SOVIET SPIES GOT DATA ON SATELLITES INTENDED FOR MONITORING ARMS PACT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01315R000400390010-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 3, 2004
• Sequence Number: 10
• Publication Date: April 29, 1979
• Content Type: NSPR

Approved For Release 2005/01/12 CIA-RDP88-01315R00040039001 8~ NL)<
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THE NEW YORK TIMES
29 April 1979
Soviet S6 ins Got Data on-Sdte lit
S Pact
?intended forMonitorin Arm
LOS ANGELES. April 23' _ lnforma-~
tion about. several secret satellite sy
terns that the United States expec"'u'
to help verify' the proposed strategi
arms treaty with the Soviet Union were
purchased- more than .two-years. ago by
Soviet: intelligence agents,, -according to
documents made available to,The New
YorkTimes.
The loss has never been made public by
the Carter Administration:, _
Two CalifornianS Andrew paulton
Lee. 27 years old, and Christopher John-
Boyce, who are serving long terms in
Federal prisons, were convicted. here in
the spring of 1977 of having attempted toy
sell documents to Soviet agents in Mexico
City concerning a proposed Central Intel,
ligence Agency satellite system called
Pyramider, which was never built.
Data Concealed at Trials
But the Natioiial Security Council and
the Justice Department concealed at
their trials =- and it was-nor-disclosed
until now - that the two men had sold
data about' two functioning C.I.A. intelli-
gence systems, caller, Rhyolite- andl
Argus, as well as other satellite systems
used by:the agency -The- two convicted
spies outlined the nature of the data they
had' sold td' agents of the K.G.B.,. the
with the C.~A. and Federal Bureau of In
of transcripts of the debrief ings were ob
tained
_
_-.~
cil have refused to discuss the losses. inl
' Washington,', Jody Powell, they White.
House press secretary.. said tqday: ?,11
can't say anything so far because I don't
know anything about It, so to speak." He,
promised to look into the matter further. President Carter and Secretary o! De-'
fense Harold Brown have insisted that)
this country has the ability to verityi
Soviet compliance with a strategic arms!
treaty, and implicit in their remarks has',
been the assurance that the United Statesl
has a wide variety of means to monito _
tests and that no single system is indis-
pensable. - -
ByROBERTL.INDSEY
SpecialtoTT~eNrrYori 1 wee.
- The Rhyolite and Argus satellites, sal
to have been unknown to the Russian
until they learned about them from t1..
two Californians, are used to intercept u
transmitted by Sovi'
l
lemetry signa
s test launchings. Aloe
missiles during and other i ~y.2;y O '
with stations on the ground _ . J '
telligence sources, they-have been us+
voluiion
h
e e
by C.I.A. analysts to plot t
w
Soviet ballistic missiles, and their in- the C IA-and F.l3.i. show and what
proved atmospheric re-entry systems. by
Both of the satellite systems were d has not been made public is that Sovie California
conce veloped for the agency by TRW Systems aga ents probably le SY had some iniora'tatiwhere,Mr. Boyce w as employed for mod yeeaartbefore the arrest of Mr. Karnpil
ace
aeros
two year i. and that the Russians had obtained Sig
other sate i
than -
Aerospace experts here
satellites hav lites rowthetwoCalifornians
workedted re that the that tC-I.A., after _. At their trials, Mr. Boyce testified that,
te ssec rit he had been coerced into spying by Mr-1
ing speculate
probably and Argun
breach, proobabably acted to Minimize th Lee a boyhood friend who was a heroin%
damage and began work on other sysi addict, and Mr. Lee said that Mr. Boyce
temswithsome of thesame capabilities. had told him they were working for the;
These-sources said that the more the C.I.A. to give wrong information. to the;
Russians know about the American satel Russians. .
lite systems, the easier it would Geto From April- 1975 to December 1976,
motint a counterintelligence effort aimed shortly before they were arrested, the:
two men acknowledged selling doi
at thwarting the tellites'value.
- in Mexico and in
l
CDesign Cotanterttteas~ares Vienna, for which they received more Could oul
Knowing techtucai specifications and than,.:::.
ake
ld
m
other data, the sources said, wou
Was $118.a-Week Clerk
` -
easures
,
n counterm
it easier-to desig which could include physical camouflage Mr. Boyce worked as a vault trans-'
of relevant defense sites during the pass- clerk in a communications
ing of satellites or transmission of ermne- witting coded messages between ~ T
ousdata tosatellite'st.odeceive them. TRW plant and the C.I.A. headquart
The Soviet Union began encoding te- in Langley, Va., and other stations.
lemetry signals from their test missiles At their trials: Justice Departrne%t:
about six months after the arrest of the I prosecutors alleged that the men had sold',
two Americans, although it is thousands of classified documents to the;
what relation, if any, that enrol"tng had Russians, but the only document referred
with the e s discovery of the Cen- to during the trial was a study involving'
tral Intelligence satellite system. the Pyramider, the aborted project in-'
The question whether the United States tended to relay secret messages Iron-1
can adequately verity Soviet compliance American spies in hostile foreign coup-'
with the strategic arms agreement has tries to- the agency's headquarters at
become one of the most controversial gley. ?
issues in-the debate over the projected What was not disclosed; except in thef'
treaty. President Carter has repeatedly debriefing transcripts, swas that through!
given assurances that the United States the two men the Russians obtained copies,
of documents giving technical specifics-;
has the ability to do so.
.. The recent loss of two C-I.A. stations in lions, operating characteristics and other,,
Iran that monitored Soviet missile tests, details of Rhyolite and Argun satellites
during the initial phases of their launch-1 over along period: orbit about
ings has aroused concern among some) positioned in a stationary senators, who have said it is not certain. 22000 in
over Asia, Ithyolitesatellites
that the United States could detect any contain a network of antennas that can in-
Soviet cheating on an agreement. 1 tercept telemetry signals from Soviet
missiles as they arc into and de-,
liver dummy payloads
or in the Pacific Ocean. The system can
also monitor Chinese.missile tescs..x,,-. .
Approved For,Release 2005/01/12 : CIA-RDP88-01315R000400390010-8
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