Samuel Loring Morison

Samuel Loring Morison was an American intelligence professional who was convicted of espionage and theft of government property in 1985 and pardoned in 2001. He was "the only [American] government official ever convicted for giving classified information to the press".

Prosecution and pardon A joint investigation by the Naval Investigative Service and the FBI led to Morison, who was arrested on October 1, 1984. A search of his apartment in Crofton, Maryland, revealed several hundred government documents, some of them classified. Investigators never demonstrated any intent to provide information to a hostile intelligence service. Morison was charged with espionage and theft of government property. Morison told investigators that he sent the photographs to Jane's because the "public should be aware of what was going on on the other side", meaning that the new nuclear-powered aircraft carrier would transform Soviet capabilities. He said that "if the American people knew what the Soviets were doing, they would increase the defense budget." British intelligence sources thought his motives were patriotic. Prosecutors emphasized personal economic gain and Morison's complaints about his government job. Morison once wrote to his editor at Jane's: "My loyalty to Jane's is above question."

On October 17, 1985, Morison was convicted in Federal Court on two counts of espionage and two counts of theft of government property. He was sentenced to two years in prison on December 4, 1985. The Supreme Court declined to hear his appeal in 1988.

As a result of the Morison case, policy guidelines for adjudicating security clearances were changed to include consideration of outside activities that present potential conflict of interest.

In 1998, Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan asked for appeal on the grounds of "the erratic application of that law and the anomaly of this singular conviction in eighty-one years". He cited examples of serious espionage cases exposed by the Venona project that were not pursued, specifically mentioning Theodore Hall, and other cases that had been dismissed, including those of Daniel Ellsberg and Anthony Russo.

President Clinton pardoned Morison on January 20, 2001, the last day of his presidency, despite the CIA's opposition to the pardon.

Post-pardon activity In June 2014, Morison was arrested and charged with stealing government property from the Naval History and Heritage Command (the Navy's archives) in Washington, D.C. The records were related to his grandfather, Rear Admiral Samuel Eliot Morison. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to two years of probation on condition that he assist in returning the documents, which he stored in his home in Crofton, Maryland.

Morison died in 2018.