European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 27, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Wednesday december 27, 1989 the stars and stripes Page 3 Warsaw pack spies Felt the heat in 1989 for Many current sex service members the Price of treason skyrocketed 89the year in review b Janet  writer not All who Wear military uniforms and pledge to protect the United states from All enemies mean it.  sometimes decide for whatever reasons to sell military secrets to the highest bidder. But in Early 1989 one Soldier stationed in West Germany took a different path. He offered his regi ment s War plan to a Warsaw pact nation never asking for any payment in return. Spec. Michael Peri climbed the Border Fence into East Germany on feb. 20 to escape Job frustrations he was experiencing As a military intelligence analyst forthe Lith army Cav regt at Fulda Downs Barracks. Peri then 22. Car ried with him a Lap top computer an four floppy diskettes containing secret information about his unit s Gener Al defense plan and electronic warfare. After being picked up by East German Border guards pen turned Over the computer and diskettes. During the 12 Days in which the Laguna Niguel,calif., native was missing military officials suspected he had defected although East German officials denied knowing his whereabouts. Peri returned to his unit March 4, carrying the com Puter and diskettes but experts believe the information had been copied. Peri was found guilty of espionage and on june 24 sentenced to 30 years in prison. I was never really sure what i was going to do at All Peri testified during his court martial. My Pri Mary reason was to leave behind All the frustrations and problems at work. Everything had been wrong. I was t enjoying myself. I wanted to Start Over some where else. A More serious Saga of alleged espionage involving a former . Soldier is the still pending Case Oclyde l. Conrad. The retired army sergeant first class was living near bad or Cugnach West Germany when he was arrested in August 1988. Early this year he was charged with treason for his part in an International spy ring that fun cled army and nato defense secrets to hungarian intelligence for 10 years. Conradis believed to have passed documents classified cos Mic top secret in the spying operation the Fri is calling one of the largest since world War ii. During the months Conrad has been awaiting trial Ina West German jail spy ring cohorts have been coming to trial in what appears to have turned into a game of army warrant officer James Hall left and spec charges earlier this year. Who can Tell the most to get off with the least. Most recently a former . Army sergeant was sentenced to 20 months of House arrest for Selling information to hungarian intelligence. Tommaso Mortati 42, was convicted dec. 20 of Selling information about the . Army Post in Vincnza Italy. Mortati whom his attorney described As a Pawn in the operation had accepted a loan from a member of the ring about a year ago while he was out of work. When he attempted to pay it Back he was told the Money had been a payment for his services As a spy for Hungary. Mortati s loan shark turned out to be convicted spy Zoltan Stabp who had recruited Conrad into the ring. An austrian court in september convicted Szabo also a retired army sergeant first class of gathering military intelligence for a foreign Power. Although court authorities in Vienna Austria refused to com ment on the Case newspapers reported that Szabo received a Light 10-month sentence because he named others involved in the spy network. Szabo i currently on parole. Meanwhile Abc news reported that it was con Rad who ratted on Szabo. And it was Szabo who a a photo Michael Peri right arc led to court to face espionage picked authorities on Mortati. Exiled hungarians Imrch and Sandor Korcsik also reportedly received lighter sentences when tried be cause of their Talkat Veness. In october 1988, a Courtin of Teborg Sweden sentenced the pair to 18 months each for acting As couriers in the ring. As 1989 draws to an end possibly a dozen others still arc being sought in connection with the espionage ring. And Thor Soldier who garnered headlines in 1989 for his not so Loyal actions while wearing a . Army uniform was warrant officer James w. Hall Iii. The 30-year-old intelligence analyst was arrested dec. 21, 1988, near Savannah ga., and accused of delivering to the Warsaw pact film and documents dealing with communications intelligence and War plans. Hall admitted he received More than $100,000 from 1983 to 1988 for providing classified military information to East Germany and the soviet Union. Most of that time he was stationed in Europe. A military judge in fort Mcnair in Washington d.c., sentenced Hall in March to 40 years in prison and fined him $50,000. New president clashed often with Ceausescu Vienna Austria a Ion Ali Csc Romania s new president is a former senior communist official who was demoted for standing up to Nicolae Ceausescu and is said to be a close Friend of soviet Leader Mikhail s. Gorbachev. Ceausescu had stripped Ali Csc of the prestigious Post of party Secretary and had him assigned to direct a publishing House. Ali Csc 59, announced on television Friday the for mation of the National salvation committee which he described As the new Organ of state Power in Roma Nia. On saturday he announced Ceausescu s arrest. On tuesday Ali Csc was appointed president by the provisional government. He holds a University degree in business administration and also studied hydrology at Moscow University where knowledgeable romanians say he got to know Gorbachev. While originally one of Ceausescu s close aides in the Laic 1960s As the Man responsible for youth prob lems and propaganda he was demoted from the Cen trial committee in 1971 and later from the Cabinet. He became regional party Secretary in Timisoara and in Lasi near the soviet Border in the Early 1970s and was summoned to Bucharest and named chairman of a Council for water administration. Fired from that Job after a Sharp Exchange with Ceausescu and the dicta Tor s wife Elena at a party meeting in the mid-1980s, Ali Csc was named director of the Edi Tura Tehonica publishing House. His reported Friendly tics with Gorbachev saved him from a More dramatic fall informed sources said. Ali Csc As a local party chief was very in formal. He never used the word Comrade when addressing people and was ready to talk to them As soon As they knocked at his door said Cornelia Dimitriu a University professor in Lasi. He could t stand Ceausescu s personality cult and he did not refrain like others from expressing it she said in an interview. He often did not obey the orders he received from Bucharest. Iliescu fell out of favor with Ceausescu because he was outspoken and frequently aired his grievances. He is a Technocrat and not an ideologists Iliescu Dimitriu said. Born in 1930 into a worker s family in Eastern Romania. Ali Csc is married but has no children. Ali Csc Long rumoured to be a possible successor to Ceausescu did not sign a March 1989 letter to the former romanian Leader that protested the dicta Tor s human rights violations and his despotic Rule. Informed romanians said it might have jeopardized Ali Csc had he openly joined them preferring to appear unblemished in the eyes of Ceausescu whose secret police reportedly kept close tabs on his private life. He obviously managed to outbox  Mircea Loica a former professor at Bucharest University said. Ali Csc said Friday that the new government would establish a new Structure of political  the old Structure of party and government was liquidated Ali Csc said possibly indicating the de Mise of Ceausescu s communist party in Romania. We will establish a provisional Structure which will prepare free elections in april in which the people will be the decisive Factor for Public life Ali Csc said