WI an american general caught spying.

Insider

Banned
What if one of high ranking officers were found relaying confidential information to other power? For sake of clarification: Evidence says that he was doing it for years and on purpose. So not a one time dinner with soviet military attache. Also no front page figure, just a paper pusher in the Washington.

The questions are, would such incident would be reported to press?
Had it been reported (or leaked to the press), who would be most likely be a scape goat for such blunder?
Save the war, what the consequences in relations with said power could be?
What would be consequences to his family?
Would someone protest outside the prison before he fries? Or would he be exchanged for another spy?
Would these be any different in the 1930's or 1970's?

Disclamer. It isn't anti-Americanism, just curiosity.
 
Depends on the politics of the moment, & how public the facts are.

Worse case for the officer is dishonorable discharge & & a century long sentence in Leavenworth Federal prison.

Best case for the US is turning this into a Double Cross type sting operation.
 
Also depends on what power he's spying for, an enemy or ally? But i suppose the Soviet Union. Well, lifetime imprisonment, dishonourable discharge, no pension. All blame will be on him and all praise on who unmasked him. He will be hanged(figuratively) by the press and officials. Exchange is highly unlikely if he is a general. Death penalty too, those were hardly carried out for treason. Unless, he cost the lives of multiple people because of his spying(like telling on other spies.), then he will fry/hang/choke/be shot(depending on the decade i suppose).
 
George Trofimoff might not technically have been a general when he was spying for the KGB(he was a retired colonel), but was still in the reserves and working as a civilian employee of the military. As I remember, his case was more-or-less reported in the press as a military guy caught spying.

His case didn't make that much of an impression when it broke in the late 90s. Certainly, nothing on the level of Ames, the Walker family, or even Pollard. His status as an ex-officer didn't seem to add much to the visibility of his case, and I question whether it would have even it he'd still been on active duty.

I'm assuming he was less damaging than those other spies(hard to beat Ames), and not particularly high-profile. Maybe if he had done more damage, and/or been a household name, he might have garnered a little more notoriety.
 
Every officer ranked general or above gets rubber stamped by congress. The senators and representatives involved in this could suffer if someone they approved was confirmed as a soviet spy.
 
Every officer ranked general or above gets rubber stamped by congress. The senators and representatives involved in this could suffer if someone they approved was confirmed as a soviet spy.

Thanks for that info. That would be a difference between a colonel and a general getting busted.
 
Thanks for that info. That would be a difference between a colonel and a general getting busted.
I'm not sure what the rubber stamping process is. If it's a full congressional confirmation or a select committee. If it's a full review of the officers record or a rubber stamping.

It's also something commonly glossed over in fiction so a lot of people tend to forget about it.
 
Who's the highest ranking operative to be recently outed as a mole? Robert Hassen? I wonder if it would be easier to isolate information leaked by an extremely high ranking general, since they would be privy to information fewer people know about as you get further up the command structure.
 
Also depends on what power he's spying for, an enemy or ally? But i suppose the Soviet Union. Well, lifetime imprisonment, dishonourable discharge, no pension. All blame will be on him and all praise on who unmasked him. He will be hanged(figuratively) by the press and officials. Exchange is highly unlikely if he is a general. Death penalty too, those were hardly carried out for treason. Unless, he cost the lives of multiple people because of his spying(like telling on other spies.), then he will fry/hang/choke/be shot(depending on the decade i suppose).

I think he would get the DP. That high of rank you need to set an example.
 
I think he would get the DP. That high of rank you need to set an example.

why? Espionage is not treated the same way as other forms of treason, like staging a coup. There must be some very damaging information leaked by this General that killed a lot of people before he is sentenced to death, and then it is for those deaths, not for the epsionage. Espionage alone doesn't mean the death penalty, anywhere.

Since its extremely hard to prove such deaths, i'd say the death penalty is highly unlikely.

Edit: Ah, here it is, its not just when the espionage results in death apparently. According to US law:

"the sentence of death shall not be imposed unless the jury or, if there is no jury, the court, further finds that the offense resulted in the identification by a foreign power (as defined in section 101(a) of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978) of an individual acting as an agent of the United States and consequently in the death of that individual, or directly concerned nuclear weaponry, military spacecraft or satellites, early warning systems, or other means of defense or retaliation against large-scale attack; war plans; communications intelligence or cryptographic information; or any other major weapons system or major element of defense strategy."

Not only death directly(like identifying other spies), but when the information would directly cause deaths too(like explaining how to build a nuclear bomb or how an early warning system works).
 
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SsgtC

Banned
I'm not sure what the rubber stamping process is. If it's a full congressional confirmation or a select committee. If it's a full review of the officers record or a rubber stamping.

It varies. A lot depends on if they're up for a one or two star rank of if they're up for 3 or 4 star rank. Every flag rank in the US requires a majority vote in the US Senate before they can be promoted to that rank. For junior general officers, it's little more than a rubber stamp. For senior officer appointed to key commands like SACEUR, JCS, FORCECOM, CENTCOM, CINCPAC, etc they'll get a full hearing. The following is pulled from wiki and gives an overview of the promotion process for a Brigadier General. It also applies to Rear Admiral (Lower Half).

For promotion to the permanent grade of brigadier general, eligible officers are screened by a promotion board consisting of general officers from their branch of service.[5]This promotion board then generates a list of officers it recommends for promotion to general rank.[6] This list is then sent to the service secretary and the joint chiefs for review before it can be sent to the President, through the defense secretary, for consideration.[7] The President nominates officers to be promoted from this list with the advice of the Secretary of Defense, the service secretary, and if applicable, the service's chief of staff or commandant.[8] The President may nominate any eligible officer who is not on the recommended list if it serves in the interest of the nation, but this is uncommon.[9] The Senate must then confirm the nominee by a majority vote before the officer can be promoted. Once the nominee is confirmed, they are promoted to that rank once they assume or hold an office that requires or allows an officer of that rank. For positions of office reserved by statute, the President nominates an officer for appointment to fill that position. For all three uniformed services, because the grade of brigadier general is a permanent rank, the nominee may still be screened by an in-service promotion board. The rank does not expire when the officer vacates a one-star position. Tour length varies depending on the position, by statute, or when the officer receives a new assignment. The average tour length per one-star billet is two to four years.
 
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