Robert Lipka Robert Stephen Lipka ( born 1946 ) is a former army clerk at the National Security Agency ( NSA ) who , in 1997 , pled guilty to conspiracy to commit espionage and was sentenced to 18 years in prison . He was arrested more than 30 years after his betrayal , as there is no statute of limitations for espionage . Early career . Robert Lipka was assigned to the National Security Agency as an intelligence analyst in 1964 , when he was a 19 year old U . S . Army soldier . He worked in the central communications room from 1964 – 1967 , where he was responsible for removing and disseminating highly classified documents throughout the agency . Despite his junior rank , Lipka held a high security clearance , and had access to a diverse array of highly classified documents . Espionage . In September 1965 , Lipka presented himself to the Soviet Embassy on 16th Street , as a walk - in or volunteer spy . He announced that he was responsible for shredding highly classified documents , and over the next two years he made contact with the residency around fifty times , using a variety of skilled tradecraft . According to his handler at the time , former KGB General Oleg Danilovich Kalugin , " the young soldier ( Lipka ) . . . was involved in shredding and destroying NSA documents and could supply us with a wealth of material . " He goes on to say that Lipka gave him " whatever he got his hands on , often having little idea what he was turning over . " Lipka compromised daily and weekly top - secret reports to the White House , information on US troop movements throughout the world , and communications among NATO allies . During the two years Lipka supplied the KGB top - secret information , he received payment of about $ 27 , 000 dollars . Kalugin claims that Lipka used the money he received , around $ 500 to $ 1 , 000 per package he delivered , to finance his college education . However , Lipka regularly complained that he deserved more money , and threatened to break contact if this demand was not met . In August 1967 , Lipka made good on his threat , and left the NSA at the end of his military service in order to attend Millersville University of Pennsylvania . In order to discourage any attempts by the KGB to recontact him , Lipka sent a final message claiming that he had been a double agent for US intelligence all along . According to Vasili Mitrokhin , the KGB knew this was a lie because of the high importance of the classified documents Lipka provided . Both the residency and illegals ( non diplomatic cover handlers ) tried to renew contact with Lipka intermittently for at least another 11 years , though without success . Investigation and Arrest . Similar to the John Anthony Walker case , Lipka ' s ex - wife made accusations of his treason to the FBI . In 1993 , armed with these accusations , revelations from Kalugin ' s memoir , and information from a separate investigation implicating Lipka , the FBI decided to use a false flag operation to catch him . FBI agent Dmitri Droujinsky contacted Lipka , posing as a GRU officer based in Washington named " Sergei Nikitin . " Lipka told Nikitin that he was still owed money , and over the course of four meetings , " Nikitin " gave Lipka $ 10 , 000 . After a lengthy investigation , Lipka admitted to having been a spy while at the NSA , and in February 1996 he was arrested at his home in Millersville , PA , and charged with handing classified documents to the Soviet Union . As there is no statute of limitations in espionage cases , it did not matter that Lipka had ceased spying for the Soviet Union three decades before his arrest . According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons , Lipka was released on December 8 , 2006 . Trial . Lipka ' s trial began in 1997 at the US District Court in Philadelphia . Though he initially pled " not guilty " to the charge of conspiracy to commit espionage , in May 1997 he broke down and confessed . According to the " Philadelphia Inquirer " Lipka " exploded into tears as he confessed that he had handed over classified information to KGB agents . " Information implicating Lipka that was uncovered in the Mitrokhin Archive likely led to Lipka ' s change of heart . Lipka was sentenced to 18 years imprisonment , and fined $ 10 , 000 . In addition , he was ordered to repay the $ 10 , 000 he had received from " Sergei Nikitin " in the FBI ' s false flag operation .