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1985: The Year of the Spy
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1985: The Year of the Spy
The American media[who?] referred to 1985 as the Year of the Spy because law enforcement arrested many foreign spies operating on American soil. However, the preceding year, 1984, actually had more arrests for espionage in the United States.
The eight major agents who became infamous in 1985 for espionage against the United States were John Anthony Walker, Richard Kelly Smyth, Sharon Scranage, Larry Wu-Tai Chin, Jonathan Pollard, Ronald Pelton, Randy Miles Jeffries, and Edward Lee Howard.
All were charged with spying for Communist nations with the exception of Jonathan Pollard and Sharon Scarange. Their arrests in 1985 heightened tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union at a crucial point in the Cold War; Mikhail Gorbachev rose to power as Soviet general secretary in the same year.
These high-publicity cases added to the American public's suspicion of the Soviets at a time when the Soviet Union was transitioning into new leadership and reforms under Gorbachev. Even Gorbachev's meeting with President Ronald Reagan at the November Geneva Summit did little to reduce uncertainty as to the future of U.S.–Soviet relations.
The arrest of so many foreign spies working within the United States Intelligence Community sparked two demands among the American public: more internal government security and protection against infiltration, and more and better public access to government information.
As a result, journalists and researchers who had been demanding and obtaining government information sought to store it in one central location and in 1985 created the National Security Archive at the Brookings Institution annex at 1755 Massachusetts Ave., NW. Suite 500 in Washington, D.C.
John Anthony Walker was born on July 28, 1937, in Scranton, Pennsylvania, to Margaret Scaramuzzo and James Vincent Walker. James drank heavily and frequently beat Margaret and their children.
As a child, Walker was a rebellious practical joker. At his Catholic high school, he performed poorly academically and did not participate in sports. When he was 17, he was arrested for robbing a gas station, and he admitted to six other burglaries. In court his older brother, a U.S. Navy petty officer, urged the judge to give him probation so that he might enlist in the Navy and gain discipline.
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1985: The Year of the Spy
The American media[who?] referred to 1985 as the Year of the Spy because law enforcement arrested many foreign spies operating on American soil. However, the preceding year, 1984, actually had more arrests for espionage in the United States.
The eight major agents who became infamous in 1985 for espionage against the United States were John Anthony Walker, Richard Kelly Smyth, Sharon Scranage, Larry Wu-Tai Chin, Jonathan Pollard, Ronald Pelton, Randy Miles Jeffries, and Edward Lee Howard.
All were charged with spying for Communist nations with the exception of Jonathan Pollard and Sharon Scarange. Their arrests in 1985 heightened tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union at a crucial point in the Cold War; Mikhail Gorbachev rose to power as Soviet general secretary in the same year.
These high-publicity cases added to the American public's suspicion of the Soviets at a time when the Soviet Union was transitioning into new leadership and reforms under Gorbachev. Even Gorbachev's meeting with President Ronald Reagan at the November Geneva Summit did little to reduce uncertainty as to the future of U.S.–Soviet relations.
The arrest of so many foreign spies working within the United States Intelligence Community sparked two demands among the American public: more internal government security and protection against infiltration, and more and better public access to government information.
As a result, journalists and researchers who had been demanding and obtaining government information sought to store it in one central location and in 1985 created the National Security Archive at the Brookings Institution annex at 1755 Massachusetts Ave., NW. Suite 500 in Washington, D.C.
John Anthony Walker was born on July 28, 1937, in Scranton, Pennsylvania, to Margaret Scaramuzzo and James Vincent Walker. James drank heavily and frequently beat Margaret and their children.
As a child, Walker was a rebellious practical joker. At his Catholic high school, he performed poorly academically and did not participate in sports. When he was 17, he was arrested for robbing a gas station, and he admitted to six other burglaries. In court his older brother, a U.S. Navy petty officer, urged the judge to give him probation so that he might enlist in the Navy and gain discipline.