Nicholson, Harold James

(1950– )

   Nicholson, a career Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer volunteered to the KGB in 1994 while he was completing a foreign tour of duty with the Directorate of Operations. Nicholson, who was divorced with three children, hacked into the CIA’s computer system to gather any information he could on CIA operations, including biographic information on every CIA officer he trained between 1994 and 1996. For this important operational information, he was paid approximately $120,000 between 1994 and 1996. Nicholson was tracked and caught in 1996. After failing his polygraph examination, an internal CIA audit of his finances showed that Nicholson was spending money erratically. A joint FBI-CIA task force was able to establish Nicholson’s pattern of operations. He was arrested in 1996 at Dulles Airport near Washington. He was sentenced to 27 years imprisonment.