US prosecutors seek death penalty for former sergeant accused of spying

The trial began yesterday of a former US Air Force master sergeant who faces the death penalty for allegedly offering to sell secrets to Iraq and Libya for $13m (£8m). If the death penalty is eventually enforced, it would be the first time America has executed anyone for spying since the 1950s.

Brian Regan, 40, appeared in court as the formal process of jury selection began with potential jurors filling in questionnaires, which asked their views on crime, espionage, the 11 September terrorist attacks and the death penalty. "Good morning, I'm Brian Regan," he told almost 100 potential jurors before sitting down as Judge Gerald Lee told the US Federal Court in Alexandria, Virginia, the case would be tried "efficiently and fairly".

Prosecutors say Mr Regan should be executed for writing to Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi, offering to sell them US intelligence reports and satellite photographs of their countries. In an earlier statement, the US attorney Paul McNulty wrote: "The defendant intended to give to Iraq, a hostile country that has regularly attempted to shoot down US and allied aircraft flying in the no-fly zone, detailed and comprehensive information concerning US reconnaissance satellites. The disclosure of this information would make it more difficult to protect the lives of our servicemen."

The trial is unusual. The Justice Department nearly always negotiates a plea agreement in espionage cases, even in instances where spying has resulted in the deaths of America's foreign agents, to avert the disclosure in court of sensitive information. In this case, the judge has cited national security to bar the public and reporters from some earlier hearings.

Mr Regan's lawyers say the seeking of the death penalty is politically motivated. America has not executed anyone for espionage since Ethel and Julius Rosenberg went to the electric chair in 1953 for selling atomic secrets to the USSR.

"It is outrageous that the United States would try to execute a guy who never hurt the US when death was not even an issue for the likes of [convicted spies] Robert Hanssen, James Nicholson and Earl Pitts," said Jonathan Shapiro, one of Mr Regan's legal team.

Mr Regan retired from the Air Force in August 2000 to work for a defence contractor in the National Reconnaissance Office, which designs and operates spy satellites. He was arrested a year later as he attempted to board a plane to Zurich at Dulles airport, Washington. Agents said his bags contained five pages of secret documents relating to an intelligence computer system, plus encrypted notes and a handheld global positioning system device. They also said he carried, tucked inside a shoe, addresses he found on the internet showing locations of embassies in Switzerland and Austria for the governments of Iraq, China and Libya.

On Mr Regan's home computer, the FBI said it found a letter drafted to President Saddam offering details of US satellites, which could help Iraq to hide anti-aircraft missiles.

* US officials said yesterday they had no intelligence showing a plot to blow up aircraft carrying troops to the Gulf, dismissing a newspaper report that said authorities had specific evidence on an attack.