Crimes of the Times: "Tinker, Tailor, Stoner, Spy"

Podcast: Crimes of the Times (L.A. Times Studios)
Host: Christopher Goffard
Guests: Kate Mills (Boyce's ex-wife), Joel Levine (Former Assistant U.S. Attorney)
Release Date: October 28, 2025
Duration: ~29 minutes

Episode Overview

This episode delves into the infamous espionage case involving Christopher Boyce and Andrew Dalton Lee, two Southern California altar boys who became Soviet spies in the 1970s. Christopher Goffard takes listeners behind the scenes, unraveling the improbable ways Boyce accessed sensitive military secrets and sold them to the Soviets—with the help of his friend Lee. The episode examines how 1970s counterculture collided with Cold War realities, shining a spotlight on missed red flags, questionable security, personal motivations, and the human toll of betrayal.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Boyce’s Unlikely Access to National Secrets

• Background: Christopher Boyce was born and raised in the affluent, Catholic community of Palos Verdes, Southern California, and embodied a blend of liberal, countercultural disillusionment and traditional upbringing ([00:42]).
• Job Acquisition: Boyce secured a clerical position at TRW’s classified defense complex, largely thanks to his father's connections. The background check was cursory at best ([01:57]).
  • Quote: “His father ran security for an aircraft contractor and had once been an FBI agent. He’d called in a favor. The family name seemed to carry great weight and TRW investigators had performed only a perfunctory background check before hiring him.” — Christopher Goffard [01:57]
• Lifestyle: Despite his high-clearance job, Boyce was openly part of the counterculture, popping amphetamines by day and smoking joints by night ([02:50]).

2. The Missed Red Flags

• Weak Vetting: Neither TRW management nor security interviewed Boyce’s friends or peers, missing clear indicators of his unsuitability for sensitive work ([02:21], [02:37]).
  • Quote: “Had anybody at TRW… interviewed any of his friends… they would have found out he was this nomadic, pot smoking, counterculture kind of guy. They would never have hired somebody like that at TRW.” — Kate Mills [02:37]

3. Motives for Betrayal

• Disillusionment: Boyce, disenchanted by Vietnam and Watergate, was further incensed by evidence of American government deception, particularly in dealings with Australia ([03:40]).
• Impulse or Ideology?:
  • Quote: “I think that he saw a challenge and he went for the challenge and he roped in his friend.” — Kate Mills [06:15]
  • Mills argues Boyce was motivated more by daredevil thrill than genuine idealism.

4. The Role of Andrew Dalton Lee

• Partner in Espionage: Lee, a childhood friend and ex-altar boy, was already deep in the drug trade and craved money ([07:20]).
• Personality Contrast: Lee’s recklessness and appetite for risk made him the operational partner.
  • Quote: “If Boyce had political and ideological motives for espionage, money was Lee’s obsession.” — Goffard [07:20]
  • Lee’s indiscretion (showing off spy gear, braggadocio at parties) hastened their downfall ([08:11]).

5. The Operation: Passing Secrets to the Soviets

• Spycraft 101: Lee approached the Soviet embassy in Mexico City offering secrets, adopted clandestine protocols (e.g., taping an X to lampposts), and trafficked “thousands of classified documents” over more than a year ([08:11]).
• Failure and Arrest: Lee, desperate for heroin cash, was caught waiting outside the embassy with sensitive film. He named Boyce under pressure ([09:00]).

6. Prosecution Challenges and Legal Tactics

• Sensitive Evidence: Prosecutors, led by Joel Levine, walked a tightrope: revealing too much could compromise national security, but withholding evidence risked undermining the trial ([10:31], [11:18]).
  • Quote: “We had to devise strategies where that wasn’t the subject matter of our prosecution…if we’re forced to go beyond certain category of information, we might have to cut the case short, you know, and dismiss the charges.” — Joel Levine [10:37], [11:30]
• Historical Paranoia: After the Pentagon Papers embarrassment, the prosecution was hypersensitive about mishandling the case ([11:45], [12:05]).

7. Defense Strategies & Courtroom Drama

• Turning on Each Other: Each defendant’s legal team tried to shift the blame ([14:32]).
  • Lee’s defense: He thought he was helping the CIA transmit disinformation to the Soviets ([14:50]).
  • Boyce’s defense: He claimed Lee blackmailed him, using a letter he’d written while high ([17:09]).
  • Quote: “No, I never believed a word of that. … Both of them, the guilt is equitable between the two of them.” — Kate Mills [17:23]
• Juror Reaction: Neither defense swayed the jury. Lee got life, Boyce received 40 years ([18:58]).

8. The Aftermath: Escapes, Media, and Regret

• Dramatic Escape: Boyce’s 1980 prison break led to bank robberies and an eventual recapture ([18:58]).
• Media Depiction: The story became the book and film The Falcon and the Snowman—with Boyce as the falconer and Lee as the snowman ([19:38]).
• Testifying to Congress: Boyce later spoke on the hollowness of espionage:
  • Quote: “There was no thrill… only depression and a hopeless enslavement to an inhuman, uncaring bureaucracy. No American who has gone to the KGB has not come to regret it.” — Christopher Goffard paraphrasing Boyce [20:22]
  • He described making mixed drinks in the code destruction blender ([20:41]).

9. Rehabilitation and Redemption

• Lee’s Parole Push: Kate Mills, initially fascinated by the case, labored for 20 years to secure Lee’s release, ultimately with support from former prosecutors ([21:38], [22:00]).
  • Quote: “Those letters made every single bit of difference.” — Kate Mills [21:53]
  • Levine: “He had made a genuine effort to change his life. Maybe I was being a softy, but that’s how I felt.” — Joel Levine [22:36]
• Romance & Release: Mills fell in love with Boyce, later married him after his release in 2002 ([23:39]).
  • Quote: “He said, ‘My mother would never forgive me if I did that.’” — Kate Mills, on their marriage [23:39]
• Current Lives: Boyce and Mills are now divorced but remain close. Boyce and Lee have not spoken in 45 years ([24:10]).

10. Legacy and Lasting Damage

• Estrangement: Lee has “written off” Boyce, blaming him for his imprisonment ([24:31]).
• Assessment of Harm: Boyce claims the secrets were worthless, but prosecutors say otherwise.
  • Quote: “In a murder case, you have one victim ... In an espionage case, the whole country is a victim. ... They leveled the playing field.” — Richard Stull, former prosecutor (relayed by Goffard) [25:38]
  • Levine confirms that the material provided to the Soviets had “substantial value” ([26:31]).
• Human Cost: The anguish suffered by both families, especially Boyce’s father, is highlighted as a poignant note ([27:31]).

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Boyce's Fit for the Job:
  “They would have found out … he was this nomadic, pot smoking, counterculture kind of guy. They would never have hired somebody like that at TRW.” — Kate Mills [02:37]
• On Motivation:
  “I think that he saw a challenge and he went for the challenge and he roped in his friend.” — Kate Mills [06:15]
• On Security:
  “Security was a joke, he said. … We used the code destruction blender for making banana daiquiris and mai tais.” — Christopher Boyce via Goffard [20:41]
• On Redemption:
  “He had made a genuine effort to change his life. Maybe I was being a softy, but that’s how I felt.” — Joel Levine [22:36]
• On Repercussions:
  “In a murder case, you have one victim ... In an espionage case, the whole country is a victim.” — Richard Stull via Goffard [25:38]

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Setting the Stage & Background (00:00–03:40)
• Boyce’s Work at TRW, Disillusionment (03:40–04:57)
• Failed Security Vettings & Lifestyle (02:21–03:10)
• Initiating Espionage, Motives (06:15–07:20)
• Introducing Andrew Dalton Lee (07:20–08:11)
• Spying Operations in Mexico City (08:11–09:00)
• Discovery, Arrest, and Legal Peril (09:00–10:31)
• Prosecution Strategy and Courtroom Challenges (11:18–12:57)
• Kate Mills’ Interest and Emotional Involvement (13:01–14:32)
• Mutual Betrayal in Trials (14:32–18:12)
• Boyce’s Prison Escape and Pop Culture Legacy (18:58–20:41)
• Parole Battles and Redemption for Lee (20:56–22:49)
• Life After Prison, Marriage, and Estrangement (23:03–24:10)
• Lasting Impact and Damage Assessment (25:38–26:39)
• Reflection on Family Anguish (27:31–27:55)

Tone and Style Reflection

Delivered in Christopher Goffard’s signature investigative style—unhurried and reflective—the episode combines a keen eye for character detail with a sense of profound strangeness about Cold War California. Contributions from Kate Mills are personal, blunt, sometimes darkly funny; legal insights from Joel Levine are measured and candid. Together, they provide a nuanced, sometimes tragic, always human account of an American espionage saga that’s stranger than fiction.