DATE=11/30/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=ACCUSED NAVY SPY (S UPDATE & L)
NUMBER=2-256650
BYLINE=JIM RANDLE
DATELINE=WASHINGTON
INTERNET=YES
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:


INTRO: A U-S Navy sailor is in custody, accused of 
passing secrets to Russia.  V-O-A's Jim Randle reports 
that the alleged agent is an expert in what American 
spy submarines were learning about Russian military 
activities.

TEXT: Navy spokesman Greg Smith says Petty Officer 
First Class Daniel King has been in the navy 18 years 
and was working with information gathered by American 
submarines lurking off the Russian coast when he 
allegedly sent secrets to the Russian Embassy in 
Washington in 1994.

Mr. King was assigned to the Navy's intelligence 
operation in nearby Fort Meade, Maryland at the time.  
Fort Meade is the highly secret facility where 
information from the U-S Government's massive,  
global, electronic  eavesdropping operation is decoded 
and analyzed.

Mr. King allegedly passed raw data to the Russians on 
one occasion, making them aware of weaknesses in their 
efforts to protect military secrets.   He will face a 
military hearing in the next few weeks to determine if 
there is enough evidence to charge him with a crime.  

            /// REST OPT FOR LONG ///

If he is convicted of espionage, he could be executed, 
although other recently convicted spies have been 
given lengthy prison terms rather than the death 
penalty.

Navy officials say Petty Officer King's alleged 
disclosure was serious, but not as damaging as earlier 
betrayals by Navy Warrant Office John Walker, who sold 
Russia critical Navy secrets and codes, or of Jonathan 
Pollard who handed suitcases full of U-S secrets to 
Israel.  

A Navy official says Petty Officer King was promoted 
several times in his first seven years of service, but 
has been stuck at his current rank for eleven years.  
The official says Mr. King's alleged crime may have 
been motivated by the perceived injustice of his 
stalled career. 

Officials say the charges were filed after Mr. King  
apparently failed a lie-detector test he underwent as 
part of the routine process to renew his  clearance to 
work with highly secret materials. He is currently 
being held at a Marine base near Washington. (Signed)

NEB/jr/gm  



30-Nov-1999 00:11 AM EDT (30-Nov-1999 0511 UTC)
NNNN

Source: Voice of America
.