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Samuel Loring Morison

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Samuel Loring Morison
Born(1944-10-30)October 30, 1944
London, England
Died(2018-01-14)January 14, 2018
Burial placeArlington National Cemetery
NationalityAmerican
Education
Criminal penaltyTwo years
Criminal statusPardoned
Espionage activity
AgencyNaval Intelligence Support Center
Service years
  • 1974 – 1984

Samuel Loring Morison ((1944-10-30)October 30, 1944 – (2018-01-14)January 14, 2018) was a former American intelligence professional who was convicted of espionage and theft of government property in 1985 and pardoned in 2001. He was "the only [American] government official ever convicted for giving classified information to the press."[1]

Early life

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Morison was born in London, England, where his father was stationed during World War II. His paternal grandfather, Samuel Eliot Morison, was a distinguished naval historian, a Rear Admiral in the Naval Reserve and Harvard University professor.[2] Morison spent much of his younger years in New York and Maine. He attended Tabor Academy, a college preparatory school in Massachusetts, and graduated from the University of Louisville in 1967.

Career

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KH-11 image of the construction of a Kiev-class aircraft carrier, left, then known as the Kharkiv, along with an amphibious landing ship, as published by Jane's in 1984.
One of two KH-11 photos taken leaked to Jane's Defence Weekly. It shows the construction of a Kiev-class aircraft carrier.

Morison worked as an intelligence analyst at the Naval Intelligence Support Center (NISC) in Suitland, Maryland, from 1974 to 1984, specializing in Soviet amphibious and mine-laying vessels. During those years, Morison also earned $5,000 per year as a part-time contributor and editor of the American section of the London-based Jane's Fighting Ships, an annual reference work on the world's navies.

Conflicts with his supervisors led Morison to seek a full-time position with Jane's in London. At this time, he began overstepping the boundary of permissible information that could be sent to Jane's. As a GS-12 Soviet amphibious ship analyst with a Top Secret clearance, Morison provided Jane's with three secret satellite photographs that he had taken from the desk of a coworker at NISC in July 1984. Morison cut classified control markings from them before mailing them to Jane's.

In 1984, two images of Soviet aircraft taken by a KH-8 or KH-9 satellite were inadvertently published in records of Congressional hearings. That same year, Jane's Defence Weekly was provided with several images taken by a KH-11 satellite of a Soviet naval shipbuilding facility. A 1984 computer-enhanced KH-11 photo, taken at an oblique angle, was leaked, along with two others, to Jane's Defence Weekly. The image shows the general layout of the Nikolaiev 444 shipyard on the Black Sea. Under construction is the Kiev-class aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov, originally named Kharkov and later Baku, along with an amphibious landing ship.

According to the US Government prosecutors, Morison also provided Jane's with a copy of a classified report on the damage to the Soviet navy base in Severomorsk that resulted from a 1984 explosion.[3]

Prosecution and pardon

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A joint investigation by the Naval Investigative Service and the FBI led to Morison, who was arrested on October 1, 1984.[2] A search of his apartment in Crofton, Maryland, revealed several hundred government documents, some of them classified. Investigators never demonstrated any intent to provide information to a hostile intelligence service. Morison was charged with espionage and theft of government property. Morison told investigators that he sent the photographs to Jane's because the "public should be aware of what was going on on the other side", meaning that the new nuclear-powered aircraft carrier would transform Soviet capabilities. He said that "if the American people knew what the Soviets were doing, they would increase the defense budget." British intelligence sources thought his motives were patriotic. Prosecutors emphasized personal economic gain and Morison's complaints about his government job. Morison once wrote to his editor at Jane's: "My loyalty to Jane's is above question."[4]

On October 17, 1985, Morison was convicted in Federal Court on two counts of espionage and two counts of theft of government property.[5] He was sentenced to two years in prison on December 4, 1985.[6] The Supreme Court declined to hear his appeal in 1988.[7]

Following Morison's conviction, the Reagan administration continued its campaign against leaks. In April 1986, an Assistant Under Secretary of Defense was fired for sharing classified information with reporters. In May, CIA Director William Casey threatened to prosecute five news organizations–the Washington Post, the Washington Times, the New York Times, Time and Newsweek–and succeeded in delaying the publication of a Washington Post story.[8]

As a result of the Morison case, policy guidelines for adjudicating security clearances were changed to include consideration of outside activities that present potential conflict of interest.[9]

In 1998, Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan asked for appeal on the grounds of "the erratic application of that law and the anomaly of this singular conviction in eighty-one years". He cited examples of serious espionage cases exposed by the Venona project that were not pursued, specifically mentioning Theodore Hall, and other cases that had been dismissed, including those of Daniel Ellsberg and Anthony Russo.[10]

President Clinton pardoned Morison on January 20, 2001, the last day of his presidency,[1] despite the CIA's opposition to the pardon.[7]

Post-pardon activity

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In June 2014, Morison was arrested and charged with stealing government property from the Naval History and Heritage Command (the Navy's archives) in Washington, D.C.[11] The records were related to his grandfather, Rear Admiral Samuel Eliot Morison. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to two years of probation on condition that he assist in returning the documents, which he stored in his home in Crofton, Maryland.[12]

Morison died in 2018.[13]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ a b Lewis, Anthony (3 March 2001). "Abroad at Home; The Pardons in Perspective". Opinion. The New York Times. eISSN 1553-8095. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 21 March 2012. Retrieved 26 September 2021. An act of particular courage was the pardon of Samuel Loring Morison, the only government official ever convicted for giving classified information to the press. Because he was concerned about growth of the Soviet Navy, he sent a satellite photograph of a new Soviet ship under construction to a defense magazine. It was a sickening case of prosecutorial abuse. President Clinton issued the pardon despite knee-jerk opposition from the C.I.A., which couldn't find a real spy, Aldrich Ames, in its own ranks.
  2. ^ a b Engelberg, Stephen (3 October 1984). "SPY PHOTOS' SALE LEADS TO ARREST". The New York Times (Late City Final ed.). p. 8. eISSN 1553-8095. ISSN 0362-4331. OCLC 1645522. Archived from the original on 16 May 2013. Retrieved 27 September 2021. The Federal Bureau of Investigation said today that it had arrested a United States naval analyst and charged him with selling classified satellite photographs of a Soviet ship to a British weekly defense publication. A spokesman for the F.B.I. said Samuel Loring Morison, a civilian analyst at the Naval Intelligence Support Center in Suitland, Md., was arrested Monday evening at Dulles International Airport.
  3. ^ UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. SAMUEL LORING MORISON, 604 F. Supp. 655 (United States District Court for the District of Maryland 1985-03-12) ("Morison is also charged with two other counts arising out of a separate incident. During the spring of 1984 there was an explosion at Severomorsk, a Soviet naval base in the Kola Peninsula. Subsequently, analysts at the Naval Intelligence Support Center ("NISC"), where Morison was employed, did a report, based on classified information, concerning the nature and extent of the damage to the base. That analysis was reported in one of NISC's "Weekly Wires." When Morison's residence was searched, pursuant to a warrant following his arrest, xeroxed pages containing that analysis were found in an envelope marked "Derek Wood." Derek Wood was later found to be one of Morison's contacts at Jane's. When the typewriter ribbon from Morison's office was analyzed it was discovered that Morison had typed a letter to Derek Wood summarizing the contents of that analysis. Count III charges Morison with unauthorized possession of classified documents, wilfully retaining them and failing to deliver them to the officer or employee of the United States entitled to receive them, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 793(e). Count IV charges Morison with theft and disposal or conversion of government property, namely those "Weekly Wires" containing the intelligence analysis of the Severomorsk incident.").
  4. ^ Stanley, Alessandra (15 October 1984). "Spy vs. Spy Saga". Time. Vol. 124, no. 16 (U. S. ed.). ISSN 0040-781X. OCLC 1311479. Archived from the original on 27 September 2021. Retrieved 27 September 2021. Morison earned $5,000 a year as a part-time U.S. editor of Jane's Fighting Ships, one of a series of authoritative defense reference books. He gave the photographs to the company's new magazine, Jane's Defence Weekly. British intelligence sources claim that Morison leaked the pictures out of "patriotism." Morison, they suggested, wanted to publicize Soviet shipbuilding to help the Navy lobby in Washington. Morison's office typewriter ribbon, examined by FBI agents, told a different story. In a letter to Editor Derek Wood, Morison complained that the naval office job was a "pit." Wrote Morison: "My loyalty to Jane's is above question."
  5. ^ "Damming a Leak: Photo filcher found guilty". Time. Vol. 126, no. 17 (U. S. ed.). 28 October 1985. ISSN 0040-781X. OCLC 1311479. Archived from the original on 29 October 2010. Retrieved 27 September 2021. Although the Soviet Union had already obtained a stolen manual for the KH-11 satellite, prosecutors claimed that publication of the pictures gave the Soviets valuable information about the satellite's performance. Last week a federal jury in Baltimore convicted Morison on two counts of espionage and two counts of theft of Government property. Morison, 40, grandson of the late naval historian Samuel Eliot Morison, faces up to 40 years in prison and a $40,000 fine.
  6. ^ Wright, Michael; Herron, Caroline Rand (8 December 1985). "Two Years for Morison". The New York Times (National ed.). p. 4. eISSN 1553-8095. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 12 August 2021. Retrieved 11 March 2011. Samuel Loring Morison's lawyers argued last week that their client - back in a Baltimore courtroom for sentencing - was not a spy and thus should not be dealt with harshly. But Federal District Judge Joseph H. Young rejected the lawyers' pleas for probation and sentenced Mr. Morison, convicted in October of giving spy-satellite photographs to a British military magazine, to two years in prison.
  7. ^ a b Risen, James (17 February 2001). "Clinton Did Not Consult C.I.A. Chief on Pardon, Official Says". The New York Times. p. 12. eISSN 1553-8095. ISSN 0362-4331. OCLC 1645522. Archived from the original on 27 September 2021. Retrieved 27 September 2021. White House officials did ask the C.I.A. for its views on another pardon, that of a former Navy analyst, Samuel Loring Morison. In 1985 Mr. Morison was convicted of giving a British publication classified spy satellite photographs of a Soviet nuclear aircraft carrier. His conviction for disclosing classified information to the press was upheld after the Supreme Court refused to hear his appeal in 1988. On Jan. 11, the White House asked the C.I.A. for its views on a possible pardon for Mr. Morison. That was the first the agency had heard that Mr. Clinton was considering a pardon for him, an official said. The C.I.A. responded by telling the White House that it opposed the pardon. The next thing the C.I.A. heard on the matter was when Mr. Morison's pardon was announced on Jan. 20, an intelligence official said. That same request for a C.I.A. review was never sought on the Deutch pardon, officials emphasized.
  8. ^ Kelly, James (19 May 1986). "Press: Shifting the Attack on Leaks: The CIA director hints at prosecution of news organizations". Time. Vol. 127, no. 20 (U. S. ed.). ISSN 0040-781X. OCLC 1311479. Archived from the original on 4 June 2020. Retrieved 27 September 2021. At least one top Administration official now wants the attack shifted from the leakers to those who are accused of publishing the leaks. In a meeting with Deputy Attorney General D. Lowell Jensen two weeks ago, CIA Director William Casey discussed the possibility of prosecuting five news organizations -- the Washington Post, the Washington Times, the New York Times, TIME and Newsweek -- for printing details about U.S. intelligence-gathering operations. Casey subsequently that day met with Washington Post Executive Editor Benjamin Bradlee and Managing Editor Leonard Downie. He told them he was considering asking the Justice Department to take the Post to court for, among other things, reporting on messages between Tripoli and the East Berlin "people's bureau" (as Libya calls its diplomatic missions) that the U.S. had intercepted.
  9. ^ "Morison: Consulting Led to Espionage". NOAA. 28 November 2001. Archived from the original on 22 September 2021. Retrieved 27 September 2021. Morison was sentenced to two years in prison for espionage and theft of government property. As a result of the Morison case, policy guidelines for adjudicating security clearances were changed to include consideration of outside activities that present potential conflict of interest.
  10. ^ Moynihan, Daniel Patrick (28 September 1998). "Letter, Moynihan to Clinton". Federation of American Scientists. Archived from the original on 14 August 2021. Retrieved 27 September 2021 – via Internet Archive. Press censorship has been proposed since then, but never adopted. Ironically, we now have in Samuel Loring Morison a man who has been convicted for leaking information, while so many real spies are discovered but never prosecuted. Begin with the VENONA messages, Soviet spy cables intercepted during World War II and decrypted by the U.S. Army beginning in December 1946. VENONA exposed a network of Soviet agents operating in the United States, including at Los Alamos. Spies, such as Theodore Alvin Hall, who gave away our most sensitive atomic secrets to the Soviet Union, were discovered, yet never prosecuted.
  11. ^ Simpson, Ian (10 June 2014). "Grandson of U.S. naval historian charged with stealing records". U.S. Reuters. WASHINGTON. Archived from the original on 27 September 2021. Retrieved 27 September 2021. The grandson of late U.S. naval historian Samuel Eliot Morison has been charged with stealing historical records related to his Pulitzer Prize-winning grandfather, federal authorities said on Tuesday. Samuel L. Morison, 69, of Crofton, Maryland, appeared in U.S. District Court in Baltimore on Tuesday, the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a statement. He is accused of offering to sell to a bookstore owner U.S. records relating to his grandfather's work during World War Two, when President Franklin Roosevelt assigned him to write a history of wartime American naval operations.
  12. ^ Gresko, Jessica (August 7, 2017). "Man once convicted of spying pleads guilty to naval archive document theft". Navy Times.
  13. ^ "Morison, Samuel Loring". ANC Explorer. Retrieved February 23, 2022.

References

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