I feel that I deserve more than the small pension I will receive for all the years of service at the CIA," Regan allegedly said in the letter

WASHINGTON, January 13 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - A retired Air Force master sergeant accused of trying to sell military intelligence to Iraq, Libya and China goes on trial Monday, January 13, facing the possibility of becoming the first U.S. espionage suspect to be sentenced to death in more than half a century.

Although an 11th-hour plea agreement between the prosecutors and attorneys for Brian Regan could not be entirely ruled out, Justice Department spokesman Mark Corallo said he was not aware of such a deal being in the works, Agence France-Presse (AFP) said.

"As of this moment, we intend to proceed to trial," Corallo told AFP late Sunday, January 12.

He added that a portion of the evidence to be presented to the U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, will be classified and, therefore, was unlikely to be heard in public.

"Sometimes when classified evidence needs to be entered into the record, it is done in what is called 'in camera,' behind closed doors, with only the judge and the attorneys present," the spokesman explained.

No person convicted of espionage has been executed in the United States since 1953, when Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were put to death for passing information about the U.S. nuclear weapons program to the Soviet Union.

Even such high-profile spies of the 1990s as former CIA operative Aldrich Ames and his FBI counterpart, Robert Hanssen, whose activities cost the lives of U.S. agents overseas, have managed to secure plea bargains sparing their lives.

But 40-year-old Regan goes on trial as the United States, its psyche bruised by the September 11 attacks, is preparing for a possible war with Iraq, and the public is showing little tolerance for those who might be perceived as helpers of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

The name of the Iraqi leader figures prominently in the case, AFP said.

'I am to commit espionage against the U.S.': Regan Allegedly wrote According to court documents, the former signals intelligence specialist who worked for the National Reconnaissance Office, the agency that handles U.S. spy satellites, wrote a letter to Saddam Hussein offering him U.S. military secrets in exchange for 13 million dollars in Swiss francs.

"I am to commit espionage against the United States by providing your country with highly classified information," Regan allegedly wrote to Saddam in a missive that Justice Department officials say was found in the memory of his home computer.

"I feel that I deserve more than the small pension I will receive for all the years of service at the CIA," the letter went on to say.

The heavily-indebted Regan never worked for the Central Intelligence Agency, but he apparently was determined to pad his resume to impress the Iraqis, according to the officials.

The message contains an offer to give Iraq a top secret manual on U.S. reconnaissance satellites, which, according to prosecutors, would have helped Baghdad conceal its weapons and created an additional threat to U.S. and British warplanes flying missions in the no-fly zones (NFZ) in southern and northern Iraq.

"The defendant knowingly created a grave risk of death to another person, namely U.S. and allied pilots patrolling the NFZ," stated U.S. District Attorney Paul McNulty.

Regan has written a similar letter to Libyan leader leader Moamer Kadhafi, offering him a secret U.S. report on Libyan air defenses as well as information on U.S. early warning systems, the court documents showed.

He was arrested by FBI agents at Dulles International Airport outside Washington in August 2001 when he attempted to board a flight to Zurich, Switzerland.

He carried with him classified U.S. satellite images of Iraqi and Chinese surface-to-air missile launchers as well as the addresses and telephone numbers of Iraqi, Libyan and Chinese diplomatic missions in Switzerland, Austria and France, the prosecutors said.