U.S. WARNS RUSSIANS TO STOP ENCODING MISSILE DATA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01315R000400390145-9
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 3, 2004
• Sequence Number: 145
• Publication Date: February 1, 1979
• Content Type: NSPR

ON T ~. =? 1 FEBMARY 1979
U.S._Warns Russians stop cod
1 r ,
'
- ,iy H1CHAi'CL BUlc l - - cow
s new SS-1S missile, the largest anct .
sxcialwTt~tve.+Yorfcr;axs most lethal rocket in the Soviet arsenal. +~
WASHINGTON, Jan. 31 - The Carter During the test? Moscow is said to have Missile t :~
Administration has warned the Soviet transmitted electronic messages from -
Union that an attempt to impede Ameri- the missile to Soviet ground stations in "in July when much of the missile's te-?
can efforts to monitor a Soviet missile code in an apparent effort to conceal the
test on 'Dec. 21 has jeopardized the ability signals from American listening posts on lemetry was sent in code.
of the United States. to verify Soviet corn- the.periphery of the Soviet Union. , Last fall, American negotiators tried to
pliance with the terms of a projected Since the test information, known as te- get Moscow to accept a ban on such en-
treaty limiting strategic arms, Govern- lemetry; is viewed by the Central Intelli- coding but failed.. In- late December at,
ment officials said today. j` ;gence Agency as vital to verifying Soviet 1 Geneva, Secretary- of State Cyrus R.'
Vance and Soviet Foreign Minister An-
The Administration, they. added, has compliance with a new accord, the 1
also told Moscow in recent days that if the December missile firing has complicated drei A. Gromyko agreed to as ambiguous
Soviet Union, under a new treaty; tried to last-minute efforts to complete the arras provision in which Moscow was permit-?
conceal test data in -this - martner,-thee negotiations. It 'is--also seen as raising ; ted to encode only. missile test data that
, would not hinder American verification.
violation of the agreement.
The officials said the unusual warning
was prompted by a test firing of Mos-
convincing the Senate that the United
States could detect a Soviet effort to
evade parts of the proposed agreement,
So far, officials said, Moscow has not
responded to the warning.
Meanwhile, the Administration s han-
dling of the telemetry issue- s being de.
bated in the United States Government,
Some aides charge that Adm. Stansfield
Turner, the Director,of Central Intelli
ence, has exaggerated the importance of
the test data in verifying a new accord,
thus setting back chances for a treaty
with Moscow..: s... ;; ,,?
The officials said that in a number of
conversations with President Carter, Ad-
miral'-Turner had pushed 'for a firm
American position on Soviet "attempts to
encode test data despite the. fact that
other agencies doubted the utility of such
a stand..
A Central Intelligence Agency 'spokes.
man refund to discuss the issue.
Encoding first emerged as a serious
issue in the arms talks after an SS-18 test
of a new accord. - , - - ?
However, the provision evidently doesy
.not specify what information is necessary
to monitor an accord: Some officials say
'this omission could allow Moscow to con.
tinue to withhold key information about
new missiles. In an effort to remove this.
ambiguity; the Administration officials
'said, the United States has told Moscow
that the encoding of the Dec. 21 test is an.
example of what would be banned by the
netvprovision
Approved For Release 2005/01/12 : CIA-RDP88-01315R000400390145-9