News In Brief
| San Francisco
Federal judge accepts plea of guilt from high-tech spy
Federal Judge Samuel Conti accepted the guilty plea Monday of self-confessed spy James D. Harper and set May 14 for Mr. Harper's sentencing. Harper, a former Silicon Valley engineer, testified he sold thousands of pages of secrets about the Minuteman and MX missile to the Poles for $250,000.
''This damage can have an effect on our country, in particular on the defense against ballistic missiles, for some time to come, perhaps into the 21st century ,'' said John Cunningham, an Army official.
The Soviet Union is said to have sent a team of 20 experts from Moscow to Warsaw to examine some of the material.
The death penalty has been ruled out by a US Appeals Court, but Harper faces possible life imprisonment.
