The example was set several years ago by Israeli Andrzej Kilchinski. He claimed to have worked for the CIA from 1985 to 1991. And, according to him, he led the Americans to Jonathan Pollard, who spied for Israel and later received a life sentence. He also provided American intelligence with data on the deployment of Israeli nuclear munitions and on how Israel uses US aid.
The plaintiff claimed that the Americans had promised him asylum in the US and lifelong support, but did not keep their promise. He sought a pension and payment for treatment of diabetes, which he said he contracted under the stress caused by his espionage activities. In 1991, he was so ill that he could not work. And the Americans allegedly forced him to sign a document stating that they had paid $50,000 for his diabetes treatment. In 1998, when Kilchinski tried to obtain political asylum in the US, the authorities ordered his deportation.
In 2001, Kilchinski, who also uses the name Joseph Barak, was turned down by federal judge Leo Glasser. The judge cited an 1867 court ruling that barred spies from suing intelligence agencies. At that time, the heirs of William Lloyd, publisher of railroad guides, were suing the government. Lloyd had spied against the Southerners during the Civil War. He was recruited personally by President Lincoln, who promised him $200 a week. There was no written contract, and when Lincoln was assassinated, Lloyd did not receive what was promised.
When he died, the administrator of his estate filed suit seeking to recover the debt of $9,753. He was refused on the grounds that espionage is a secret matter. And since closed courts do not exist in the US, a trial would inevitably bring out a mass of classified information.
That was the state of affairs until last year, when the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals allowed a lawsuit brought by an anonymous married couple of spies from a former communist country. They are trying to sue the CIA for failing to keep its promise to support them for life. The couple are identified by the fictitious names John and Jane Doe. They were citizens of a country that, according to court documents, had previously been "considered an enemy of the US." One fine day, John, who was a diplomat, approached a US embassy employee and offered to defect to America.
The CIA suggested that he first spy for them, promising eventually to bring him over and settle him in America. Under a 1949 law, the CIA has the right to bring up to 100 people into the US a year bypassing immigration formalities. John and Jane, by their own account, carried out important and dangerous assignments for the CIA. In 1987, they were brought to America, given new names and biographies, and had their medical care and living expenses paid for – first $20,000, then $27,000 a year.
John worked at a bank in Seattle. After another pay raise, the CIA decided he no longer needed assistance and took him off the payroll. In 1997, John was laid off. He was already nearing 60, could not find a new job, and asked the CIA to resume payments. He was refused. The CIA wrote that it was saddened by the news of John's dismissal but could not help him for budgetary reasons. For a while, the couple lived with relatives in an Eastern European country, where the husband once became terribly frightened when he accidentally ran into a former KGB man.
In their lawsuit, the couple claims they were promised a lifelong allowance. The CIA denies this and has challenged the appellate ruling in the Supreme Court. The arguments of both sides were heard recently. "We have moral obligations to people who spy for us," says former CIA general counsel Jeffrey Smith. "But I know of no obligation, legal or moral, that says if we bring someone to the US, we put them on permanent government support."
Many defectors told a Vremya Novostei correspondent that they were extremely dissatisfied with the treatment they received at the CIA. I have seen data suggesting that at least half of Soviet intelligence officers who defected to the Americans thought about returning home, although in reality only a few did. The CIA rejects these claims, stating that it spent at least a million dollars on resettling each defector.