ACCUSED SPIES PORTRAYED AS INCOMPETENTS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000404280024-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 6, 2010
• Sequence Number: 24
• Publication Date: October 5, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/06: CIA-RDP90-00552R000404280024-9
ARTICLE ,PPE IED
OYP~~E- '
Accused spies
Portrayed as
Incompetents
By Jay Mathews
and Mary Thornton
Wa-htngton Po6LStaft Wrflera
Los Angeles. One FBI official who" 1 Paul, a Brigham Young University
SAN DIEGO, Calif., Oct. 4- asked not to be identified said Mill' ; undergraduate, Federal public de-
They seem to have been two am- er' was transferred from a job in the .''fender John-Moot told U.S. ? Mag-
ateurs out of their depth: a trou- semirural Riverside. County office: ` istrate Roger :Curtis McKee .that
bled, journeyman FBI agent mistak- because of incompetence. Miller planned to sell some assets
-enly given a new assignment.to ' Ageits in Los Angeles said they and hire a' private attorney". and
catch spies and a Soviet emigrant were aware of Miller's reputation' would plead not guilty. McKee or-
housewife in love with the idea-of for occasional lapses of judgment,',..] dered Miller held without bail.,
being a spy for anyone who would but still liked and respected him as About seven years ago, :Miller
take her. a pleasant man being paid more moved his family from Santa Ana in
One FBI official today called than $40,000 a year but struggling Orange County to a ranch in the
Richard W.,Miller, the first bureau with severe financial problems. northern San Diego County com-
agent ever charged with espionage, With 20 years of FBI service be- munity of Bonsall, where he and his
.an incompetent" with black marks hind him, the 47-year-old graduate father-in-law tried to turn' a profit
on his record for being overweight of Brigham Young University might on 1,000 avocado trees growing on
and, according to another source, baye,eased'lnto a quiet retirement a 10-acre tract. Jack Story, an as-
selling Amway products from the- -4 he;fad not encountered Ogorod sociate of Barlett Farm Manage-
trunk of his government car. nikova, , a -tiny, sharp-nosed blonde.. ment, which developed the grove
nd 'for Miller, said the idea proved
A Russian Orthodox priest today oho indicated to -acquaintances and-
portrayed the housewife, Svetlana -.even other FBI agents that she des- costly with prices hitting all-time
Ogorodnikova, the Soviet emigrant jperai:ely wanted to be'known'.as an lows.
who apparently lured Miller to his -snpprtant person to the. Soviet and Miller was continually looking for
downfall, as "aggressive, abrasive 'JUS. governments. ways to make or save money. The
and ... sleazy," so immersed in her She allegedly involved her. hus- Millers' five-bedroom house atop a
own fantasies that she threatened band Nikolay Ogorodnikov in her small knoll appears worn and ill-
"to bring the.FBI over" when her ? efforts; and both' have been charged kept, neighbors said.
son was expelled from a church along with Miller in a conspiracy to Miller's acquaintances said he
school because of his mother's rgive secrets to the Soviet Union. had hoped to be transferred even-
openly pro-Soviet activities. But it :was Ogorodnikova, living tually from the Los Angeles Field
Of the many mysteries attached ,on-welfare and her husband's meat- Office to the FBI office in San Diego
to the strange story of Miller and . pagking_checks?_who was always so he could end his routine of
Ogorodnikova, perhaps the most pushing. -telling'the FBI in 1982.of - spending nights at a small Los An-
haunting is why the FBI allowed her.. exploits: in' stopping 'a Soviet geles suburban house in Lynwood
them to get together and then did shipboard mutiny, wining and dining during the week,
not realize immediately what they Soviet diplomats in West Holly.. Although neighbors of Ogorod-
were about. wood, and telling Miller she was "a nikova said she and her husband
The crucial flaw, in the view of major in the KGB." ' . continued to live together until
many people who knew them, was . One resident of- Los ' Angeles' their arrest-and FBI agents saw
that Miller and Ogorodnikova never large Russian emigre community, a th em take frequent long walks in
seemed a real threat to anyone. So radio broadcaster who asked not. to -' the, :neighborhood-Los Angeles
it took more than two weeks--dur- be' identified, said Ogorodnikova court records say they legally sep-
ing which a secret U.S. counterin- and her 51-year-old husband made arated in September 1982.
telligence manual of uncertain value such a poor impression that no'one ; Ogorodnikov, who took his wife's
fell into Soviet hands-before the ? . could believe they were serious last'name instead of his own, Wolf-
FBI realized the two people so well. spies. son,,in an apparent attempt to ob-
known to the bureau had, pulled off "They were 'completely unedu-
an espionage coup right beneath its sated;" he said. "They did not even
nose. speak very good Russian."
. his wife, Paula; and 19-year-old son
scure his Jewish ancestry, reported
an income of '$2,000 a month- as a
- ',meatpacker at Hoffman Bros. -Pack
Continued
WASHINGTON POST
5 October 1984
=In thev.ake' of Miller's arrest
Tuesday, `-attorneys, friends and
other agents disclosed today that he
was .severely burdened with finan-
cial` problems because of a failing
avocado farm and responsibility for
eight children.
One agent who knew Miller ex-
pressed chagrin in "hindsight that
for the` last three years Miller was
assigned to difficult counterespio-
At her 0
les Wedn ay, goro m ova ap-
peared in a red-and-black warmup
jacket, torn khaki slacks and san-
dals. Her husband, arraigned sep-
arately, wore a blue sweatshirt and
jeans, brown loafers and a black
baseball cap: Each was ordered held
without bail..
At his arraignment today in San
Diego, Miller winked and'smiled 'at
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/06: CIA-RDP90-00552R000404280024-9