Former U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Clyde Lee Conrad, convicted of treason for leaking NATO and American secrets to the Soviet bloc, died in the German prison where he was serving a life sentence. He was 50.
Prosecutors in Koblenz confirmed Tuesday that Conrad died on Thursday, apparently from heart failure. An autopsy was ordered.Conrad was convicted June 6, 1990, of masterminding an espionage ring that sold secrets to Hungarian and Czechoslovakian intelligence agents from 1975 through 1985, when he retired from the military.
Prosecutors said the documents - about troop maneuvers, NATO strategy and nuclear weapons sites - eventually found their way to the Soviet KGB.
The German court found he had compromised the West's entire defense capability, in exchange for an estimated $1.2 million.
Conrad was prosecuted by Germany because he had retired in what was then West Germany, with his German wife and son.
A native of Sebring, Ohio, Conrad had been in charge of classified documents at the army's 8th Infantry Division in Bad Kreuznach near Frankfurt.