David Henry Barnett: Difference between revisions
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From the 1960s until 1970, Barnett was employed by the CIA, working in both the United States and Asia (he was stationed in Indonesia from 1967 until 1970 and before that in South Korea). He then entered private business. But within six years, he had amassed debts of over $100,000 and faced imminent financial ruin. To rectify his problems, Barnett chose to sell classified information to the Soviets. In 1976, he approached [[KGB]] officers in [[Jakarta]], [[Indonesia]] and offered to sell them the names of CIA assets. |
From the 1960s until 1970, Barnett was employed by the CIA, working in both the United States and Asia (he was stationed in Indonesia from 1967 until 1970 and before that in South Korea). He then entered private business. But within six years, he had amassed debts of over $100,000 and faced imminent financial ruin. To rectify his problems, Barnett chose to sell classified information to the Soviets. In 1976, he approached [[KGB]] officers in [[Jakarta]], [[Indonesia]] and offered to sell them the names of CIA assets. |
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Over the next three years in meetings held in the [[Embassy of the Soviet Union in Vienna]], Barnett revealed to the [[KGB]] the identities of some 30 CIA officers. Additionally, he handed over a great deal of classified information gathered by the CIA on a clandestine operation, code-named HA/BRINK, that had focused on the acquisition of examples of Soviet military hardware sold to the Indonesians during the [[Sukarno]] era, including an [[S-75 Dvina|SA-2]] guidance system, designs for the [[Whiskey class submarine]], the [[Riga class frigate]], the [[Sverdlov class cruiser]], the [[P-15 Termit]] anti-ship missile and the [[Tu-16 Badger]] bomber. He also revealed a lot about CIA operations and informants in Indonesia and South Korea. The Soviets paid him a total of $92,000 for information received between 1976 and |
Over the next three years in meetings held in the [[Embassy of the Soviet Union in Vienna]], Barnett revealed to the [[KGB]] the identities of some 30 CIA officers. Additionally, he handed over a great deal of classified information gathered by the CIA on a clandestine operation, code-named HA/BRINK, that had focused on the acquisition of examples of Soviet military hardware sold to the Indonesians during the [[Sukarno]] era, including an [[S-75 Dvina|SA-2]] guidance system, designs for the [[Whiskey class submarine]], the [[Riga class frigate]], the [[Sverdlov class cruiser]], the [[P-15 Termit]] anti-ship missile and the [[Tu-16 Badger]] bomber. He also revealed a lot about CIA operations and informants in Indonesia and South Korea. The Soviets paid him a total of $92,000 for information received between 1976 and 1980. |
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On instructions from his [[KGB]] [[Agent handling|handlers]], which included [[Oleg Kalugin]],<ref>The First Directorate: My 32 Years in Intelligence and Espionage Against the West by Oleg Kalugin t (New York: Basic Books, 2009), 466 pp., index.</ref> Barnett applied for staff positions on the [[United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence|Senate]] and [[United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence|House]] intelligence committees and the [[President's Intelligence Advisory Board]] but was unsuccessful in finding a job. In January 1979, however, he was rehired by the CIA as a contract agent and if undetected, he could have gone on to betray further CIA secrets.<ref>http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,924498-1,00.html</ref> |
On instructions from his [[KGB]] [[Agent handling|handlers]], which included [[Oleg Kalugin]],<ref>The First Directorate: My 32 Years in Intelligence and Espionage Against the West by Oleg Kalugin t (New York: Basic Books, 2009), 466 pp., index.</ref> Barnett applied for staff positions on the [[United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence|Senate]] and [[United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence|House]] intelligence committees and the [[President's Intelligence Advisory Board]] but was unsuccessful in finding a job. In January 1979, however, he was rehired by the CIA as a contract agent and if undetected, he could have gone on to betray further CIA secrets.<ref>http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,924498-1,00.html</ref> |
Revision as of 00:10, 9 July 2012
David Henry Barnett (1933–1993), was a CIA officer who was convicted of espionage for the Soviet Union in 1980, becoming only the second CIA officer to such a fate after Edwin Moore II, a retired CIA employee who was arrested by the FBI in 1976 after attempting to sell classified documents to Soviet officials.[1]
From the 1960s until 1970, Barnett was employed by the CIA, working in both the United States and Asia (he was stationed in Indonesia from 1967 until 1970 and before that in South Korea). He then entered private business. But within six years, he had amassed debts of over $100,000 and faced imminent financial ruin. To rectify his problems, Barnett chose to sell classified information to the Soviets. In 1976, he approached KGB officers in Jakarta, Indonesia and offered to sell them the names of CIA assets.
Over the next three years in meetings held in the Embassy of the Soviet Union in Vienna, Barnett revealed to the KGB the identities of some 30 CIA officers. Additionally, he handed over a great deal of classified information gathered by the CIA on a clandestine operation, code-named HA/BRINK, that had focused on the acquisition of examples of Soviet military hardware sold to the Indonesians during the Sukarno era, including an SA-2 guidance system, designs for the Whiskey class submarine, the Riga class frigate, the Sverdlov class cruiser, the P-15 Termit anti-ship missile and the Tu-16 Badger bomber. He also revealed a lot about CIA operations and informants in Indonesia and South Korea. The Soviets paid him a total of $92,000 for information received between 1976 and 1980.
On instructions from his KGB handlers, which included Oleg Kalugin,[2] Barnett applied for staff positions on the Senate and House intelligence committees and the President's Intelligence Advisory Board but was unsuccessful in finding a job. In January 1979, however, he was rehired by the CIA as a contract agent and if undetected, he could have gone on to betray further CIA secrets.[3]
Later in the year however, Barnett was identified as a spy thanks to information given by a KGB officer stationed in Jakarta, Col. Vladimir M. Piguzov, who had been recruited as double agent by the CIA. Ironically, Piguzov himself was betrayed by Aldrich Ames in 1985 and subsequently executed.[4] Barnett was questioned by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and resigned from his CIA job. In October 1980 Barnett pleaded guilty to espionage charges, admitting that he had sold CIA secrets to the Soviets. He was sentenced to 18 years’ imprisonment and was paroled in 1990. He died on November 19, 1993.
Notes
- ^ http://www.dhra.mil/perserec/espionagecases/1975-80.htm
- ^ The First Directorate: My 32 Years in Intelligence and Espionage Against the West by Oleg Kalugin t (New York: Basic Books, 2009), 466 pp., index.
- ^ http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,924498-1,00.html
- ^ Earley, Pete. Confessions of a Spy: The Real Story of Aldrich Ames