Richard L. Bliss
Richard L. Bliss is an American engineer and former employee of
Qualcomm who was arrested in November 1997 while working within
Russia on charges of espionage. Bliss, who was using a
global positioning system that he had illegally brought into the country, was arrested by Russian authorities who believed that he was using the GPS to plot the location of Russian military bases. He was charged with espionage - a twenty-year prison sentence under Russian Criminal Code - however mounting diplomatic pressure from the American government, including President
Bill Clinton, then Vice-President
Al Gore and U.S. Secretary of State
Madeleine Albright, led to Bliss being released at first temporarily in order to visit his family for the Christmas holiday, and then permanently when the charges were dismissed.
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