Jury considers death for American spy

A former US air force sergeant convicted of trying to sell military secrets to Iraq and China may become the first American in 50 years executed for spying.

The federal jury which found Brian Regan, 40, guilty on Thursday of offering details of US satellites and early-warning systems to Baghdad is considering whether the information was sensitive enough to warrant the death penalty.

The prosecution told the court that the information could have endangered US and British pilots patrolling the no-fly zones over Iraq.

Regan, a father of four from Maryland, as acquitted of trying to spy for Libya. He was arrested at Dulles airport outside Washington DC in August 2001 as he prepared to board a plane to Zurich.

He was carrying the coded coordinates for Iraqi and Chinese missile sites. The addresses of the Iraqi and Chinese embassies in Switzerland were found hidden in his shoe.

If the jury agrees unanimously on the death penalty Regan will become the first person executed in the US for espionage since the electrocution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg in New York in 1953 for passing nuclear secrets to the USSR.

The justice department normally prefers a plea-bargain ruling out execution in return for evidence, to avoid national secrets being discussed in open court, but in this case the prosecutor, Paul McNulty, said the government sought execution because it came at "an important moment in American history, when our need to safeguard military secrets has never been more critical".

The court was told that Regan, an intelligence analyst at the national reconnaissance office, which operates US spy satellites, offered to sell secrets to Baghdad for $13m (£8m) because he had credit card debts of $117,000.

The defence argued that the death sentence was disproportionate because Regan had not succeeded in passing secrets to anyone.

His lawyer Nina Ginsberg presented him as a harmless fantasist, calling him "hare-brained" and "childish".

She added: "No serious foreign power would ever want to deal with this person."