American Notes ESPIONAGE

The Pentagon last week continued its retreat from charges that three U.S. Marine guards swapped secrets for sex in the Soviet Union. Deciding that a two-year statute of limitation prevents it from prosecuting Sergeant John J. Weirick for allegedly allowing Soviet spies into the Leningrad consulate sometime in 1981-82, the Marine Corps released Weirick, 26, from the Camp Pendleton, Calif., brig.

A week earlier, the corps dropped the charge that Sergeant Clayton Lonetree had guided KGB agents through the Moscow embassy. Lonetree, 25, is still charged with espionage for allegedly telling the KGB the identities of U.S. intelligence agents at the embassy.