MORISON GIVEN 2 YEARS FOR LEAKING SPY PHOTOS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000403710029-9
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 9, 2012
• Sequence Number: 29
• Publication Date: December 5, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/09: CIA-RDP90-00965R000403710029-9
.1
5 December 1985
Morison Given 2 Years
For Leaking Spy Photos
Prison a Necessary Deterrent, Judge Says
6 BY George Lardner Jr.
w. on F" s?r
BALTIMORE, Dec, 4-A federal
judge sentenced former Navy intel-
ligence analyst Samuel Loring Mor-
ison today to two years in prison for
leaking secret U.S. spy satellite
photographs to a British magazine.
U.S. District Judge Joseph H.
Young, disregarding Morison's at-
torneys' contention that their client
has been unfairly categorized as a
spy along with a number of others
recently arrested for espionage,
said he felt a prison sentence was
necessary as a deterrent.
"You knew, Mr. Morison, what
[information] was protected and
what was not," the judge said. "I'm
satisfied that you've been punished
by what has happened to you." But,
the judge added, "deterrence is not
to you, but to others."
The first person ever convicted
of leaking classified government in-
formation to the press, Morison,
who worked at the Naval Intelli-
gence Support Center in Suitland,
was released on $100,000 bond
pending appeal. His attorneys had
pleaded for probation, saying they
feared for his safety "in a prison set-
ting."
Suppressing a nervous stutter
that sometimes afflicts him, Mor-
ison, the 41-year-old grandson of
the late famed naval historian Sam-
uel Eliot Morison, haltingly ac-
knowledged to the court that he had
made a mistake in sending three
KH-11 satellite photos, an classified
secret, to Jane's Defence Weekly
last year.
For that, Morison said, "I apolo-
gize to the court and I apologize to
the country .... I knew I was
breaking the rules. I thought at the
time I had a good reason for it." But
he said he did not think that what he
was doing was criminal.
"I'm not that type of person," he
told the judge. "I'd just as soon stay
home and write books."
At several points today the judge
indicated that he thought the fed-
eral government classifies too much
information. But in Morison's case,
he said, he was struck by Morison's
initial denial of the leaks, Morison's
suggestions that co-workers might
"You knew, Mr.
Morison, what
[information] was
protected and what
was not."
- Judge Joseph H. Young
be responsible, and finally his crop-
ping of the "secret" markings from
the photos he sent to Jane's.
"He knew it was wrong to send
them," Young concluded before
handing down two-year sentences
on each of the four counts, all to run
concurrently. "It was wrong and he
did not want to get caught."
Government prosecutors argued
that Morison deserved still more
prison time in light of what they
called his "arrogance" and unre-
penting attitude. The chief prose-
cutor, Assistant U.S. Attorney Mi-
chael Schatzow, was especially crit-
ical of defense invocations of Mor-
ison's grandfather as "the dominant
influence in his life" and of Mori-
son's claims of having had patriotic
motives for doing what he did.
Samuel Eliot Morison "would be
spinning in his grave" if he knew
what his grandson had done, Schat-
zow declared in recommending a
four-year prison term and a
$10,000 fine. What Samuel Loring
Morison did, the prosecutor said,
"was venal. It was petty. It was ar-
rogant. And it was criminal."
Morison could have been sen-
teneed to 10 years in prison and
fined $10,000 on each of four
counts. He was found guilty Oct. 17
of espionage and theft for sending
the three photos to Jane's. He was
also convicted of separate espio-
nage and theft charges for taking
portions of two other Navy docu-
ments, both classified secret, and
keeping them in an envelope at his
Crofton apartment.
Morison's attorneys argued that
their client, a hawkish advocate of
bigger defense budgets and a strong
supporter of President Reagan, sent
Jane's the photos of the first Soviet
nuclear aircraft carrier under con-
struction at a Black Sea shipyard,
"primarily because he was interested
in publicizing the Soviet threat."
"He felt that the ship represented
a serious threat to the security of
the United States and that if the
American people recognized this
threat, they would be more willing
to support the president's plans for
strengthening the U.S. Navy," the
attorneys, Robert F. Muse and
Mark H. Lynch of Washington, said
in a presentence report.
The defense also argued that the
photographs, though classified se-
cret, did not give the Soviets any in-
formation they did not already have.
They said Morison sent the pho-
tos to Jane's, a British publishing
house for which he had moonlighted
for years as a yearbook editor, rath-
er than to a U.S. publication be-
cause "the people at Jane's were the
only journalists he knew. As events
developed, Jane's distributed the
photographs widely and they ap-
peared in major newspapers news
programs in this country .... Mr.
Morison never believed that disclo-
sure of the satellite photos would
harm the United States or give aid
to any foreign country."
Morison's prosecution, sparked
particular controversy because un-
der the government's theory of the
case, any leaker, and any unautho-
rized recipient, of classified infor-
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/09: CIA-RDP90-00965R000403710029-9
 Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/09: CIA-RDP90-00965R000403710029-9
SAMUEL LORING MORISON
mation could be convicted of a
crime, "no matter how laudable" the
motives for the leak.
Young said this morning that he
did not regard the Morison prosecu.
tion "as a First Amendment case."
And Schatzow emphasized to report-
ers that none of the publications that
printed the KH-11 photos, including
The Washington Post and CBS, was
indicted. But Justice Department of-
ficials also have made clear that nei-
ther government officials who leak
such information nor receiving pub-
lications should consider themselves
exempt from prosecution.
"Decisions will be made on a
case-by-case basis," Schatzow said.
In seeking probation, Lynch and
Muse proposed that Morison, who
has an epileptic condition, be re-
quired to work as a volunteer at a
Veterans Administration hospital.
In prison, they said, "individuals
convicted of 'espionage' are sub-
jected to unusually hard and mer-
ciless treatment from other inmates
. As counsel, we have grave
doubts about Mr. Morison's ability
to function-or indeed survive-in
a prison setting."
K
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/09: CIA-RDP90-00965R000403710029-9