( CNN ) -- The son of the-highest ranking CIA officer ever to be sentenced for espionage was sentenced Tuesday to probation and community service for continuing his jailed father 's espionage activities , according to the U.S. attorney 's office in Portland , Oregon . Nathan Nicholson pleaded guilty last year to helping his father -- Harold James `` Jim '' Nicholson -- restart his spying career while the father was serving a 23-year-prison sentence . He was sentenced to serve five years on probation and complete 100 hours of community service , Gerri Badden , a spokeswoman for the US attorney in Portland . The elder Nicholson pleaded guilty in 1997 to spying for Russia , making him the highest-ranking CIA officer imprisoned for espionage . Last month he pleaded guilty to spying for the Russians once again by using his son as an intermediary . He faces sentencing in that case in January , 2010 . According to court documents , Nathan Nicholson , 26 , cooperated with prosecutors in their case against his father after FBI agents confronted him about frequent international travel , in which they suspected Nathan Nicholson of meeting with Russian intelligence agents . During the FBI questioning , Nicholson , who is a former U.S. Army paratrooper admitted to authorities that he had not gone overseas to visit `` a battle buddy '' as he had claimed previously . FBI agents then informed Nicholson that lying to them was a federal crime and offered him a chance to change his story , according to one agent 's testimony . At that point , FBI Special Agent John Cooney testified , Nicholson became more `` forthcoming '' about his meetings with Russians . Nathan Nicholson told the agents that at his father 's behest , he made trips to California , Mexico , Peru and Cyprus , where he met with Russian government representatives who gave him payments totaling over $ 35,000 in cash . During Nathan Nicholson¹s prison visits to his father , according to court records , `` Harold Nicholson spent a significant amount of time advising defendant on how to conduct himself in a clandestine manner as he traveled to and from various international meeting locations . Harold Nicholson tried to impart his CIA training to defendant . '' Prosecutors alleged that the Russians paid the elder Nicholson back pay for his prior espionage activities and for information on how he was caught . `` The Russian Federation was specifically interested in how Harold Nicholson got caught by the FBI , '' according to a government sentencing memo filed with the court . It added that the information concerned `` who interrogated him after his arrest and the timing of his transfers as a CIA Officer prior to his arrest . '' According to court records , the elder Nicholson and his son put the plot into motion after Nathan Nicholson complained to his father that the family was in a precarious financial situation . The sentencing memo said that Nathan Nicholson provided crucial help in the prosecution of his father . The elder Nicholson pleaded guilty on the day that his trial was set to have begun last month and who now faces an additional 20 years in prison . In an October , 2010 , psychological report entered into the court record by prosecutors , Nathan Nicholson took aim at his ex-spy father . `` I wasn¹t aware of his selfish side , '' Nathan Nicholson said , according to the records . `` I allowed myself to be blind-sided . I was like a lobster in a pot , heated slowly until it was too late . ''
The father is the highest-ranking CIA officer ever sentenced for espionage . The son pleaded guilty to helping his father restart his spying career from prison . The son cooperated with prosecutors . He was sentenced to five years on probation and 100 hours of community service .