Who is John Walker?

[August 22, 2016]  Most Americans have heard of John Walker, the infamous traitor responsible for spying for the KGB of the Soviet Union from 1968 to 1985.  Of all traitors from the United States since Benedict Arnold, John Walker’s espionage was likely the most destructive and was the biggest cryptographic failure in military history.  And Walker did it for the money, not for any ideological reason.

What can leaders learn from the espionage case of John Walker?  Such an unassuming man, some would say a bit shy but did have the confidence that he would easily pull off the theft of highly classified information and equipment, recruit a friend and relatives, sell secrets to the Soviets, and not get caught for 18 years.

We’ll never know the level of real damage of his espionage but it did have a detrimental impact on the Vietnam War, contributed to an escalation of the conventional arms race during the Cold War, resulted in the North Korean capture of the U.S.S. Pueblo, and greatly increased the capability of the Soviet Navy.  Here are some of the lessons leaders have learned:

1. The case did result in dramatic improvements in U.S. Intelligence and Counterintelligence activities, including improved secure communications, espionage containment strategies, and the training and recruiting of intelligence agents.  The U.S. president, Secretary of Defense, and other senior leaders in foreign policy were now paying attention.
2. The simplest of human weaknesses can and will drive some people to do dishonest and even savage things unless there are systems in place to prevent it.
3. Never underestimate anyone and this includes those in junior positions of responsibility.
4. Never to do away with teaching the history of espionage, no matter how old or simple because to understand the present and future problems we must do so by studying the past.  Teach, coach, and mentor intelligence assets closely.
5. Adversaries of the United States will leverage any weakness in intelligence systems, including low level employees to gain access to higher level systems.  This has been a successful and fruitful strategy that the Walker case demonstrates.

“Trust, but verify.”¹ – Ronald Reagan, 40th U.S. President

We should heed Reagan’s advice on such matters that trust is fundamental but verification is a logical necessity of human interaction.  There are, of course, many other lessons for leaders but these are some of those that strike to the heart of how leaders can be more effective that can be applied to most of what leaders do.

John Walker died in prison at the age of 77 and the United States has delivered justice.

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1. Suzanne Massie, a writer on Russia, met with President Ronald Reagan many times between 1984 and 1987. She taught him the Russian proverb, “Доверяй, но проверяй {Doveryai, no proveryai} (trust, but verify) advising him that “The Russians like to talk in proverbs.  It would be nice of you to know a few.  You are an actor – you can learn them very quickly.”  The proverb was adopted as a signature phrase by Reagan, who subsequently used it frequently when discussing U.S. relations with the Soviet Union.  Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trust,_but_verify