THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, May 25, 1995 TAG: 9505250470
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KERRY DeROCHI, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 59 lines
A Navy officer has been charged with spying for allegedly passing Defense Department secrets to officials in the Saudi Arabian military.
Lt. Cmdr. Michael Stephen Schwartz is accused of violating national security between November 1992 and September 1994 while assigned to a U.S. military training mission in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He faces four counts of espionage.
Schwartz, a surface warfare officer who served in the Persian Gulf War, was told of the charges Tuesday. He was not taken into custody and remains on temporary assignment at Norfolk Naval Base.
It is unclear what material was handed to the Saudis or what damage, if any, was done to U.S. interests.
Schwartz, 43, of El Paso, Texas, is accused of copying sensitive Defense Department documents knowing that ``the information was to be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of a foreign nation,'' according to court papers.
Schwartz also is charged with five counts of violating federal regulations for allegedly taking classified material home and storing the documents in a gym bag.
Saudi Arabia is a key ally of the United States in the Middle East, a region important to national interests because of its oil supplies and strategic location.
The charges stem from an investigation by agents of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service who learned of the possible violations in September 1994.
The case has been forwarded to Vice Adm. Richard C. Allen, commander of the Atlantic Fleet air forces. Allen was appointed to head a judicial inquiry into the matter.
Allen has asked that an Article 32 hearing, the military equivalent of a grand jury, be conducted to look into the charges.
He has appointed Cmdr. Kenneth Krantz, a judge at the Navy Legal Service Office, to evaluate the evidence and make a recommendation on whether Schwartz should be court-martialed.
Though Schwartz is formally charged with espionage, no decision has been made on whether the charges will proceed as a capital case carrying a possible death penalty.
Under federal law, espionage is defined as willful distribution of sensitive government documents for monetary gain, or the mishandling of information that helps another government.
It can carry a variety of punishments including death, life in prison or a specific term of incarceration.
No date has been set for the Article 32 hearing.
KEYWORDS: SPY SPYING U.S. NAVY SAUDI ARABIA ESPIONAGE ARREST by CNB