Michael H. Allen

Michael H. Allen was a retired Navy senior chief radioman who was convicted of espionage for selling classified digests of U.S. intelligence on Philippine internal affairs to the Philippine Constabulary.

Allen served in the Navy from 1950 to 1972. After retiring from the Navy, he continued working there as a civilian clerk at the telecommunications center at Cubi Point Naval Air Station near Subic Bay. In addition to his naval duties, he also ran an automobile dealership, and in an effort to promote his local business interests, he built up good relations with the police by passing along the classified information.

The documents, which included information on rebel force movements, in particular by the New People's Army, was passed to the Philippine Constabulary, a branch of the Armed Forces of the Philippines that was notorious for cracking down on dissidents during the regime of Ferdinand Marcos. Most of the information was prepared by the Naval Investigative Service (NIS), which was a primary collector of U.S. intelligence in the Philippines. Because of Allen's disclosures, at least one NIS undercover agent was blown.

The NIS began to investigate Allen when a co-worker reported in 1986 that he was spending excessive time at the office photocopier. A hidden camera was then installed near the photocopier, and the resulting videotape surveillance showed Allen copying the documents and hiding them in his pocket.

Allen was arrested in December 1986 after a five month investigation, and when confronted with the evidence, confessed. As a naval reservist, he was court-martialled and found guilty of ten counts of espionage. He was sentenced to eight years in prison, fined $10,000, and ordered to forfeit additional Navy retirement pay.

Allen's arrest demonstrated the vulnerability of communications personnel to recruitment by foreign intelligence agencies, a fact exemplified by the arrest of John Anthony Walker and Jerry Whitworth two years previously.