He died on Thursday, but no immediate cause was given. John Walker was sentenced in 1986 to life in prison, but under sentencing laws at that time would have been due for release in May, federal prisons spokesman Chris Burke was quoted by Reuters as saying. Whitworth, now 75, remains at the Federal Penitentiary in Atwater, Calif. His son served 15 years and was released in 2000 his brother Arthur was incarcerated at the same prison as John Walker in Butner, N.C., and died there in July at age 79. later agreed to a plea deal, cooperating with federal authorities and testifying against Whitworth in exchange for securing a lighter, 25-year sentence for his son, Michael.' 19471991) between the Western allies (primarily the US and Western. The Los Angeles Times says the spying ring was uncovered 'after ex-wife, Barbara Crowley Walker, alerted the FBI in the midst of a custody battle between her daughter, Laura Walker Snyder, and her son-in-law, Mark Snyder.' Cold War espionage describes the intelligence gathering activities during the Cold War ( c. Some naval historians believe that in 1968, Soviet intelligence arranged for the North Koreans to seize the USS Pueblo specifically to obtain navy cipher machines needed to make use of the windfall from Walker's spying.Įstimates of what the Soviets paid Walker for his information have ranged from several hundred thousand dollars to about $1 million. And this is where the mystery I've been wondering about comes in. The transmissions are, to my cryptographic ear at least, both profoundly dull and yet also eerily riveting. Navy communications.Īt the time of his arrest in 1985, then-Defense Secretary Casper Weinberger said Walker's efforts had allowed the Soviets 'access to weapons and sensor data and naval tactics, terrorist threats, and surface, submarine, and airborne training, readiness tactics.' In this recording, the first of the three messages (64202) starts at 3:00, the second (65852) at 16:00, and the third (86321) at 29:00, with the 'Final' signoff at the end. The Soviets used the keys to decipher secret U.S. In 1967, at the height of the Cold War, Walker approached the Soviet embassy in Washington, D.C., offering to hand over keys to coded material on a regular basis. The German officers provided an Enigma machine to the network and made it an official German radio post, thus it received official transmissions from Germany. Which was set up by two German military officers and a Swiss national.

'Authorities said he also masterminded a family of spies, recruiting his brother Arthur, his son Michael and - all of whom had security clearances - to help him gain access to top-secret information after he retired from the Navy.' The Lucy Spy Ring Here are the salient points: The Lucy Network shared was an anti-Nazi Information Network. He provided secrets to the Soviets for more than 17 years and compromised at least 1 million classified messages, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. 'Walker began his Cold War-era espionage scheme while working as a Navy warrant officer and communications specialist.

Soviet spy network