The tip-off, says an American counterintelligence official, came from information collected over many months suggesting that the Warsaw Pact countries possessed “bits and pieces” of top-secret NATO wartime contingency plans. Investigators then discovered proof that Soviet planners had highly classified documents. Last week West German officials arrested retired U.S. Sergeant First Class Clyde Lee Conrad and charged him with being the linchpin in an “especially grave” Soviet intelligence penetration of Western defenses. Conrad, 41, formerly attached to the headquarters company of the U.S. 8th Infantry Division, allegedly provided Soviet bloc agents with a flow of NATO secrets for a decade or more. Although retired since September 1985, Conrad apparently recruited helpers. As recently as last month, while under surveillance, he turned material over to his Soviet bloc handlers in Vienna. Swedish officials also arrested two former Hungarian nationals who allegedly served as couriers for the network, and dozens of interrogations are still under way. Intelligence professionals were reminded of the sensational case of former Navy Chief Warrant Officer John Walker, who pleaded guilty in 1985 to selling secrets to the Soviet Union. Conrad, says a senior U.S. intelligence official, “is in that league.” Maybe. Walker sold technical details on the latest U.S. cryptographic machines, which enabled the Soviets to monitor U.S. communications and track the worldwide movement of American submarines. The information provided by Conrad probably included details on NATO troop mobilization and the location of barbed wire and antitank traps as well as the positioning of nuclear-capable artillery. Says former Army Chief of Staff General Edward C. Meyer: “With that sort of information on the Soviets, I could blow away a whole Soviet corps in wartime.” But military analysts point out that contingency plans are constantly subject to updating, and can be modified when compromised. In any case, many professionals doubt that NATO has enduring secrets. Former CIA Director Stansfield Turner said last week, “It’s impossible to keep secrets when they’re shared with 15 nations.” A native of Sebring, Ohio, Conrad was an “administrative specialist” who earned $19,452 annually as the registry clerk in a vault loaded with classified documents. In the wake of the Walker case, the Pentagon reduced the number of security clearances from 4.1 million to 2.8 million. “But the Conrad case shows there’s still sloppy handling of secrets,” says an Army investigator. Conrad’s arrest is a reminder of the greed that has motivated Americans to spy on their country. West German sources say Conrad was paid “in the six figures” for his secrets. “It’s the Walker case revisited,” says former CIA Director William Colby, “a slob who sells out his country.”
