Family of Spies

Read several comments on this mini-series. It is available on DVD. I found it in the "reduced bin" at my local Wal-Mart this morning. The quality of the DVD is unequaled. For the price ($5.50) you sure can't beat the price. Now, if they would only release WASHINGTON: BEHIND CLOSED DOORS with Cliff Robertson - it would "make my day!" Just wanted to pass this information along to you.

I can understand espionage when you're doing for your own country. I can understand it when you're doing for another country for ideological reasons (but still frown on it). but john walker did it out of unmitigated avarice. he wanted to live the high life of fancy apartments, a private plane, a boat and women. he did it for the money and only the money.

America maintained its upper hand in the spy business with most of the time superior technology, ie computers, satellite lenses, and other electronics. the russians maintained their position mostly by financing a huge payroll of traitors plus the advantage of freer movement in an open democratic society in the u.s.a. in the walker case it stretched to his military associates including his own children whom he encouraged to join the military and continue his spying.

the first time I heard about this area of spying was in a PBS documentary called 'spys secrets and submarines'. the safety of the entire population of north America was compromised by a dude by the name of ames who like walker, sold secrets for cash. the Americans had laid a listening device next to the cable the russians had put under the water going from moscow to their submarine base east of scandinavia. they were so confident they did not encrypt the transmissions. it provided a staggering wealth of intelligence until ames told them about it. lives of American agents were lost because of that betrayal. why ames and walker escaped execution is a mystery considering the American justice system routinely executes the poor and minorities for lesser offenses. the case of the rosenbergs comes to mind. every spy for the russians had a code name, but with the end of the cold war, break up of the soviet union and opening a previous classified documents, the truth came out that Ethel Rosenberg did NOT have a code name. the conclusion is that she was NOT a spy. yet she was executed and walker was not.

I found this video amongst the dreck at the discount bin at wal mart for 5 bucks. if you ever have a chance to pick it up do so. Powers Boothe did an excellent job of portraying the gradual slide of walker into full time spy. Lesley Ann Warren somewhat overacted but that could still be explained by the difficulty walker's wife found herself in finding out she was married to a spy for the russians. I was very fond of Ms Warren for a long time and liked that saucy slight lisp she has and those big eyes.

other players in this film have gone on to bigger things. for instance the chap who plays the brother also played the rear admiral in the TV series 'JAG'.

anyway, a very good portrayal of a true and very sad episode in American military intelligence.

I was driving home one sunny day when I heard on the radio that a Naval officer, John A. Walker had been arrested for expionage. I had to pull over for a minute to stop hyperventating. You see, When I was serving in ComNavSurfLant's communication (a little hole in the wall on the Norfolk Naval base) I was his Leading Petty Officer. My desk was just in front of his.

He would go into the vault and shut the door to "take inventory" of the key cards and other classified information. Never occured to me what he was doing.

He took my wife and I sailing on several occasions. I thought he was a real nice guy, a little self-centered.

When I got home, i received a call from the FBI. They wanted to set up an interview with me.

They called again and cancelled the interview, as it was no longer necessary

The traitor had copped a plea.

A testimonial to the power of money. The weak-willed Walker not only deliberately sold himself out, he involved his family in his treachery. US Navy CWO Walker, not content with his standard of living, and possessing a crypto-secret clearance, reaches for big bucks by selling his integrity to the Soviets, who didn't approach him in the first place; he went to them, peddling his wares! Hard to blame them for taking him up on it.

When his own accessible data is insufficient, he enlists family and colleagues in order to gain more and more information to peddle for more and more dollars. Although he does not physically resemble the real Walker at all, Powers Boothe gave life to the role, playing the traitorous and greedy @#$%! to the hilt. Lesley Ann Warren performs an excellent portrayal of the wife who could not abide her husband's perfidy and involvement of their son. An under-stated actress, Warren called up a lot of emotion in this role. Even if you don't like true-crime drama, it's worth watching for her performance alone.

What really gets me is, why did Walker and his merry band escape the death penalty? Julius & Ethel Rosenberg did the same thing (for NO money, only their beliefs) and they went to the electric chair. (Our liberal, permissive society will eventually sell this country down the river if permitted to perpetuate.)Ah well, a tale that should immediately be set to video cassette; it should be viewed by everyone. RELEASE IT TO VIDEO!!!

I was a Naval Officer at the very tail end of John Walker's career (about the time when the ring was busted). Access to the information that he provided the USSR was likely as damaging or more than any other information compromised in US history, either from within or without the military.

He ultimately leakef information that potentially could have provided the Soviets with the capability to successfully launch a nuclear first strike against the USA, it don't get any worse than that.