelope seen on the videotape con-
company them to court every day to tamed nothing but bank documents.
translate the proceedings.
I Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/01/19: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201350040-0