SKULDUGGERY, THE SATELLITE AND SALT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01315R000400400011-5
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 9, 2004
• Sequence Number: 11
• Publication Date: December 3, 1978
• Content Type: NSPR

Approved For Release 2005/01/12 CIA-RDP88-01315R000#0041L5I1_~
`TIC 2 PEA WASI TGTON STAR
3 DECEMBER 1978
Early this year a junior clerk in
the CIA doing night duty at the
operations center in Langley,. Va.,
spotted a manual on a desk. stuck it
into his briefcase, and took?ft: home.
On March-2, he sold this document to
a Russian. in .Athens .for $3,000.: Now
listen carefully.....: - . .: ==ti
Returning to the United St ites;'the
young,. man wrote to. a:: foriuer? col-
league-irr'CIA advising.hirr%;that.ihe
Soviet Union had offered`money'.to in-
duce the.. clerk- to :transmit.; secret
inforrriation. This bizarre: communi-
cation: alerted the:agency,. to? one.al-
most certain, and'=ahother probable,
piece.of bad news.: The first was. that
the young clerk. had, already turned
something. over . to=.:=the. Russians.
Why?'-'Because- even the KGB_has
traditions; and_one?of them, very well
established, is that cash- is paid: not.
for prospective, butfor past services.
The KGB. ini the words of Michael
Ledeen in.:Newt;York Magazine, does
not buy "on spec:" But if the clerk.
William Kampiies is. his name;;
whose-letter suggested that it might
be useful to=the.agency if he trans
mitted :"disinformation'. to the--Rus-
sians, i.e. information' designed to-
KG B ow the off the track.. took. a.
C k ; 1: Gr j 1- t`t - t l
step which would clearly lead to an accurate even than the photograph
investigation of him as someone who themselves on which we have bee
had almost certainly. already com- relying. which:.are dropped by para
mitted a crime, why did the KGB en- chute from our workhorse satellites
courage him to make the offer?-In ef= intercepted , by airplanes, and de.
feet; to burn him. The. supposition is veloped in our laboratories. - -
that;the .CIA would in: due course It is bad enough that the Soviet
have;,disc'overed the identity of the Union now knows what are the far
stole,-document, and: that....the. clerk. reaches of` our surveillance technol-
who:stoleit must be thought to have, ogy, but what is worse is that anyone
been:r'the, man solely responsible. whor. knows. what it is we have, and
Why '::'Because there was -= is..- how we bring it off; can reason effort-
someone else, higher. up, in the lessly into. how- tomake it: inopera
agency';mho: was critical to the entire. tive. :. = Y
operation..-The word they use in the
spy world is a "mole." s- The:. KH-l I; for all .its .extraordi-
:; nary sophistication; is, one .learns,
.What-' *e did, find.out: 'was what 'forlornly' vulnerable All you -need to
Kampiles.gave to. the Russians, sim- :.know is just how it:works in order to
ply put, probably the most-important develop something which causes it to
piece. of technological information -become instantly inoperative:".t.
stolen from the agency since: 1960 - ...Now the bearing of this develop.
the. supersecret KH-11 manual'. What ment on- SALT II', is crucial, because
the KH-11 does is transmit:?.d1rectly, 'SALT II, -like -its predecessor; .de-,
from.a-distance-as:great a& 300 miles '.pends entirely on the verifiable good
above:rthe earth. electronics signals .:::faith of the---contracting partners.. A
that: can distinguish between.` ugly-;'provision of the SALT Treaty called
and 'handsome Russians,.. even -or no.effort' by either party to dis-
through: cloud 'cover. That: informa- 'simulate; or to get in the way of the-
tion is.,reproduced on a digital receive other party's instruments of detec-
ing set'which'composes facsimiles of tion.. Needless.. to-say;.: -the : Soviet
the photographed information more Union cheated, a& former. Secretary
of Defense Melvin Laird revealed in
an article for-.the. .Reader's::Digest
early in the year.-But they cheated
on the ground.-They*did-not attempt
to interfere with our-satellites. There
would. not be??much point ini doing so
unless they'-were- prepared: to.:go to:
war. And they did not have-the con-:
clusive technology to knock oursatei-`
litesdowry. _-".- ? - . - :'. :w .:_.~;-r.:. -
But now- that- they--,are _on. to- ou'r`
KH-11,:which was' the "wild card~in:
our surveillance- system; -giving.us'z
that incremental protection*, indis;4
pensable to our well-being. the Soviet
Union can get-on with-its 'killer'satel-=
lite. program, lookingtforward to-the
hypothetical'=day wheys-it carr'simtul-:-
taneously?' knack'`down-the-
conventional satellites; and blindthe~
KH=11:
-`So that we_havec-prima facie evi
dente that there is- infiltration in the,
CIA; and we-have a factor in respect
of SALT II that raises questions as to
the feasibility of any understanding
whatever. There are men in America:
who would trust. the - Russians, even
without invulnerable systems of vest!.
fication- One ho es they are not run-
Approved For Release 2005/01/12: CIA-RDP88-0131$ Q14 r".