American Navy sailor indicted in spying for Russia

The US Navy said in a statement yesterday Petty Officer 3rd Class Ariel J. Weinmann, 21, was successful in giving the classified information to a foreign government before he destroyed the computer. Although the navy didn't officially identify the foreign country, defence sources told CNN and Reuters News Agency it was Russia. According to the US Navy, the sailor accused of taking a navy laptop loaded with classified information and peddling its contents to foreign governments is being held for possible court martial.

The fire control technician, assigned to the submarine USS Albuquerque, attempted to pass classified information to Russian agents March 2005 in Bahrain; October 2005 in Vienna, Austria; and March 2006 in Mexico City, Mexico, according to the charges. The classified information was described as "relating to the national defence of the United States of America . . ." It's not believed that anyone else in the Navy worked with him, Navy sources said. Weinmann is confined at the brig at Norfolk Naval Air Station on six charges, including three counts of espionage.

Weinmann's father had dismissed ''speculation'' on espionage charges against his son, marking that "he's on a dang submarine with 115 people, and he's on military bases; he couldn't have that much information." His father said he could not believe that the Navy was going to give a kid that age - that hasn't had any experience, any track record - any really serious information. Their home in Oregon had been searched twice by the FBI and Naval Criminal Investigative Service, and investigators carted off "boxes and boxes of stuff Robert Weinmann told The Virginian-Pilot.

Military sources have told Time magazine they are investigating whether Ariel Weinmann passed secrets to Russia, although they caution that at this point it's still unclear whether the sailor gave classified information to any country. He is accused of stealing a laptop computer from the sub. But investigators are still trying to determine if any of the information in the machine was actually given to a foreign agent or if they just have a case of a disenchanted sailor who deserted with a piece of Navy property.

If this is the case it is the second one involving spying allegations by Russia against the US military, CNN adds. The Defense Department has said it believes Russia collected information about American intelligence in Iraq from US Central Command in Doha, Qatar, in 2003.

Yesterday AIA wrote at first about a version that Weinmann was suspected of spying for Israel, according to an article published August 7 in the Saudi daily Al-Watan. While AIA noted that a US Navy source quoted by the Wave.News had said that one of the countries involved in the spy scandal was Russia, American sources close to the Defense Department told Al-Watan that Israel was the country in question. US Navy officials with knowledge of the case disavowed the reported Israeli connection.

USS Albuquerque (SSN 706) is the second United States Warship to be named after Albuquerque, New Mexico, the first was decommissioned in 1953. The current USS Albuquerque (SSN 706), a nuclear powered fast attack submarine of the Los Angeles class, was constructed at Electric Boat Shipyard in Groton, Connecticut. She was launched on March 13, 1982, and commissioned on May 21, 1983. USS Albuquerque is the nineteenth ship in the class and carries a complement of 127 (12 officers, 115 enlisted), all highly trained professionals in their respective fields.