Christopher John Boyce (born 16 February 1953) is a former American defense industry employee who was convicted of selling
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
spy satellite
A reconnaissance satellite or intelligence satellite (commonly, although unofficially, referred to as a spy satellite) is an Earth observation satellite or communications satellite deployed for military or intelligence applications.
The ...
secrets to the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
in the 1970s.
Early life
Boyce is the son of Noreen Boyce (née Hollenbeck) and former
McDonnell Douglas Aircraft Corporation Director of Security Charles Eugene Boyce. Along with his three brothers and five sisters, Boyce was reared in
Southern California
Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban a ...
, in the affluent community of
Rancho Palos Verdes
Rancho Palos Verdes (Spanish for "Green Sticks Ranch") is a coastal city located in Los Angeles County, California atop the bluffs of the Palos Verdes Peninsula, neighboring other cities in the Palos Verdes Hills, including Palos Verdes Est ...
, a suburb southwest of
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
.
In 1974, Boyce was hired at
TRW, an aerospace firm in
Redondo Beach, California
Redondo Beach (Spanish for ''round'') is a coastal city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, located in the South Bay region of the Greater Los Angeles area. It is one of three adjacent beach cities along the southern portion of Sa ...
. Due to his father's position at McDonnell Douglas, Boyce was able to obtain employment.
Espionage
Within months, Boyce was promoted to a highly sensitive position in TRW's "Black Vault" (classified communications center) with a
top secret
Classified information is material that a government body deems to be sensitive information that must be protected. Access is restricted by law or regulation to particular groups of people with the necessary security clearance and need to kn ...
security clearance
A security clearance is a status granted to individuals allowing them access to classified information (state or organizational secrets) or to restricted areas, after completion of a thorough background check. The term "security clearance" is ...
, where he worked with
National Reconnaissance Office
The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) is a member of the United States Intelligence Community and an agency of the United States Department of Defense which designs, builds, launches, and operates the reconnaissance satellites of the U.S. fe ...
(NRO) transmissions.
Boyce claims that he began getting misrouted cables from the
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
(CIA) discussing the agency's desire to depose the government of Prime Minister
Gough Whitlam
Edward Gough Whitlam (11 July 191621 October 2014) was the 21st prime minister of Australia, serving from 1972 to 1975. The longest-serving federal leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 1967 to 1977, he was notable for being the ...
in Australia. Boyce claimed the CIA wanted Whitlam removed from office because he wanted to close U.S. military bases in Australia, including the vital
Pine Gap
Pine Gap is a satellite surveillance base and Australian Earth station approximately south-west of the town of Alice Springs, Northern Territory in the center of Australia. It is jointly operated by Australia and the United States, and sinc ...
secure communications facility, and withdraw Australian troops from
Vietnam
Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
. For these reasons, John Pilger, Australian journalist and author, has written that U.S. government pressure was a major factor in the
dismissal of Whitlam as Prime Minister by the Governor General,
Sir John Kerr
Sir John Robert Kerr (24 September 1914 – 24 March 1991) was an Australian barrister and judge who served as the 18th Governor-General of Australia, in office from 1974 to 1977. He is primarily known for his involvement in the 1975 constit ...
, who according to Boyce, was referred to as "our man Kerr" by CIA officers.
Through the cable traffic Boyce saw that the CIA was involving itself in such a manner, not just with Australia but with other democratic, industrialized allies. Boyce considered going to the press, but believed the media's earlier disclosure of CIA involvement in the
1973 Chilean coup d'état
The 1973 Chilean coup d'état Enciclopedia Virtual > Historia > Historia de Chile > Del gobierno militar a la democracia" on LaTercera.cl. Retrieved 22 September 2006.
In October 1972, Chile suffered the first of many strikes. Among the par ...
had not changed anything for the better.
Instead, he gathered a quantity of
classified documents concerning secure U.S. communications
ciphers and spy satellite development and had his friend
Andrew Daulton Lee
Andrew Daulton Lee (January 3, 1952) is a former drug dealer who was convicted of espionage for his involvement in the Cold War spying activities of his childhood friend, Christopher Boyce.
Lee was the adopted eldest son of Dr. Daulton Lee, a wea ...
, a
cocaine
Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly used recreationally for its euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from the leaves of two Coca species native to South Ameri ...
and heroin dealer since his high school days (hence his nickname, "The Snowman"), deliver them to Soviet embassy officials in
Mexico City
Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital city, capital and primate city, largest city of Mexico, and the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North Amer ...
, returning with large sums of cash for Boyce (nicknamed "The Falcon" because of his longtime interest in
falconry) and himself. According to a book that Boyce and his wife co-authored, the information was not valuable to the Soviet Union.
Exposure
Boyce, then 23, was finally exposed after Lee was arrested by Mexican police in front of the Soviet embassy on 6 January 1977.
His arrest was "almost by accident": Lee was arrested for littering.
[ During his harsh interrogation, Lee, who had ]top secret
Classified information is material that a government body deems to be sensitive information that must be protected. Access is restricted by law or regulation to particular groups of people with the necessary security clearance and need to kn ...
microfilm
Microforms are scaled-down reproductions of documents, typically either photographic film, films or paper, made for the purposes of transmission, storage, reading, and printing. Microform images are commonly reduced to about 4% or of the origin ...
in his possession when arrested, confessed to being a Soviet spy and implicated Boyce. Boyce was arrested ten days later on 16 January, when the FBI
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...
found him hiding out at the shack he was renting near Riverside, California
Riverside is a city in and the county seat of Riverside County, California, United States, in the Inland Empire metropolitan area. It is named for its location beside the Santa Ana River. It is the most populous city in the Inland Empire an ...
. He was convicted on eight counts of espionage
Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangib ...
on 28 April 1977, and sentenced by federal district
A federal district is a type of administrative division of a federation, usually under the direct control of a federal government and organized sometimes with a single municipal body. Federal districts often include capital districts, and they ...
judge Robert Kelleher on 12 September to forty years in prison, initially at Terminal Island
Terminal Island, historically known as Isla Raza de Buena Gente, is a largely artificial island located in Los Angeles County, California, between the neighborhoods of Wilmington and San Pedro in the city of Los Angeles, and the city of Long B ...
, then the Metropolitan Correctional Center in San Diego. On 10 July 1979, he was transferred to the federal penitentiary in Lompoc, California
Lompoc ( ; Chumash: ''Lum Poc'') is a city in Santa Barbara County, California. Located on the Central Coast, Lompoc has a population of 43,834 as of July 2021.
Lompoc has been inhabited for thousands of years by the Chumash people, who calle ...
.
Escape
On 21 January 1980, Boyce escaped from Lompoc. While a fugitive, Boyce carried out 17 bank robberies in Idaho
Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyomi ...
and Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
, hoping to pay for passage to the Soviet Union, and adopted the alias of "Anthony Edward Lester."
According to Boyce, he studied aviation, not to flee to the Soviet Union as some suspected, but to rescue Daulton Lee from Lompoc.
On 21 August 1981, Boyce was arrested by U.S. Marshals while eating in his car outside "The Pit Stop," a drive-in restaurant in Port Angeles, Washington
Port Angeles ( ) is a city and county seat of Clallam County, Washington, United States. With a population of 19,960 as of the 2020 census, it is the largest city in the county. The population was estimated at 20,134 in 2021.
The city's har ...
. Authorities had received a tip about Boyce's whereabouts from his former bank robbery confederates.
Return to prison
In the spring of 1982, Boyce appeared before Judge Harold Ryan in U.S. District Court in Boise
Boise (, , ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho and is the county seat of Ada County. On the Boise River in southwestern Idaho, it is east of the Oregon border and north of the Nevada border. The downtown area' ...
and was sentenced to three years for his escape and 25 years for bank robbery, conspiracy, and breaking federal gun laws. Given an aggregate total sentence of 68 years, he was transferred to United States Penitentiary, Leavenworth
The United States Penitentiary, Leavenworth (USP Leavenworth) is a medium security U.S. penitentiary with an adjacent minimum security satellite camp in northeast Kansas. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the Unite ...
.
Later that year, Boyce gave a television interview to Ray Martin for Australia's ''60 Minutes'' about the dismissal of Whitlam. After this he was assaulted by fellow inmates, an attack he believed was orchestrated by prison guards. After the attack, he was transferred to USP Marion, where he was held in isolation.
In April 1985, Boyce gave testimony on how to prevent insider spy threats to the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations
The Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI), stood up in March 1941 as the "Truman Committee," is the oldest subcommittee of the United States Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs (formerly the Committee on Governme ...
as part of its Government Personnel Security Program.
In 1988, with support from senators, he was transferred, out of solitary confinement, to Minnesota Correctional Facility – Oak Park Heights
Minnesota Correctional Facility – Oak Park Heights (MCF-OPH) is Minnesota's only Level Five maximum security prison. The facility is located near the cities of Bayport and Stillwater. The facility is designed and employed with trained secur ...
. He was transferred to ADX Florence
The United States Penitentiary, Florence Administrative Maximum Facility (USP Florence ADMAX), commonly known as ADX Florence, is an American federal prison in Fremont County near Florence, Colorado. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Pri ...
in Colorado in 1998; in his opinion, this was punishment for a newspaper article that he had written. In 2000, he was transferred to FCI Sheridan in Oregon, northwest of Salem.
Release and subsequent life
Boyce was released from prison on parole on 16 September 2002 after serving a little more than 25 years, accounting for his time spent outside from the escape. Shortly thereafter he married Kathleen Mills, whom he had met when she was working as a paralegal spearheading efforts to obtain parole for Lee. After her success with Lee, she turned her attention to securing parole for Boyce as well, and the two developed a personal relationship. Boyce is on good terms with his father and eight siblings, and was with his mother as well until her death in 2017.
In 2013, Boyce published a book titled ''American Sons: The Untold Story of the Falcon and the Snowman'', which mainly discusses his time in prison and relationship with his wife, Kathleen, and writer Vince Font. At that time, he was living a relatively quiet life where he has resumed his participation in falconry as a frequent pastime. When interviewed at the time his book was released, Boyce expressed support for the actions of Edward Snowden in exposing information about the United States government's surveillance programs.
In popular culture
The story of their case was told in Robert Lindsey's best-selling 1979 book ''The Falcon and the Snowman''. This book was turned into a film of the same title in 1985 by director John Schlesinger
John Richard Schlesinger (; 16 February 1926 – 25 July 2003) was an English film and stage director. He won the Academy Award for Best Director for ''Midnight Cowboy'', and was nominated for the same award for two other films ('' Darling'' an ...
starring Timothy Hutton
Timothy Tarquin Hutton (born August 16, 1960) is an American actor and film director. He is the youngest recipient of the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, which he won at age 20 for his performance as Conrad Jarrett in ''Ordinary People ...
as Boyce and Sean Penn
Sean Justin Penn (born August 17, 1960) is an American actor and film director. He has won two Academy Awards, for his roles in the mystery drama ''Mystic River'' (2003) and the biopic ''Milk'' (2008).
Penn began his acting career in televisi ...
as Lee.
Lindsey's initial book was followed by ''The Flight of the Falcon: The True Story of the Escape and Manhunt for America's Most Wanted Spy'' (1983), an account of Boyce's escape from prison and subsequent bank robbing spree.
References
Further reading
Statement by
Peter Staples
Peter Staples (born 15 October 1947 in Melbourne, Victoria) is an Australian former politician for the Australian Labor Party. He was first elected to Parliament in 1983 as the Member for Diamond Valley. When Diamond Valley was abolished in 19 ...
, Member for Jagajaga
The Division of Jagajaga is an Australian Electoral Division in the state of Victoria. It is located in the north-eastern suburbs of Melbourne, and lies north of the Yarra River. It covers an area of approximately 104 square kilometres and co ...
in Australia, 20 November 1986
* Robert Lindsey, ''The Falcon and the Snowman: A True Story of Friendship and Espionage'', Lyons Press, 1979,
* Robert Lindsey, ''The Flight of the Falcon: The True Story of the Escape and Manhunt for America's Most Wanted Spy'', Simon & Schuster
Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest pu ...
, 1983,
* Christopher Boyce, Cait Boyce, Vince Font, ''American Sons: The Untold Story of the Falcon and the Snowman'', Glass Spider Publishing, 2013/2017,
External links
''American Sons: The Untold Story of the Falcon and The Snowman'' book and blog website
CodenameFalcon on Twitter
''Chris "The Falcon" Boyce'' episode on The Dollop Podcast
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boyce, Christopher
1953 births
American bank robbers
American escapees
American people convicted of spying for the Soviet Union
American spies
Escapees from United States federal government detention
Fugitives
Living people
People convicted under the Espionage Act of 1917
Place of birth missing (living people)