SPY TIP FOLLOWED TAROT CARDS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000403680010-3
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 27, 2012
• Sequence Number: 10
• Publication Date: June 6, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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ARTICLZ
pg P>Gb
By Sharon Le~aniere and Ruth Marcus
Waahin~ton Pat stall When '
The month that her son reported for duty
on the USS Nimitz, Barbara Joy Crowley
Walker was agonizing over whether to tell
authorities she suspected her ex-husband was
a.Soviet spy, according to a friend of the fam-
ily who said Walker turned to her for advice.
' Shalel Way, 29, whose parents befriended
Barbara Walker after she moved to Skowhe-
gan, Maine, in 1976 following her divorce
from John A. Walker Jr?. said that in January
1984 Barbara Walker asked her for a tarot
card reading to help her decide whether to go
to the FBI.
"She said she suspected he was giving se-
crets to the Russians. She said he would get
drunk and call her on the phone and brag
about it," Way said in an interview at her
apartment in Skowhegan, a tiny factory town
in central Maine. She said Barbara Walker
discussed whether she should contact author-
. ities while sitting in Way's mother's kitchen
on a wintry afternoon in January .1984.
As she considered whether to implicate her
former husband, Way said, Barbara Walker
was apparently unaware of the alleged in-
volvement of her son, Navy Seaman Michael
Walker. "She's just about destroyed," said
Way, who stated that she overheard part of a
telephone conversation between her mother
and Barbara Walker after Michael Walker's
arrest.
Way said that during that conversation,
Barbara Walker told' her mother
that she doesn't believe her son was
really involved and thinks her ex-
husband is somehow framing Mi-
chael to punish his ex-wife for tip-
ping off the authorities. Barbara
Walker's sister-in-law, Pat Crowley,'
also said Barbara Walker had no
clue her actions would lead?fo her.
son's arrest.
Walker apparently' deliberated
for about a year before calling the
Hyannis; Mass.,- office of -the FBI
about six months ago, providing the
tip that triggered the hrrests of her
ex-husband, a retired chief warrant
WASHINGTON POST
6 June 1985
Ti Followed Tarot Cards
S
py p
Ex- ~fe Agonized for a Year Before Calling FBI ,
officer; her son; her former broth-
er-in-law, retired Navy lieutenant
commander Arthur James Walker;
and a friend and former Nary col-
league of John Walker's, retired
communications specialist Jerry
Alfred Whitworth.
A fifth person, "F," also may be
implicated in the alleged espionage
.;ring, according to an FBI affidavit.
Barbara Walker told The Los An-
geles Times yesterday that her for-
mer husband began spying for the.
Soviet Union in the late 1960s to
get money for a failing South Car-.
olina restaurant in which he had
invested. She said he had received
"well over.$100,000" for his alleged
espionage activities:
She said she never would have
. gone to authorities if she had known
it would lead to the arrest of her
only son, 22. '
"I love Michael so much," she
said. "I love my country, but I never
could have brought myself to do it if
' I had known he was'' part of this
thing. I was devastated when. I
learned Michael was involved."
She said her daughter, Laura
Mae Walker Snyder, had told her
' John Walker tried to enlist her as a
spy in 1979 when the daughter was
an Army communications specialist
at Fort Polk, La.
Qs for why she finally went to the
FBI, Barbara Walker said, "I
wanted to protect my children. Was
I seeking vengeance? Well, a part of
me wanted to see him get what he
~ deserved."
The interview took place in her_
apartment in West Dennis, Mass.
Mrs. Walker,? who had worked in a
Skowhegan shoe factory after her
divorce from Walker iri 1976, moved
to the Cape Cod community last
summer to live with her daughter. '
In other developments yesterday:
^ A source familiar with the inves-
tigation said the FBI plans today to
interview a person at the Naval Air
Station in Pensacola, Fla., in con-
nection_with the alleged espionage
case.
^ Former CIA director Stansfield
Turner me t o engt y e av m
uncovering the alleged espionage
rm m art on a r uce emp asps
on countennte igence urmg
the 1970s. The espionage may have
begun as ong as years ago, ac-
cordmg to a federa a i acT vi~-
At abreakfast meetin with re-
porters, urner, a retire a m~ra .
said he is alarmed b the possibility
that o n a er aye t o vets
"a olutely vita mte tgence a ut
submarine dealovment. "What re-
ally bothers me," he said, is that
such information mi ht accelerate
the vets' research into methods
of locating U.S. submarines below
the surface. '
^ ~e entagon said that Whit-
worth was twice reapproved for a
"top secret" security clearance dur-
~?? ing the period in which he is ac-
cused of conspiring with John Walk-
er to spy for the Soviet Union. John
and Arthur Walker, who both held
top secret clearances during their
Nary careers, were never subjected
to reviews of their security clear-
ances, which are supposed to be
conducted every five years, accord-
ing to a statement from the office of
Michael I. Burch, chief Pentagon
spokesman.
^ Senate Intelligence Committee
Chairman David E. Durenberger (R-.
inn. ca on a ea an a mtn-
istration o cut m t e amount of
in ormation we c ass and cut b
more n a a num r o people
? who have access to it.'
e sai securit checks for those
clears to see sensttrve m ormat~on
were ma equate an t at a ten en-.
cy to classify too much information
created a situation in whit-~f ose
with clearances feel "eve thing
can't be that secret so neon a treat
nothin as secret."
wren er er said in an interview
that e e eve we re ettm ot-
ter" at in mg spies. At the same
time, he said, there is "more spyin
going on an a of more c ever spy-
ing going on.
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^ A memorandum filed in federal
court in Baltimore said that John
Walker, despite a net .worth of
$174,785 at the time of his arrest
May 20, cannot now afford to pay
for a lawyer.
Walker's court-appointed law-
yers, federal public defenders Fred
Warren Bennett and Thomas B.
Mason, said in the memorandum
that Walker cannot afford to pay the
estimated $20,000 to $75,000
costs of his legal defense because
the government has placed tax liens
against some of Walker's property
and seized other assets, including
ten 100-ounce bars of silver bullion
~ valued at $6,100, .
The Internal Revenue Service
yesterday placed liens on Walker's
land holdings in North Carolina and
South Carolina. It had placed liens
Tuesday against his assets in Nor-
- folk. The IRS said he owed
$252,487 in back taxes, interest
and penalties for the years since
1979.
The IRS often moves to recover
back taxes, interest and penalties
against those accused of a crime
when agents believe a person may
not have reported all of his income,
legal or illegal. .-
In the interview yesterday, Way
said that Barbara Walker hesitated
before going to the FBI because she
was uncertain whether John Walk-
er's talk of his escapades as a Soviet
spy were true or mere boasting
from a man who, friends say,
bragged about everything from his
detective abilities to his many girl-
friends.
"She would say, 'Are you just
talking, Johnny, or is this the
truth?'"Way said.
Way said Barbara Walker hoped
the tarot cards would help illuminate
the matter. She said she advised
Walker to "be very cautious and
make sure you know the whole story,
make sure it's not braggadocio."
In a black notebook..Way wrote
this account of the afternoon: "Wo-
man holds secret that is of military
importance regarding ex-husband
John. Will reveal eventually. Cau-,
lion."
While Way said Barbara Walker
was "not a bitter woman at all,"
friends in Skowhegan said she had
little reason to feel kindly toward
her ex-husband.
After 19 years of living with her
husband in Norfolk on a comfortable
income, she had to struggle to make
ends meet after their divorce..She
had to rent an apartment for $35 a
week in a rundown building, they
said, before she could afford to
move to a nicer two-story house.
She found a job doing piecework
at a shoe factory and, according to
her sister-in-law .Pat Crowley,
would work an extra hour in the
morning and through her lunch
hour to add to her paycheck.
Way, who lives in an apartment
behind the house Barbara Walker
rented, said she came home in jeans
and a sweatshirt covered with soot
and glue, too tired to change
clothes. "She'd say, 'Johnny Walker,
did this to me,' "Way said.
Crowley remembered an occa.
sion when Barbara Walker "passed
out at work one time, she was so
tired. "We kept after her. I said,
'You're working yourself to death
and then where will your children
be? She'd say, 'Yeah, but I have to
pay the fuel bill.' " ; ;
Way said that while it appeared
.from talking to Barbara Walker that
her ex-husband "was cruel to her,"
patriotism was a ~ large part of the
reason why Barbara Walker wanted
to talk to the FBI.
She said Barbara Walker, who
always hung a flag outside on Me-
morial llay, once told her, "Johnny
Walker is a traitor to his country.
I'm really going to get him for this.
That's my country."
She said Barbara Walker decided
to go to authorities once she had
the facts, despite fear of reprisals
by her ex-husband. "She is a very
courageous woman."
Although Barbara Walker's oldest
daughter Margaret and son Michael
were close to their father and moved
back to Norfolk where he lived.
friends said her two middle daugh-
ters, Cynthia and Laura, seem to
share her ill opinion of their father.
They complained that he had "mis-
treated' their mother" and favored
Michael, Way said. "Michael got' all
the presents, the money and the
trips, and they got nothing." '
For his part, John Walker com-
plained that his two middle daugh-
ters "only called when they wanted
money," according to his business
partner, Laurie Robinson.
Michael Walker held a special
place in his- mother's affections,
Way said. Barbara Walker made a
trip to attend Michael Walkers
,- graduation from boot camp, accord-
~ing to Crowley: ?~??- -?- ~ ' ~- ~'
In a note on one of her tarot
~' ~ 'reading sessions with Barbara
Walker, Way wrote, "Michael, fa-
vorite."
Stajj writers John Mintz, Joe
Pichirallo and Molly Sinclair
contributed to this report.
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!ted electr ~,,_.~,e~ v~~ets.
"
'
t damaalOII ltl Lt1E~tar er
But it isn
sense that. for example. the theft of
some plans for some supersecret err
wren rAer added, "I'm not min- .
imizin? this. I'm saving it is a good
. ire t e.
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reason for the American public to
pressure the bureaucracy of the gov-
ernment to change the way we han-
dle national security information."
From the professional military
viewpoint, the investigation to date
points to John A. Walker Jr. as the
biggest risk because of access to "top
secret crpyto" information, service
on a nucleaz powered missile subma-
rine and work as a Navy radioman at
the Navq's Atlantic Fleet submarine
headquarters at Norfolk.
"Ev flows tht+on h that "
retired vice admiral o y
nn-an ormer ea a at~on-
ecunt en an eputy
rector o t e entry me .ence
A en , said o t e ea carters.
ou m to is c out a sensitive -
ty in t e sett at wo drank m
Analysts said that even if John
Walker provided the Soviets with
sensitive information about the Unit-
ed States submarine force as early as
the 1960s, the Soviets are unlikely
to change their submarine tactics in
a way that would reveal their knowl-
edge to the United States.
Compared with the information
John Walker had, the access en-
~, joyed by his older brother Arthur
originally. seemed to be minor. But
some officials recently have become
more concerned about the rick he
may h:,re posed. Arthvi; Walker.
who joined the Navy as a seaman in
1953, received submarine training
and seised oe a n~ber of to6ms-
rives in the 1950s and 1960x. He
specialised during his career in an-
tisubmarine warfare, and may have
told the Soviets about U.S. tactics,
Pee~tagoe aource4 said.
In the fate 1960s and early 29790.
Arthur Walker, then a lieutenant
one of the to 20 or so that would
be tt. a er served ~ frea~
to
opies of ~ radio messages be-
tween the headquarters and the
submarine fleet at sea, Inman said,
would bt eittremely valuable to the
Soviets because "there are no other
regular sources of submazine infor-
mation, no cwvataat flow. of iofoc-
oration about what thej- tb and lwp
they do it." - ` .
Inmm characterized John Walk=
er's service from 1965 to 196? as
senior chief radioman on the nude-
. azmissile submarine Simon Bolivaz
as his second most sensitive assign-
ment.
Wallcer received his "top secret
crypto" clearance, allowing access
to highly sensitive material, in 1965
and held. it until he retired from the
Navy in 1976 with the rank of chief
warrant officer. Federal court doc-
uments say the spy ring may have
been in operatioe as early ae 1966.
The oomnumications .Walker
might have seen, if presented~to the
Soviets, might appear to have no
vahie today. But suhen~rine apeGSlr-
ists said .they might be .damaging
because of what they ~ might reveal
about the general pattgrii and area
' of missile submarine operations.
Missile submarines must know in
advanoa the' features on the bottom
of the ocean so they .know exactly
where they are at every second of
their sbw patrol Otherwise, they
cold not achieve aeaaacT wilt they
missiles. Also, certain conditions are
needed for maximum stealth and re-
liable communications.
commander, pas an aistrnctor in an-
tisubmarine warfare tactics at' the
Atlantic Fleet Tactical Scholl.
Arthur Walker's work ai VSE
Corp? a ea e, a.,
contractor ere a wor
techni ues si stores call si
frequencies .... the rote i ence
a e, ere are no secrets more se-
cret, none you want to protect
more ose ea g v~nth com-
munications.
ilitary officials agree that the
least informed of the four alleged
spies is Michael Walker. Working in
the operations department of the
aircraft carrier Nimitz, he would
have known about the daily work-
ings of the carrier and nearby ships.
He had acceac to materials bound
for the "burn bag," a device used in
destroying documents, but he saw
nothing more sensitive than mate-
. rial awalahin aodar bit rdstisdy
~ lowly "secret" clearance.
Smfj writtrs Rutk Marcr~s and Molly
Sinclair contributed to this rtport
mau~iteasnce sc a uT~oi sFu ~s pas
almost env ante com pare to t
rote nce otenUa com ronus
rot er o m, say ormer
rector ~e urner.. ,-
" nary experts have varying
views about the potential damage
done by Whitworth, a 21-year Navy
veteran who was a communications
specialist assigned to duty in the
Pacifn Ocean. Ifis most sensittve
assignment was in 1982 and 1983,
when he was communications watch
officer aboard the USS Enterprise..
an aircraft carrier. '
J~ieg snit d bit career be held
sensitive jobs handling ooaamunica-
tions and codes. ,
Whitarorth had actesa to many
ma:wals on building and operating
co~tiona aar. Mibhry, o~
ficials fear that- Whitworth' might .
have given away both the content of
messages he read. as weH as the de-
tailed plans for the. maclsinery.
However, Whitworth's access to
the most sensitive material would
rase been lii7itOed. .
"A radioman is terribly helpful to
~ou ~sa a arver r. a
o~ C e u actor. i s
not the compromise o any sm e
message it's the compromise-~
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~_~A~ED 1 Vlrj!~ YORK '1'I~t~S
%?~; ^'^r A~_ ~1 July 185
U.S. Analysts Offer an Account
OfHotvAlleged Spy Ring Worked
Vienna Seen as Center for Espionage -Walker
Is Said to Have Received Soviet Military Rank
By PHILIP SHENON faction against aurvelllance by Amer. can," Mr. Cline mod,
so.a? eo rn. tv.. Yort r;,o. icon law~ntorcement agendas. The ot- ~r meetings tools place in the
WASHINGTON, Ju-y 8-Federal ot-
ficials and intelligence analysts say
that John A. Walker Jr. passed Navy
secrets to the K.G.B. in an elaborate
scheme that apparently involved espies
Wage training in Austria and the use of
Soviet couriers in Washingtm.
In their mast extensive ac:cotmt of
how they believe the espionage opera.
cion was carried sit, ottidal said that
Mr. Walker almost certainly dealt with
several agents of the K.G.B., theSoviet
intelligence agency, in what they say
was a year spytag career.
Intelligence analysts speculated that
Mr. Walker was awarded a high rank in
the Soviet armed forces, probably the
Soviet Navy, and received decoratlona
for his information. "He might very ,?? ~~ ?'^'^ ~~?~ ~ ~~++ ~
well have tried on his Soviet uniform," we d Wce, the source said. "But from
said Robert T. Crawl , a retired sen- what we do know about the K.G.B., it's
ear not that difilcult to come up with a rea-
ior otfi o t e antral Intelligencx amble understanding" of the opera-
p-S~Y? lion of the purported spy ring. That un-
Mr. walker has been indicted on es- derst~~g, ~ stressed, "is based, to
pionage charges but has pleaded not a large enfant, on well-informed specu-
guilty. latlon."
Frequent Tdps to Vieama ~Y training that Mr. Walker may
have received, frost likely in the use of
While details remains sketchy, the secret cameras and audio equipment,
authorities say the K.G.B. asked Mr. probably took place in Vienna where
tlon were left by Mr. walker am re-
trieved later. by Soviet agent:. they
said.
used the same sites to leave padu~iges~
of money for Mr. walker. The officials
walker terror his i~nform~tion ~wma~ma~de~
in the United States, another effort to
avoid detection.
Walker. a retired Navy warrant olfi- the Soviet Union has a large embassy If Mr. Walker had received large
ter, to make frequent trips to Vienna, and oontml numerous safe houses, ot- amounts of money overseas, he would
where he woulf pass along secret infor- have risked ce t
fldals said. officers when~turttin~g to~the~Uni~
nation collected from other members U.N. Agsaxy la Austria States, said Mr. Crowley, the former
of the purported Navy spy ring. The International Atomic Energy C.I.A. ottidai who recently wrote a
Vienna, they said, was also where Agency, a United Nations agency, is book on the K.G.B.
Mr. Walker probably received training based in Austria. According to inteW- "It might have been discovered with
in the techniques of espionage. For se- ?ena specialists, that has given the the money, a=rd it might have tripped a
curity reasoce, they said, there esp. ~ et Union as excuse for a flag," he said. "It makes more sense to
peered to have been few, if any, recent relatlvely large mrmber o K.G.B. Pay him in the United States." Law~n-
face-to-face m a~atts ._ ...~-- ---?-- -- ,.. ?--------
eetings in the United The Austrran~~;wernment ra is .... -
States between Mr. Walker sad Soviet otrgst to that mr. wauter received htmdreds of
agents. have relatively little surveillance of thousands of dollars from Soviet agents
Intelligence analysts said they be- foreign inteWgence agents, they said. but have so far been unable to trace
Andrew Daulton Lee, a California most of the money.
lieve chat a Soviet diplomat who was rasa who admitted is 1877 that he had Mr. Walker was arrested alter ltav-
named a co-conspirator in the alleged sold secret documents to Soviet agents ing a bag oontainiag more than 100 se-
spying operatlon was a relatively low- -abort Americas spy sateWtes, re- cret Navy documents at a site in rural
level K.G.B. agent who may never ~Ved espionage training in Vienna, of- Maryland, the F.B.I. has said.
have met Mr. Walker. Instead, they tidal said. Clues about the espionage operation
said, the diplomat had beat asaigrred to The F.B.I. has said that it knows of at were provided in a secret note report_
pickup documents that Mr. Walker Lett Icest eight meetings in Vienna betwesa wily writtat Ust year by Jerry A. Whit-
est secluded sites. ~~ agents and Mr. Walker since mirth, the Callfotaia man arrested !n
Mr. Wallter, his bt'other, son and a 1978 the case. According to the F.B.I., the
I m sure Vienna was the standard note said that American locations were
California man described as his closest debris site," said ?? ys" by the Soviet agents
friend have been arrested in what the mar d amity director a ~~? f In~ w~ they Passed mercy to Mr. Walk
authorities describe as the mast dam- teWgatce Agency- er.
aging spy case in 30 yeas. All have Because of ttreir seutrality, Mr. C The note also said- that Mr. Walker
serves in the Navy. All pleaded rat said, "Austria and Switzerland have along the secret information
guilty. bear the spy capital since the and of , "although U.S. locations are
The K.G.B. scheme, ottldals said, world War II." He added that Soviets sometimes," the bureau said.
was designed to offer mazimum pro- agents preferred Austria. "The Swiss nidal said they had little informa-
h
are pretty toug
oa iateWgarce otil- ., ~ ,.,,~
",w,~
~..,?i , j._J
ficials cautlaosd that mater, and per- Philippines and Italy. acoot+ding to
baps most details d the purported documents released by the F.B.I.
scheme wW never be known udeas Mr. Mr. Cline, now professor of tnteraa-
walker who l accused of tlonai relations at Georgetown Univer_
sPY fig. begins to ~oPei'atef ~tb law- sittyy, said those countries were ptvb-
ab1}- chosen because Soviet agents felt
enforcement authorities. that law-enforcement ageages there
What is known, officials said. has were relatively la; in thMr survell-
been determined largely from personal lance of for'ttigners. "It would be a
papers, travel receipts and telephone safer environment," be said.
records that were found is searches of Because of ttghter security by Amer-
Mr. Walker's home and office in Nor- ices law~ntoroemant agsodes, offl-
folk, Va., as well as statements made dais enY, it appeared that relatively
to investigators by his son, Michael L. f ~' H ~? boa~~O? msatit~t ba
Wallter and brother. Arthur J. walker. tw0?? ~~ agents sad Mr. Walker
'They said that Mr. walker's case yes~splace In the united states m recent
seems to follow what one iavestlgatlve ~~~ ~y said. ~ ~~ ~~
source described as a "common pat- used sites is suburban areas near
torn' n} cnari.- inr~lHs~....~ _..Y...~
A
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lion about a Sauter atptomat, Melmey
G. Tkactteuko, who was recalled to
Moscow after prosecutors named him
as a co~onapirator. The F.B.I. said its
agents had seen him in the vicinity of
the site is rural Maryland that Mr.
walker is charged with visiting on the
night of his arrest.
The F.B.I. has identified Mr. Tka-
chenko as a vice consul in the caaaWar
division of the Soviet Embassy is
Washington, a relatively low-ranking
diplomat.
Offldala said that he may have been
one of a number of K.G.B. agents in the
embassy who were per[odically as-
signed to pick up material leR by Mr.
Wallter at drop sites.
"over the Years. the case had be-
come rotttine."said David A. Philli ,
a former C.I.A. agent, ore
over the Years the yeomen got the job
of going to these drop sites."
Some intelligence analysts say they
believe that Mr. walker's chief soviet
contact is a senior K.G.B. of[icial work-
in Moscow.
. Crowley, who was the C.I.A.'s
assistawt deputy director for oepra-
tiaos, said he suspects Mr. Walker may
have !mown the official for several
Years, and perhaps even have been re-
cruited by him.
While moving up through the K.G.$.
hierarchy, the ofllcial probably turned
over the details of the case to other
agents, Mr. Crowley said. But he sug-
gestedthe official might have met with
Mr. Walker on occasion.
~.
He would still find time to fly in and
spend a few minutes with Walker," Mr.
Crowley said. "He would build Wall[-
er's morale, tell him how much the
work had meant to the Soviets."
They said that some spies who were
caught in the United States in recent
years had probably been given a uni-
form that he was allowed to wear at
meetings with Soviet agents. This, they
a ,would have pleased Mr.
W ,who has been described by a
former employee, !t. K. Puma, as a
self-deluded "James Bond."
"It's very possible that he is a com-
modore or an admiral by now," said
Mr. Phillips, the former C.I.A. agent.
"That might appeal to Walker, and an
astute Soviet agent would know it."
Mr. Walker retired from the United
States Navy in 1978 as a chief warrant
officer. "Most warrant officers wonder
why they didn't become at least a sec-
ond lieutenant," Mr. Phillips said.
"Here was a situation where the Sovi-
ets could make him not only a second
lieutenant but an admiral."
z
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