European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 25, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Friday May 25, 1990the stars and stripes a a a Page 3conrad�?Ts spying could have led to nuclear War prosecution says by Mary Neth staff writer Koblenz West Germany a the spying activities of Clyde Lee Conrad could have led to nuclear warfare in Europe prosecutors contended wednesday. Conrad a retired . Army sergeant first class Sal passively in court with head bowed As lawyers Fredrick Hecking and vol hard Wache spent four hours summing up their treason Case. They said that Conradus East bloc contacts referred to him As one of the worlds legendary spies and had there been a War nato would have been helpless because of his activities. A with its plans for a conventional War in the hands of the East bloc nato would have been so crippled that its Only defense would have been nuclear weapons a a Hecking said. The prosecutors demanded that Conrad be convicted of treason. In addition they said that he should be fined 2.2 million Marks $1.34 million at today a Exchange rate that some of his personal property be seized to partly pay court costs and that he should remain in pretrial confinement until a verdict is reached Conrad is accused of Selling classified top secret and a a cosmic top secret information to the military secret services of Hungary and Czechoslovakia. Hecking said the spying began in 1975, when Conrad was recruited by Zoltan Szabo then a sergeant first class with the Headquarters company of the 8th inf div in bad Kreuz Nach West Germany. Except for a Short time in the United states Conrad was assigned to the 8th inf div from 1974 until his retirement in 1985. In 1977, he became registry clerk in charge of a vault loaded with classified documents. In 1981, he was Given Access to All the secret plans of the division. He was arrested aug. 23, 1988. Klaus Himmerich Conradus primary defense attorney had built a defense Case on the Contention that Conrad could not have removed classified documents from the base. Himmerich withdrew from the trial May 16 to protest the courts rejection of his numerous objections. He has vowed not to return until the Day of the verdict. Prosecutors Wache and Hecking however asserted that Conrad had the capability Zuments. Ing of removing the Doc a there were no checks of personnel entering or leaving the base. Conradus Job allowed him to make copies of the classified documents in his charge and austrian court records show Szabo who was convicted of espionage there in 1989, had identified documents delivered by Conrad to hungarian  they also said evidence of Conradus spying activities was supplied by Sandor Hercsik and his brother Imre whom the prosecutors described As his hungarian contacts. The two were arrested in 1988 in Sweden and admitted to being agents of the hungarian secret service. They were sentenced to prison terms of 18 months each for carrying nato defense secrets. The prosecution also Drew heavily from the testimony of sgt. 1st class Danny Williams who was assigned by the army to meet with Conrad after he came under suspicion in 1986. Williams who had served with Conrad had hoped to discover that his former a buddy Quot was not guilty of treason Hecking said. A Williams testified that when he was taken into Conradus Confidence and knew without doubt about the spying activities he Felt like a a Friend had raped his wife a a the prosecutor said. Depicting Conrad As a Man driven by greed Wache said tic acc iced at least 2 million Marks about $1.2 million from the hungarians and 200,000 Marks about $122,000 from the czechoslovak. A this spying activities did not end with his retirement a said Wache. A there is evidence that shows Conrad was in the process of setting up an intricate spy network when  according to the prosecutors Conrad was to receive financial backing from the hungarian secret service to establish off base video stores. The shops would have served As fronts for spying activities. During the prosecution summation the chair beside Conrad formerly occupied by his chosen defense attorney remained empty. Hiim Mericha a absence leaves Conrad s defense which will be presented next week in the hands of court appointed lawyer Werner Hecker. The final verdict is scheduled to be read the week after. On wednesday Conrad attempted to conduct his own defense. He presented the court with 10 Handwritten objections to the proceedings. The court spent the morning reviewing them. All were rejected. The West German court system unlike in the United Stales is based on roman Law. Although a defendant is presumed innocent guilt is not determined by a jury of ones Peers but by a panel of  experts seek finance disclosure Laws Washington apr a committee of experts wants the government to know a lot More about the personal finances of workers with Access to top secrets because Money has become the Root of Modem spying. The experts Appeal for 13 new Laws was warmly received by the Senate intelligence committee whose chairman David Boren d-okla., and vice chairman William Cohen a Maine set them to work nine months ago. Nevertheless As the experts presented their report wednesday democratic and Republican senators indicated they might revise the proposals to introduce additional protections for civil liberties. Many of the proposals would allow government investigators to intrude much More deeply into the personal finances of the 700,000 government and weapons Industry employees who hold top secret clearances. To get those jobs they would have to agree to allow investigators to examine their Bank and commercial credit records up to five years after they leave the secret work. They would be required to report any foreign travel and any contacts with citizens of foreign countries. The 25,000 to 30,000 employees who work with codes and code machines would be subject to random polygraph tests. But the questions would be limited to whether they spied or sold Secris and would not cover a As sen. Boren put it a a How Many cocktails they drank or a rated movies they  granted Asylum Yin Ping Zhang one of the leaders in last years pro democracy revolt in China is granted political Asylum wednesday in Colorado Springs Colo. The students Asylum approval was announced at a news conference attended by Irene Kornelly right assistant to sen. Tim Wirth a Colo. Mere 1.3% Rise in Gnu reported in first Quarter Washington apr the nations Economy grew a meager 1.3 percent during the years first Quarter slower than originally thought and Only marginally faster than during the final three months of 1989, the government reported thursday. The Commerce department estimated last month that the Gross National product a the nation s total output of goods and services a gained 2.1 percent in the first Quarter. That was nearly twice the 1.1 percent rate for the october Decca bar period. It could be revised once More in the departments final report next month. The growth rate was lowered thursday because of new information on business inventories which were revised Down $8.5 billion from the original report. At the same time the department said a Price gauge tied to the Gnu showed first Quarter inflation Rose at an annual rate of 6.7 percent up slightly from the 6.5 percent first reported last month. The inflation rate was the highest since it reached 7.7 percent in the final Quarter of 1981. It was 4.5 percent for All of 1989. Many economists expect inflation to level off As the year progresses. They contend the first Quarter report was skewed by unusual Winter weather that killed crops and drove up fuel prices. Indeed the department said a about one half of the step up was due to food and Energy prices. Large increases in january followed unusually cold weather in  the weaker economic growth Means reduced lax revenues and adds to the problems confronting administration and congressional budget negotiators. Talks were to resume thursday on developing a formula to Cut the deficit to the $64 billion mandated by the Gramm Rudman balanced budget Law for the fiscal year beginning oct. I. Nevertheless it was proof that the current expansion which began at the end of the last recession in november 1982, continued a although slowly. A recession generally is defined As two straight declines in the Gnu. The department said exports were revised up $9.9 billion a but this revision was largely offset in Gnu by an upward revision of $9 billion in  surveys show that most economists believe Overall growth during 1990 will total 2 percent Down from the 3 percent level of activity in 1989 and the slowest since activity declined 2.5 percent during the recession year of 1982. But Many of the nation s top economic forecasters predict the Economy will avoid a recession for another three years and arc crediting Federal Reserve monetary policies for the extended growth