United States v. George MacArthur Posey, III

Appellant George Arthur Posey appeals his convictions for violating and conspiring to violate the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act and the Arms Export Control Act. We affirm.

I

BACKGROUND

Appellant is in the business of selling technical data relating to military and commercial aircraft to contractors located both in the United States and abroad. The information he sells is unclassified, and he generally obtains it from the government through requests under the Freedom of Information Act.

In 1985, the FBI became aware that appellant was arranging sales of technical data to purchasers in South Africa. The government obtained a wiretap order from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court upon a finding that appellant was an “agent of a foreign power” pursuant to 50 U.S.C. § 1801 (b)(2)(A). The wiretap con firmed that appellant was arranging to ship military technology manuals to South Africa. In early 1987, appellant was arrested after an associate was caught with the manuals at the airport, boarding a flight to Argentina en route to South Africa.

Appellant was charged with one count of Conspiracy to Violate the Arms Export Control Act (AECA), 18 U.S.C. § 371 (1982) and 22…