The Big Dig (FBI Searches for Buried Documents of Potentially Classified Information)

Former Air Force intelligence officer Brian Regan, who was convicted of trying to spy for Saddam Hussein and China, buried thousands of pieces of potentially classified information at undisclosed locations in the Washington metropolitan region, sources told ABCNEWS.

The information includes more than 10,000 pages of documents, slides and videos — some of which pertain to satellites and early warning systems, according to sources.

This disclosure raises important questions about the security of supposedly secure U.S. institutions housing the nation's most sensitive secrets. Officials are scrambling to figure out how Regan got so much material out of government sites, the sources told ABCNEWS.

Regan worked for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), which oversees the operation of the nation's spy satellites. Was it possible that he simply walked out of buildings with documents? Did he download the classified material from public, non-secure Web sites?

Regan, 40, was convicted in February of attempted espionage on behalf of Iraq and China. After a jury concluded he did not provide Iraq with documents concerning nuclear weapons, military satellites or war plans, Regan was spared the death penalty.

Officials are now reassessing his case. The discovery of the buried documents raises new questions about whether Regan passed along classified material.

Sources said the U.S. government stumbled on Regan's pack-rat ways. Last fall, Alexandria, Va., jail deputies confronted Regan about an odd collection of papers held together by toilet paper tubes and a pen. Regan quickly flushed the papers, which were apparently written in code, down the toilet.

About a month later, sources told ABCNEWS deputies discovered a map in Regan's cell, with designated sites. Ever since, the FBI has been hunting — and shoveling — for the buried documents.

The NRO is conducting investigations into Regan's activities during his employment. The probe focuses on determining the quality of the information he compromised and includes a damage assessment and determination on what type of security was or was not in place at the time Regan breached it. The office plans to publish a report with conclusions by the end of the year, an NRO spokesperson told ABCNEWS.

There were some security enhancements implemented at the NRO after Regan was discovered, but further enhancements based on the breach of security committed by Regan, will be determined after the report is issued.

Regan's defense attorney, Nina Ginsberg, wouldn't comment due to the classified nature of the information.

Here's a little background on the case.

Retired Sergeant Convicted in Spy Case
Newsmax Wires
Friday, Feb. 21, 2003
WASHINGTON -- Retired Air Force Sgt. Bryan Regan was convicted Thursday of attempting to sell national military secrets to Iraq and China.
A federal jury in Alexandria, Va., still must decide if the secrets were serious enough to warrant the death penalty.

The Justice Department filed notice earlier in the trial that it intended to seek the death penalty.

But a final decision would have to go through a department review process before being made by Attorney General John Ashcroft, even if the jury rules that the crime is eligible for the death penalty.

The last federal penalty for espionage occurred in 1953, when Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed for passing atomic secrets to Joseph Stalin's Soviet Union.

However, Regan's case was very low-profile compared with CIA traitor Aldrich Ames and FBI traitor Robert Hanssen.

Both cut deals after being charged with spying for Moscow in exchange for money, escaping the death penalty, though prosecutors said their actions resulted in the deaths of American agents in Russia.

The Justice Department is treating Regan's case very seriously because of the nature of the secrets he tried to divulge.

"Brian Regan's attempts to sell our national security were a direct violation of his repeated oaths to protect and defend the United States of America, its Constitution and its national security secrets," Ashcroft said in a statement after Thursday's verdict. "The conviction today demonstrates that a man who had been gifted with our nation's trust and betrayed that trust, will be held accountable in our system of justice."

Prosecutors said Regan was deeply in debt and tried to sell U.S. secrets for money.

Arrested in August

Regan was arrested in August 2001 as he was passing through the security point at Washington Dulles International Airport. Regan was due to take a Lufthansa flight to Zurich, Switzerland, through Frankfurt, Germany.

Regan, 40, of Bowie, Md., retired from the Air Force in August 2000. He was employed by a government contractor and most recently was assigned to the National Reconnaissance Office in Chantilly, Va.

"The NRO designs, builds and operates the nation's reconnaissance satellites," according to the agency's mission statement. "NRO products, provided to an expanding list of customers like the Central Intelligence Agency ... and the Department of Defense ... can warn of potential trouble spots around the world, help plan military operations, and monitor the environment."

The NRO is a Defense Department agency, but is staffed by employees from that department and from the CIA.

The U.S. attorney's office said Regan had access to classified information at the NRO.

The federal jury was given a look at some of the information Regan allegedly tried to divulge, but the material was withheld from the public.

Copyright 2003 by United Press International.

All rights reserved.

Yes, he just walked out of "secure" areas carrying documents. These days, there is nothing to stop anyone from doing the same. Security has become terribly lax over the past ten years.

Twelve years ago, I sometimes asked people walking out of the area I worked in to turn out their pockets. People were not allowed to take a newspaper out the door, much less classified stuff. If papers really needed to be removed, they were subjected to a technical review by two cleared persons and then a security review. After that, there was a 48-hour cooling off period.

This was all very burdensome, but government investigators never found a single leak over a ten year span, from a facility where 1,200 people worked.

I'm not advocating going back to such extreme security measures, but the security posture in the nations secure facilities desperately needs to be tightened up.

When Clinton loosened the security requirements, this was destined to happen.

I will forever wonder just how much damage he caused in 8 years. Sec. Of The Interior Hazel O'Leary followed his direction and did just that, w/ a smile. I believe they removed the color codes which kept people separated at Los Alamos among other places. I can't fathom that type of thinking: "I'll just loosen the security requirements and give our information (illegally it turns out) to China,Loral,James Riady and they in turn will give me money for my re-election campaign in 1996". What a very,very jaded and horrible sociopath of a man he remains and how he can sleep at night is beyond me.

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