Spy Woes

After weeks of sensational revelations about U.S. guards sneaking Soviet spies into the American embassy in Moscow, the Marine spy case appears to be stalled. As a postponement was announced last week in a pretrial hearing for Corporal Arnold Bracy, who had confessed to helping Sergeant Clayton Lonetree allow KGB agents into the embassy, defense lawyers were crowing that the Navy has no case against the two Marines.

Bracy has retracted the confession he made in March, maintaining that agents of the Naval Investigative Service coerced the statement from him during three days of grueling interrogation. Another retraction came from Corporal Robert Williams, who claimed to have heard a drunken Lonetree admit his espionage activities. Moreover, preliminary security sweeps in the Moscow embassy have turned up no bugs or other evidence indicating that Soviet agents ever got inside the secure area on the ninth floor. "The case against Lonetree has fallen apart," said his attorney, Michael Stuhff. "The whole house of cards is built on sand."

The Defense Department insists that the cases will hold up. "All the interviews have been conducted in full compliance with the subjects' rights," said Pentagon Spokesman Robert Sims last week. "I know of no reason to believe that any subject was coerced or badgered in any way." Military officials seem unfazed by the retractions. A judge will listen to tapes of the statements and rule on their validity. The account by Williams, says one source, is "extremely detailed . . . far more than imagination."

The Navy, however, has delayed bringing charges against two more Marines: Sergeant John Weirick, held on suspicion of espionage; and a former Moscow embassy guard who was returned to Quantico, Va., from his station in Brasilia. The fourth Marine and "several others" are still cooperating with probers. Nevertheless, one investigator concedes, "we're not finding quite the corroboration in Marine testimony that we expected."

Although the Navy may lack hard evidence against the Marines, one active participant says, "The U.S. is sure enough of the facts to bet close to $100 million on it." That is how much the Pentagon, State Department, CIA and % National Security Agency will request from Congress to replace the compromised communications facilities and pursue other corrective measures. Meanwhile, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence recommended by a 15-to-0 vote to tear down the bug-riddled chancery at the new U.S. embassy in Moscow. Said Committee Chairman David Boren: "Demolish that building while we still can." Building a new one would cost an estimated $23 million more.