Lonetree was tried in a court martial at
Quantico, Virginia and convicted of all 13 counts - six of espionage, three of conspiracy to commit espionage and four of violating general regulations - on August 21, 1987. Lonetree faced the possibility of a life sentence or being executed, but initially received a 30-year sentence with a
reduction in rank from E-5 to E-1, a fine of $5,000, the loss of all military pay and allowances, and a dishonorable discharge. In 1989, the
Commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen.
Alfred M. Gray Jr., wrote a letter to the
Secretary of the Navy recommending that Lonetree's sentence be reduced from 30 to 15 years. Gray wrote that the effect of Private Lonetree's actions "was minimal." In addition, he said, the Marine's motivation "was not treason or greed, but rather the lovesick response of a naive, young, immature and lonely troop in a lonely and hostile environment." Lonetree's sentence was subsequently reduced to 15 years. In May 1991, Lonetree filed an appeal, asking that his conviction and sentence be overturned because he had never learned the identity of one accuser, but this was denied. Some of the serious security breaches at the embassy which were alleged to have been the work of Lonetree were found to have been done by CIA mole
Aldrich Ames. Lonetree was released in 1996 after serving nine years at the
United States Disciplinary Barracks. According to
Time magazine: Marine Sergeant Clayton Lonetree, 25, was so highly regarded at his job as security guard at the U.S. embassy in Moscow that in November 1985 he was detached for special duty at the
Reagan–Gorbachev summit in Geneva. Last week Lonetree sat in a brig at the
Marine base at Quantico, Va., suspected by his superiors of helping the Soviet KGB filch classified U.S. documents from diplomatic offices in Moscow and Vienna. Lonetree, authorities said, had an affair with a female
KGB agent who was reportedly working as a translator at the embassy. In 2001, Lonetree testified as an
expert witness at the trial of former
United States Army Reserve Colonel
George Trofimoff, who was charged with spying for the KGB. After remorsefully describing his own recruitment by the Soviet State, Lonetree publicly sobbed on the witness stand and apologized for his actions. Colonel Trofimoff was subsequently convicted of espionage and sentenced to
life imprisonment. ==See also==