Irvin Chambers Scarbeck

Irvin Chambers Scarbeck
Personal details
Born	8 May 1920
Died	1970
Nativity	United States
Religion	Protestant
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch	United States Army
ASN	32231924
Rank	Sergeant
Camp Ritchie	Class 26 (3 January – 3 March 1945), 27 (5 February – 5 April 1945)
Section	5B (26); 5C (27)
Enlisted	Cp Upton Yaphank, New York

Research notes on this page are compiled from the source file and later edits. They may be unverified, incomplete, or incorrect, and should not be treated as established fact. Please correct the article or add sources on the talk page. For class-roster terms, see About the data.

Sources & confidence: Treat Research notes as leads, not settled fact. Prefer NARA, the class roster, newspapers, Find a Grave, or published histories for contested claims. Mark unsourced claims with {{Needs source}}, or explain disagreements on talk. Baseline import notes: About the data.

Irvin Chambers Scarbeck (8 May 1920 – 1970) was a United States Army sergeant who trained at Camp Ritchie in Class 26 and Class 27, and who, as a State Department official in Warsaw, was blackmailed by Polish intelligence and in 1961 became the first person prosecuted under the espionage provision of the Subversive Activities Control Act.

Biography

Irvin Chambers Scarbeck was born on 8 May 1920. He studied at the City College of New York and New York University, completing two years of college, and worked as an electrician before the war.

Scarbeck enlisted at Camp Upton, Yaphank, New York, and served in the Army from 1942 to 1946, rising to staff sergeant. At Camp Ritchie he trained as a sergeant with Class 26 (section 5B) and Class 27 (section 5C), and he served overseas.

In 1956 Scarbeck joined the State Department, where he received an award for meritorious service, and in 1958 he was posted to the U.S. embassy in Warsaw as an office manager, joined there by his wife and children. In 1959 he began an affair with a young Polish woman; in 1960 agents of the Polish Security Service (UB) photographed the couple and used the photographs to blackmail him into passing secret U.S. government information. He said he cooperated to protect her from arrest, and he helped her leave for West Germany. The FBI arrested him on 13 June 1961, and in July 1961 a federal grand jury in the District of Columbia indicted him. His case was the first prosecution under Title 50, section 783(b), of the Subversive Activities Control Act; he was convicted on those counts, acquitted on a charge of taking a government document, and in November 1961 sentenced to three consecutive ten-year terms, the maximum allowed. The Supreme Court declined to hear his appeal in June 1963, but his sentences were made concurrent and he was paroled in 1966. His case led Congressman Richard Poff to push for amending the Espionage Act of 1917 so that it would apply to acts committed outside U.S. territory.

Research notes

• State Dept
• Interrogated k. Hardy

Gallery

After you are autoconfirmed, upload a photo and add [[File:Example.jpg|thumb|caption]] here, or set |photo=Example.jpg in the infobox.

Technical record

Field	Imported value
Approx Age at Death	50
Nara ASN	32231924
Nara Name	SCARBECK IRVIN C
Nara State	23
Nara County	81
Nara POE	2314
Nara DOE	230342
Nara Grade Alpha	PVT
Nara Grade Code	8
Nara Branch Alpha	BI
Nara Branch Code	0
Branch	Branch Immaterial - Warrant Officers, USA
Nara Term or Enlistment	5
Term of enlistment	Enlistment for the duration of the War or other emergency, plus six months, subject to the discretion of the President or otherwise according to law
Defer. Date	0
Nara Source	0
Nara Nativity	23
Nativity.1	NEW YORK
Nara Year of Birth	20
Nara Race	1
Nara Race Description	White citizen
Nara Education	6
Nara Civilian Occupation	497
Nara Marital Status	2
Nara Height (inches)	67
Nara Weight (lbs)	185
Class_ASN	32231924
Class_Name	SCARBECK, Irvin C.
match_method	asn_exact_name_exact
row_source	both

Timeline

• 8 May 1920 — Born.
• 1942–1946 — U.S. Army; trained at Camp Ritchie (Classes 26 and 27); staff sergeant.
• 1956 — Joined the State Department.
• 1958 — Posted to the U.S. embassy in Warsaw.
• 13 June 1961 — Arrested by the FBI.
• November 1961 — Sentenced to thirty years (later made concurrent).
• 1966 — Paroled.

Sources

• Wikipedia: Irvin C. Scarbeck
• Camp Ritchie Museum, Inc. (The Ritchie History Museum), Classes 1–31 roster data
• Dan Gross research spreadsheets, including original Excel timeline/roster work, combined with other research and records
• NARA World War II Army enlistment records (where a NARA ASN is present)
• 1940 U.S. Census (where a census match is present)