High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! John Anthony Walker, Jr. (b. 28 July 1937, Washington D.C.) is a former United States Navy Chief Warrant Officer and communications specialist convicted of spying for the Soviet Union from 1968 to 1985, at the height of the Cold War (1945–91). In late 1985, Walker pleaded guilty in a plea arrangement, whereby he testified against conspirator Jerry Whitworth, gave details of his espionage, and negotiated lenient punishment for his son, Michael Walker. During his time as a Soviet spy, CWO Walker helped the Soviets decipher more than one million encrypted naval messages, organizing a spy operation that The New York Times reported in 1987 “is sometimes described as the most damaging Soviet spy ring in history.”