Sources: Suspect Spied For Libya

Retired Air Force sergeant Brian P. Regan had access to some of the nation's most sensitive defense secrets, and federal prosecutors allege he took elaborate steps to share that information with a foreign government that a federal source identified as Libya.

The FBI capped an investigation of Regan, 38, by arresting him at Washington's Dulles International Airport before he could board a flight to Zurich, Switzerland, on Thursday.

According to a government affidavit released Friday, FBI agents were watching when Regan went to his job at a National Reconnaissance Office facility in Chantilly, Va., earlier Thursday.

Regan's last assignment with the Air Force had been at the NRO, the builder and operator of U.S. spy satellites, whose very existence was an official secret until 1992. In July, Regan returned there as a civilian employee of TRW, a government contractor in Fairfax, Va., and his security access was reinstated.

According to the affidavit:

Monitoring Regan's office with a video camera, the FBI watched him log on to Intelink, a classified computer system for the U.S. intelligence community. Regan read a secret document on his computer, taking notes in a small notebook, which he put in his front pants pocket.

At about 9 a.m., while Regan was in a meeting, the FBI searched his minivan and found a bag containing encrypted messages and handwritten notes listing addresses and phone numbers for the diplomatic offices of an unidentified country in Switzerland and Austria.

Regan had reservations to fly to Zurich via Frankfurt, Germany. The father of four had told colleagues he and his family were going to Disney World.

At about 5:30 p.m., FBI agents stopped Regan as he was trying to pass through an airport security checkpoint.

FBI Special Agent Steven A. Carr questioned him, and Regan denied knowing about cryptanalysis and coding. But the agents then showed photos of documents found earlier in his bag. "This is my stuff," he said, shortly before he was arrested.

In addition to the documents, the affidavit said agents found items in Regan's possession including the small notebook that he had been using in his office, three rubber gloves, a hand-held global positioning system device and a piece of paper in his shoe listing names and addresses in a European country.

On Friday, Regan had little to say before U.S. Magistrate Judge Welton Sewell in nearby Alexandria, Va. Sporting a goatee and dressed in a striped polo shirt, Regan told the judge in a barely audible voice that he couldn't hire a lawyer. The judge said the court could appoint one.

Prosecutors asked that Regan be held without bond on a charge of conspiracy to commit espionage, and a combined detention and preliminary hearing was set for Wednesday. Prosecutors said the maximum sentence on conviction were life in prison or, in certain cases, the death penalty, and a $250,000 fine.

Prosecutors would not name the country or countries for which Regan allegdly conspired to spy. But a government source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said one was Libya.

The affidavit said Regan was suspected of being the source of a number of classified documents received by an unnamed country. The documents included secret electronic images, a secret CIA intelligence report and a secret document related to a foreign country's satellite capability.

It was unclear what interest Libya might have in such material. Private analysts said Libya is chiefly concerned with the military activities of its North African neighbors and U.S. knowledge of Libya's chemical weapons program.

A search of Regan's work computer showed that his password had been used to access some of the documents and to access Intelink addresses associated with other documents, authorities said.

The affidavit didn't say whether Regan received any compensation for his alleged actions, but did mention he had debts of $53,000 earlier this year.

Regan, a native of Brooklyn, N.Y., lives with his wife and children in one of about a half-dozen attached townhouses at the end of a quiet street in suburban Bowie, Md.

Regan served in the Air Force from August 1980 until retiring in August 2000 as a master sergeant with a number of military honors. He was trained in cryptanalysis and his responsibilities included administering the Intelink Web site, the affidavit said.

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