[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 17 (Thursday, February 24, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: February 24, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                      DEATH PENALTY FOR ESPIONAGE

  Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, the Senate crime bill's death penalty 
provisions provide the death penalty for, among other crimes, 
espionage. There are efforts underway in the other body to defeat the 
death penalty or attach gutting amendments that will make the death 
penalty virtually impossible to impose.
  For years, many of my colleagues and I have been fighting for passage 
of a true, workable Federal death penalty that will appropriately 
punish and deter capital crimes against our Nation. For years these 
efforts have been thwarted by death penalty opponents.
  As a result, there is no death penalty for espionage, and the maximum 
penalty Aldrich Ames faces, if convicted for selling our country's 
secrets--all for $1.5 million and a more comfortable lifestyle--is life 
imprisonment. That is the most that he would suffer. And that is taking 
into consideration that it appears at least 11 people who have worked 
for the United States have been murdered as a result of his espionage 
and of his treason to our Government.
  The Senate-passed crime bill authorizes the imposition of the death 
penalty in espionage cases where ``in the commission of the offense the 
defendant knowingly created a grave risk of death to another person.'' 
It is clear from court records that Mr. Ames compromised the safety of 
U.S. operatives overseas, and the prevailing wisdom is that several 
agents may have been murdered as a result of intelligence that he 
crassly sold to a foreign government.
  Mr. President, when a potential turncoat calculates whether he will 
betray his country for profit, the prospect that he or she may be sent 
to the electric chair should be part of his or her calculation. The 
death penalty is a strong deterrent to such crimes. For crimes like 
espionage and treason for profit, the likelihood of such a crime being 
committed will be diminished if the potential punishment includes the 
death penalty. This is a price some criminals will not want to pay for 
a new Jaguar.
  I believe we need an enforceable, comprehensive Federal death penalty 
for espionage, and we need the President's leadership on this issue. So 
I strongly urge President Clinton to announce his support for a Federal 
death penalty contained in the Senate bill.
  We not only have the death penalty there, we resolve the procedural 
conflicts that have made it unenforceable over all these years. I 
cannot think of a better instance where it should be enforceable than 
in those cases where a person sells out his or her country, and does so 
for a cheap profit by putting lives in jeopardy and causing the death 
of other people.
  I cannot determine the Ames case in advance, nor do I want to. But if 
the facts are as they have been explained to me by governmental law 
enforcement leaders, then this is an appropriate time to pass the 
Senate bill with the Federal death penalty intact, enforceable, and 
written well.

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