WASHINGTON — A retired Air Force sergeant -- who in a letter to Saddam Hussein expressed frustration at the size of his government pension -- goes on trial today in federal court, accused of attempting to sell secrets about U.S. spy satellites to Iraq, Libya and China.
Although the indictment against him does not say whether he turned over any secrets or received any money, Brian Patrick Regan, 40, faces the death penalty in a case that shows how gravely the Justice Department views security breaches after the Sept. 11 attacks. The government has not executed anyone in an espionage case since June 19, 1953, when Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were put to death in the electric chair for passing secrets to the Soviet Union.
The FBI apprehended Regan on Aug. 23, 2001, as he was attempting to board a flight to Zurich, Switzerland, at Dulles International Airport in suburban Washington. He has pleaded not guilty to three counts of attempted espionage and one count of illegally gathering national defense information. The case is being tried in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va.
The government's indictment alleges that Regan schemed to trade on his access to the Intelink -- the U.S. intelligence community's classified version of the Internet -- in return for $13 million.
Regan's court-appointed attorneys have attempted to portray him as a hapless spy who never endangered the lives of U.S. agents. One of his lawyers, Nina J. Ginsberg, of Alexandria, who has represented defendants in several other espionage cases, said in court papers that the decision to seek the death penalty against Regan is "disproportionate to the alleged crime" and "arbitrary and irrational."
Of 11 espionage cases brought by federal prosecutors since 1994, none other than Regan's have involved the death penalty; only one defendant, FBI turncoat Robert P. Hanssen, whom the government considers responsible for the deaths of three U.S. informants and the unmasking of up to 50 agents in Russia, received even a life sentence, defense papers assert.
But prosecutors contend that Regan created a "grave risk of death" to U.S. military pilots patrolling the "no-fly" zones over Iraq, court papers show. U.S. Atty. Paul J. McNulty has accused Regan of "exceptional planning and premeditation" in plotting his espionage, asserting that he put his greed ahead of the safety of his former uniformed colleagues.
