Born in Washington D.C., Walker enlisted in the Navy in 1955 when, arrested for burglary, he was offered the option of jail or the military. John Anthony Walker Jr. was born July 28, 1937, in Washington. Pueblo. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. While stationed on the nuclear-powered Fleet Ballistic Missile (FBM) submarine USS Andrew Jackson (SSBN-619) in Charleston, South Carolina, Walker opened a bar which failed to turn a profit and immediately plunged him into debt. His son was sentenced to 25 years in prison, and his brother received a $250,000 fine and a life sentence. [1], Walker began spying for the Soviets in December 1967,[7] when, distraught over his financial difficulties, he walked into the Soviet Embassy in Washington, DC, sold a top secret document (a radio cipher card) for several thousand dollars, and negotiated an ongoing salary of $500 to $1,000 a week. In 1985, he was arrested for selling classified secrets to the Soviet Union. [1][19] He is scheduled for release on May 20, 2015,[20] at which point he will have served 30 years in prison. While stationed on the nuclear-powered Fleet Ballistic Missile (FBM) submarine USS Andrew Jackson (SSBN-619)in Charleston, South Carolina, Walker opened a bar which failed to turn a profit and immedi… Plant Memorial Trees Opens send flowers url in a new window Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. [1][6] Former KGB agent Victor Cherkashin, however, details in his book Spy Handler that Walker was compromised by an FBI spy named "Martynov," who overheard officials in Moscow speaking about Walker.[16]. [1] Walker has justified his treachery by claiming that the first classified Navy communications data he had sold to the Soviets had already been completely compromised when the North Koreans had captured the US Navy communications surveillance ship, the USS Pueblo. Updates? With Powers Boothe, Lesley Ann Warren, Lili Taylor, Graham Beckel. Pueblo. View of John Fitzgerald Kennedy Federal Building, in Boston, Massachusetts. Arthur Walker was about to testify on what he believed the West Coast man’s first name to be, but he was stopped when Judge John P. Vukasin upheld a … Mr. Walker, who found work with the military contractor VSE after his Navy retirement in the early 1970s, was convicted in 1985 of seven espionage-related charges. Walker’s early life was a troubled one, his family’s stability threatened by his father’s alcoholism. Cherkashin, Victor. The espionage activities of the Walker spy ring were described by some officials as among the gravest security breaches in the history of the U.S. Navy. Prior to joining the U.S. Navy, Walker experienced an upbr FREE Background Report. Lehman said the Walker espionage would have resulted in huge loss of American lives in the event of war. ", In 1990, New York Times journalist John J. O'Connor reported, "It's been estimated by some intelligence experts that Mr. Walker provided enough code-data information to alter significantly the balance of power between Russia and the United States". View the profiles of people named Anthony John Walker. Barbara Walker speaks. CIA historian H. Keith Melton states on the show "Top Secrets of the CIA" which aired on the Military Channel, among other occasions, at 0400CST, Feb. 5, 2013, that "They [referring to the Soviets] had intercepted our coded messages, but they had never been able to read them. Walker was a Navy communication specialist with financial difficulties when he walked into the Soviet Embassy and sold a piece of cyphering equipment. His parents had moved from the Scranton, Pa., area so his father could take a government job. Nicknamed "Smilin' Jack," he attended Catholic school and became an altar boy; however, his childhood was traumatic. Though Walker could give them repair manuals, he couldn't give them machines. View phone numbers, addresses, public records, background check reports and possible arrest records for John Anthony Walker in Arab, AL. New York: Basic Books, 2005. Whitworth, who refused to plead guilty, insisting that he did not know that the stolen documents were being sold to the Soviet Union, received the stiffest penalty of all, a $410,000 fine and 365 years in prison. His father descended into a hell of alcoholism and lost his job. [1] A transfer had stopped Walker's access to the data the Soviets wanted, but he was able to recruit Whitworth to keep the data flowing by telling him the data would be going to Israel, an ally of the United States, in order to soften the consideration of Whitworth engaging in espionage. [18] He is said to be suffering from diabetes and stage IV throat cancer. [1] Barbara Walker was not prosecuted because of her role in disclosing the ring.