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CNN Saturday Morning News

Air Force Member Faces Espionage Charges

Aired August 25, 2001 - 07:20   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: A 20-year Air Force veteran is facing spying charges.

CNN national security correspondent David Ensor reports the fallout is still being assessed.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Thirty-eight-year-old former Air Force Master Sergeant Brian Regan, father of four, appeared before a judge in Alexandria, Virginia on charges of conspiracy to commit espionage. At the hearing, which took just four minutes, the decorated 20-year Air Force veteran said he could not afford a defense attorney. The judge will appoint one.

KEN MELSON, ACTING U.S. ATTORNEY: The affidavit and the complaint filed in this matter allege that Mr. Regan conspired to transmit classified U.S. national defense information to a person or persons he knew was working for a foreign government, with the intent to aid that foreign government and to injure the United States.

ENSOR: Regan is charged in the affidavit with seeking to sell U.S. secrets to at least one country. In fact, U.S. officials say, there's evidence he may have planned to offer secrets to as many as three others, not including Russia and not including any U.S. allies.

MELSON: We are not able at this time to disclose the names of the countries involved, nor have we been able to complete a damage assessment in this particular case.

ENSOR: Regan was arrested by FBI officials Thursday at the security checkpoint at Dulles International Airport as he prepared to board a Lufthansa flight to Zurich, Switzerland, via Frankfurt, Germany, though he had told office mates he was taking his family to Disney World.

Officials say his luggage was searched. So was his house in Bowie, Maryland, and his car.

Regan was a contractor with top secret clearances working for the National Reconnaissance Office, the U.S. intelligence agency headquartered in Chantilly, Virginia, that designs, builds, and fields the nation's spy satellites. The NRO likes to keep a low profile. Until 1992, its existence was a government secret. The affidavit charges Regan offered electronic images classified secret taken from overhead platforms, in other words, satellite photography, to foreign governments. Compared to the damage done to U.S. national security by confessed spy Robert Hanssen, officials say this case is not nearly as serious.

(on camera): Still, U.S. intelligence officials say it's never good when an American apparently offers to sell his nation's secrets. They say they are grateful the vigilance in this case may have prevented greater damage from being done.

David Ensor, CNN, Washington.

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