AN INTERVIEW WITH EDWARD O'MALLEY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01070R000200910005-3
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 21, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 25, 2008
• Sequence Number: 5
• Publication Date: October 19, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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RADIO N REPORTS, I NC.
4701 WILLARD AVENUE, CHEVY CHASE, MARYLAND 20815 656-4068
PROGRAM The Today Show
STATION W R C T V
NBC Network
DATE October 19, 1983 7:16 AM CITY Washington, DC
SUBJECT An Interview with Edward O'Malley
BRYANT GUMBEL: Back at 7:16 to speak of a growing
threat to the United States.
Soviet spies 'are getting hold of some of this country's
most classified military secrets, and sometimes with frightening
ease. As we've been reporting this week, a California man named
James Harper has been charged with selling highly sensitive
ballistic missile research to a Polish spy for a quarter of a
million dollars.
Joining us this morning from Washington, is Edward
O'Malley. He is the Assistant Director of the FBI's Intelli-
gence Division.
And Mr. O'Malley, I'm not totally insensitive to the
fact that you have an ongoing investigation that limits what you
can say. But by all accounts, a Mr. William Bell Huegel got a
third of the money from the sale of those documents that Mr.
Harper sold. Why is he not in custody today?
EDWARD O'MALLEY: I'm sorry, that matter's still under
investigation, Mr. Gumbel, and I can't discuss it on the air.
GUMBEL: Mr. Harper was arrested for selling documents,
technically in June of 1980. Is there a likelihood that he sold
other things since?
O'MALLEY: I'm sorry. I'm sure you wouldn't want me to
say anything that could conceivably jeopardize the right to a
fair trial of Mr. Harper, and I would. prefer not to get into
that.
OFFICES IN: WASHINGTON D.C. ? NEW YORK ? LOS ANGELES ? CHICAGO ? DETROIT ? AND OTHER PRINCIPAL CITIES
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GUMBEL: Okay, let's talk in a more general sense. It's
estimated that -- conservatively estimated that the Soviet bloc
has thousands of spies in this country. Is there any way of you
guessing for us, estimating for us how many Americans they've
recruited?
O'MALLEY: No. Well, I think the estimate there are
thousands of spies, Soviet spies in this country is overblown a
bit. If you look at the number of officials that represent
communist countries in the United States, i,t totals about 3,000
people assigned to their embassies, their consulates, their
missions to the United Nations. Of that number, at any point in
time, about 35% are intelligence officers.
problem?
GUMBEL: How does the FBI specifically combat the
O'MALLEY: We have a very aggressive and extensive
program. We have a very high percentage of our resources devoted
against the -- to counter the activities of these hostile ser-
vices. We have very, very good equipment. We've gotten more
people, as I've said. We've improved our analytical capability.
I think'we're a lot better than we were, but we've had a very
nice base to build on that was left to us by those who pre-
ceded us.
GUMBEL: Just out of curiosity, when you have targeted
someone who is a security risk, are you better off keeping them
in the field and following them than, for example, deporting them
and having them replaced by someone you don't know?
O'MALLEY: There are occasions when it would be more
beneficial to do exactly what you're speaking about.
GUMBEL': Let's bring in another gentleman from Burbank.
His name is John Shea. He is vice president of Sierra Micro-
systems, Inc., a company which develops security systems,
specifically to help prevent high tech espionage.
Good morning to you, Mr. Shea.
JOHN SHEA: Good morning.
GUMBEL: Mr. Shea, how exactly do the Soviets strike up
.a relationship with an American that they'd like to work for
them?
SHEA: Very simply, let's take the Silicon Valley issue
at the present. We have a profuse amount of high tech companies
in the area, everything from major defense contractors like Lock-
heed to several of your major semi-conductor companies, like
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The foreign intelligence officers will basically tempt
to target a given military program, define where that program is
being work on by company, target the t;:op technologist in that
particular company, attempt to find out any weaknesses -- money
problems, sexual problems -- and then basically try to get that
person in a compromising position. And once they have got that
person, either through entrapment by money or sex, and recorded
it on videotape or audio, then they've got the person in a
position where the person has to start anteeing up classified
material.
And it's a very profuse situation in the Silicon Valley.
GUMBEL: You make it sound very easy. Is it?
SHEA: Oh, yes, it is, because -- let me explain to you.
Except for major defense contractors in Silicon Valley, most high
tech companies are more concerned about their competitors down
the street getting the trade secrets than they are about hostile
intelligence sources.
GUMBEL: Well, then, let me ask this of both of you
gentlemen, Mr. Shea and Mr. O'Malley. In a preventive sense, how
much cooperation exists between private industry and the FBI?
O'MALLEY: In the FBI, we have a program which we call
DECA, which is an acronym for Development of Counterintelligence
Awareness. We've indentified, with the help of the Department of
Defense, all defense contractors in the United States. And
during the past four years, we've gone out and we've talked to
about 8,500 defense contractors in the United States. And it's
been very, very useful to us in terms of our activities to
prevent the other side from gathering the kinds of technology
that you're talking about.
GUMBEL: Mr. Shea, is industry too closed-mouthed to get
as much help as they could from the FBI?
SHEA: Well, you've got two major problems. The defense
contractors that Mr. O'Malley just discussed are very open to any
kind of help that they can get from FBI counterintelligence, or
any other intelligence organization of the U. S. government.
The commercial companies that supply what we call office shelf
products to these defense contractors, and specifically the semi-
conductor industry as a whole, do not welcome or do they want
government interference. And consequently, they'll pay lip
service to security, but focus 'primarily keeping it out of the
hands of competitors.
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GUMBEL: John Shea in Burbank, Edward O'Malley in
Washington. And gentlemen, thank you both.
I SHEA: Thank you.
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