Very Serious Losses

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He had retired from the U.S. Navy, and he had quit spying for the Soviet Union. But he was miserable. Unemployed and living on his $1,200-a-month service pension, the former chief radioman kept house in an olive-colored trailer in Davis, Calif., while his wife pursued her Ph.D. in hopes of helping to support them both. He listened to classical music, yet it did not soothe him. Referring to his decision to stop dealing in Government secrets, he wrote to his spymaster boss: "I realize this doesn't fit in with your advice and counseling over the years. In all honesty, I was happier in the '60s and early '70s than I've been since. I have agonized over this decision. I hope you can understand." His ringleader understood only too well, predicting in a note to his Soviet contact that the unhappy former spy would soon rejoin them, and explaining: "He has become accustomed to the big-spender life-style and I don't believe he will adjust to living off his wife's income."

All such speculation became moot last week. With his ringleader under arrest and the FBI watching his every move, Jerry Alfred Whitworth, 45, drove 60 miles to San Francisco and surrendered to federal agents. The balding and bearded former communications specialist was charged with passing U.S. intelligence secrets to the Soviet Union.

With Whitworth's arrest, the Navy's unfolding spy debacle took on an ominous added dimension. Up until then, the espionage ring that began unraveling three weeks earlier had seemed a family affair. The three suspects were related: Alleged Ringleader John Walker Jr., 47; his son Michael, 22; and John's brother Arthur, 50. All were present or former Navy men, and all lived in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia, the home base of the Atlantic nuclear fleet and a center of highly classified shipbuilding. While each had some access to the secrets of submarine warfare and coded communications, authorities had hoped that the ring was limited by geography and surname.

But Whitworth, in addition to being outside the family, could have extended the ring's reach to the Pacific and even to the Indian Ocean. He had taught Navy communications in San Diego, had served in the Pacific as communications watch officer aboard the nuclear-powered carrier Enterprise and had been in charge of communications security at the Alameda Naval Air Station near Oakland. He was familiar with the Navy's Indian Ocean activities thanks to two tours of duty at the highly secret base on the remote island of Diego Garcia. The FBI claimed that Whitworth had operated "at the heart of Navy communications." Retired Rear Admiral Eugene Carroll called him "a dream agent" for the Soviets.

Some high Government officials suspected that the ring was even larger, and the New York Times quoted one as saying there could be "four or five" additional arrests. He told the Times: "I'm afraid that this is only the tip of the iceberg."