Retired Air Force man indicted, accused of offering to spy for Iraq

Friday, February 15th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

WASHINGTON (AP) _ A retired Air Force sergeant with thousands of dollars in debts sought $13 million from Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in exchange for sensitive U.S. military secrets, and also offered to spy for Libya and China, the government says.

Bitter over ``the small pension I will receive for all of the years of service,'' Brian Patrick Regan allegedly wrote to Saddam that the payment demand was a ``small price to pay,'' the government said Thursday as it lodged new criminal charges in the government's latest espionage case.

Regan, 39, could face the death penalty. A grand jury in Alexandria, Va., indicted him Thursday on three counts of attempted espionage and one of gathering national defense information. He was previously indicted in October on a single espionage charge, although it did not specify whom authorities suspected him of spying for.

Regan previously pleaded innocent to the charge in federal court, and he was scheduled to be arraigned Friday on the latest charges.

Deputy U.S. Attorney General Larry 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.

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.''

Prosecutors said Regan wrote personally to Saddam sometime between 1999 and 2001 and asked for $13 million in Swiss currency to provide information about U.S. satellites and other military secrets. Prosecutors said he offered to send a sample of secrets for $1 million, 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 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.''

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.

Regan allegedly described the demand to Iraq for $13 million as ``a small price to pay to have someone within the heart of (a) U.S. intelligence agency providing you with vital secrets.'' The letter said the information being offered was worth ``billions'' and ``worth many times what I am requesting.''

Thursday's indictment also accused Regan of writing a nearly identical letter to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi between August 2000 and August 2001, but it apparently did not include demands for payment. That letter offered Gadhafi ``top secret'' information about satellites, early warning systems and overall U.S. defense strategies, prosecutors said.

It wasn't immediately clear how investigators found the letters that Regan allegedly wrote, though court records said computer files were recovered when he was arrested Aug. 23 at his home in Bowie, Md., where he lived with his wife and children.

U.S. officials have said Regan worked at the National Reconnaissance Office in Chantilly, Va., a U.S. 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.

Wary of falling into an FBI counterespionage trap, prosecutors said, Regan also demanded that Iraq subtly alter its official Web site on computers run by the United Nations _ and place an ad in The Washington Post for a 1996 Acura sports car _ as proof that Iraqi officials were cooperating.

That is similar to the case involving Robert Hanssen, the FBI agent arrested last February and convicted of spying for the Russians over a period of decades. Court records said Hanssen instructed the Russians to place an ad in The Washington Times in July 1986 for a 1971 Dodge Diplomat as a signal he was ready to exchange secrets.