Islam Online- News Section

Retired U.S. Air Force Intelligence Analyst Charged With Spying

Regan offered to sell sensitive U.S. military secrets, including satellite photographs for $13 million.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 16 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - A U.S. federal grand jury Thursday indicted a retired Air Force intelligence analyst for espionage for allegedly offering to spy for Iraq, Libya and China.

Department of Justice officials said Brian P. Regan offered to sell sensitive U.S. military secrets, including satellite photographs and the location and orbits of U.S. spy satellites, to the three nations in return for $13 million.

Regan, who was charged earlier on four separate counts, was charged with attempted espionage. If convicted, the former U.S. Air Force staff sergeant could face the death penalty.

Prosecutors said Regan wrote personally to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and asked for $13 million in Swiss currency to provide information about U.S. satellites and other military secrets.
Justice Department officials said there was no evidence he actually sent the letters to Iraqi or Libyan leaders or that he actually provided any classified information to a foreign government.

Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson said Regan engaged in a "systematic and calculated plan to damage our country's national security."

"The indictment paints a picture of betrayal by a man who had been given our nation's trust," Thompson said. "Regan is charged with attempts to steal our intelligence agencies' most valuable secrets for the purpose of enriching himself."

Thompson said the new charges came because of an ongoing investigation of the Regan case by the FBI and federal prosecutors.
Prosecutors said he offered to send a sample of secrets for one million dollars, and offered additional information afterward for $3 million and $5 million payments.

"There are many people from movie stars to [athletes] in the U.S. who are receiving tens of millions of dollars a year for their trivial contributions,” Regan allegedly wrote, falsely describing himself as a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer near retirement. "If I am going to risk my life and the future of my family, I am going to get paid a fair price.”

According to the indictment, Regan also wrote: "I feel I deserve more than the pension I will receive for all the years of service . . .. The information I am offering will compromise U.S. intelligence systems worth hundreds of billions of dollars. Thirteen million is a small price to pay."

Thompson declined to say whether Regan turned over any secret or otherwise classified information to foreign governments. Thompson also declined to say whether Regan actually delivered the letter he is accused of writing to Saddam Hussein or a separate letter to Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi.

Jonathan Shapiro, one of Regan's attorneys, declined to comment on the specifics of the indictment, but he said, "We're defending the case vigorously."

But the indictment indicated that Regan in June flew to Berlin and possibly Munich before returning to Washington seven days later, and the trip was "not in connection with any official duties.”
Court records indicated that Regan carried debts of at least $53,000 earlier this year, and he told a federal judge in November that he could not afford to hire a lawyer.

It wasn't immediately clear how investigators found the letters that Regan allegedly wrote, though court records said computer files were recovered at his home in Bowie, Maryland, where he lived with his wife and four children, on the day of his arrest, Aug. 23.

U.S. officials have said Regan worked at the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) in Chantilly, Virgina, an intelligence agency that designs, builds and operates the nation's vast network of spy satellites. He worked at the NRO from July 1995 until his arrest - first in the Air Force, then as a defense contractor for TRW Inc. beginning in October 2000.

Prosecutors said that shortly after he returned from Germany in July, he began repeatedly logging into the government's classified “Intelink” computer network and searching for information - including satellite photos - of military facilities in Iraq, Iran, Libya and China, even though those countries were not related to his official duties at TRW.
From Aug. 6 to his arrest, officials said, he logged into the system every day, Monday through Thursday, when he was in the office.
But FBI spy-catchers, alerted by then to what they described as his suspicious behavior, were watching Regan on secret video cameras during some of the times he used Intelink, officials said.

Regan was arrested Aug. 23 at Dulles International Airport, while passing through security to board a flight to Zurich via Frankfurt. He was allegedly carrying the addresses for several Chinese and Iraqi embassies in Europe and the coordinates of an Iraqi surface-to-air missile launch facility and of a surface-to-surface missile facility in China, the grand jury said.

The former Air Force staff sergeant had been facing a March 4 trial on a single count of attempted espionage, but government officials said prosecutors returned to the grand jury after FBI investigators turned up new information.

The indictment accuses Regan, who spent 20 years in the Air Force before retiring in 2000 to work for TRW, of writing the letters sometime between 1999 and last year. He allegedly described himself as a "Middle East, North Africa analyst" for the CIA who was nearing retirement.

Yesterday's News

Search Articles

News Archive :
Day: Month: Year: