Barnett was released from the U.S. Army and hired by the CIA in January 1959, after which he stayed in Korea for approximately one year.
After leaving his teaching position at Kiski, Barnett returned to Indonesia in 1973 to establish an import-export business in Asian antiquities.
[2] Over the next three years in meetings held in the Embassy of the Soviet Union in Vienna, Barnett revealed to the KGB the identities of almost 30 CIA officers.
Additionally, he handed over classified information gathered by the CIA on a clandestine operation, code-named HA/BRINK, that had focused on the acquisition of Soviet military hardware sold to Indonesia during the Sukarno era, including an SA-2 guidance system, designs for the Whiskey-class submarine, the Riga-class frigate, the Sverdlov-class cruiser, the P-15 Termit anti-ship missile and the Tu-16 Badger bomber.
[4] Later in 1979, Barnett was identified as a spy following the release of information provided by Colonel Vladimir Mikhaylovich Piguzov, a KGB officer stationed in Jakarta who had been recruited as a double agent by the CIA.
Blount had moved to DC in 1964 to work for the Office of Economic Opportunity, and Barnett was in between overseas tours.
Barnett and Sarah had three children: Charles, John Henry, and Dorsey, who were between the ages of 12 and 6 at the time of their father's incarceration.