Samuel Loring Morison - Prosecution and Pardon

Prosecution and Pardon

A joint investigation by the Naval Investigative Service and the FBI led to Morison, who was arrested on October 1, 1984. A search of his apartment in Crofton, Maryland, revealed several hundred government documents, some of them classified. Investigators never demonstrated any intent to provide information to a hostile intelligence service. Morison was charged with espionage and theft of government property. Morison told investigators that he sent the photographs to Jane's because the "public should be aware of what was going on on the other side", meaning that the new nuclear-powered aircraft carrier would transform Soviet capabilities. He said that "if the American people knew what the Soviets were doing, they would increase the defense budget." British intelligence sources thought his motives were patriotic. Prosecutors emphasized personal economic gain and Morison's complaints about his government job. Morison once wrote to his editor at Jane's: "My loyalty to Jane's is above question."

The Reagan administration had been struggling to stop the leaking of government information by administering lie-detector tests and conducting dozens of investigations. It used the prosecution of Morison as a "test case" for applying the Espionage Act of 1917, originally targeted at spies and the delivery of confidential information to foreign governments, to cover the disclosure of information to the press in the manner of the British Official Secrets Act. The government did not claim that Morison's actions had damaged U.S. interests, only that further disclosures of comparable information might eventually enhance Soviet capabilities. A March 1984 report noted that "the unauthorized publication of classified information is a routine daily occurrence in the U.S." but that the applicability of the Espionage Act to such disclosures "is not entirely clear." A Time report said that the Administration, if it failed to convict Morison, would seek additional legislation. Time recognized the ongoing problem: "The Government does need to protect military secrets, the public does need information to judge defense policies, and the line between the two is surpassingly difficult to draw."

On October 17, 1985, Morison was convicted in Federal Court on two counts of espionage and two counts of theft of government property. He was sentenced to two years in prison on December 4, 1985. The Supreme Court declined to hear his appeal in 1988.

Following Morison's conviction, the Reagan administration continued its campaign against leaks. In April 1986, an Assistant Under Secretary of Defense was fired for sharing classified information with reporters. In May, CIA Director William Casey threatened to prosecute five news organizations–the Washington Post, the Washington Times, the New York Times, Time and Newsweek–and succeeded in delaying the publication of a Washington Post story.

As a result of the Morison case, policy guidelines for adjudicating security clearances were changed to include consideration of outside activities that present potential conflict of interest.

In 1998, Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan asked for appeal on the grounds of "the erratic application of that law and the anomaly of this singular conviction in eighty-one years". He cited examples of serious espionage cases that were not pursued, VENONA and Theodore Hall, and other cases that had been dismissed, including those of Daniel Ellsberg and Anthony Russo.

President Clinton pardoned Morison on January 20, 2001, the last day of his presidency, despite the CIA's opposition to the pardon.