SHOWING OF SECRET PHOTOS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88G00186R000200150021-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 15, 2011
• Sequence Number: 21
• Publication Date: February 8, 1985
• Content Type: MEMO

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Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/07/15: CIA-RDP88GO0186R000200150021-5
 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/07/15: CIA-RDP88GO0186R000200150021-5
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/07/15: CIA-RDP88GO0186R000200150021-5
 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/07/15: CIA-RDP88GO0186R000200150021-5
THE WASHINGTON POST - Friday, 8 February 1985
Philip Geyelin
Show the Secret Photos
MONS, Belgium-The military com-
manders at Supreme Headquarters
Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) think
they have the goods on the Soviet
Union's dark designs in Europe: secret
aerial photographs from American spy
satellites clearly reveal military deploy-
ments that can only have offensive, as
listinct from defensive, purposes.
Publication of this evidence, they be-
lieve, might work wonders on European
public opinion and, in turn, on parlia-
mentary votes on defense spending. A
bigger European effort could conceiv-
ably silence a growing number of Amer-
ican critics who threaten to pull out
American troops if the European allies
are unwilling to take on a larger share of
the NATO burden.
Yet the Reagan administration, which
has not hesitated to use similar aerial
photos as evidence in seeking public
support and congressional funds for its
policies in Central America and the
Caribbean, has steadfastly refused to
make this evidence public.
Why? Gen. Bernard Rogers, the Su-
preme Allied Commander in Europe,
would like to know. He has been told
that publication of these photographs
could compromise U.S. intelligence
gathering, but he is puzzled by the "nu-
ance" between aerial surveillance from
fixed-wing aircraft over Nicaragua and
spy-satellite surveillance of Warsaw
Pact deployment. Rogers is a Rhodes
scholar, a combat veteran and a former
Army chief of staff. He understands the
problem of the intelligence gatherers.
But he also believes profoundly in the
business of balancing risks. And the
"t'~-is challenge we Lice in this al-
fiance," he told me in the course of a hard-pressed and in many cases shaky,
long interview, is "to convince the peo- European coalition governments under
ple, particularly in Western Europe, that heavy pressure for social welfare spend-
there is a threat to their freedom." ing. So he would try to strengthen their
Rogers sees two ominous trends. One hand with public opinion.
is a widening Soviet advantage in con- . Many Europeans seriously doubt the
ventional military power along the Euro- numbers-or even the existence-of
pean front. The other is a growing temp- the Soviet intermediate-range ballistic
cation among "serious people, not just missiles that constitute the rationale for
kooks" to think in terms of pacifism, neu- the hard-won alliance agreement to de-
tralism, accommodation. "I'm convinced ploy countervailing U.S. missiles in
that the time has come-or passed-for Western Europe. Rogers says the spy
the common good of collective defense to photos would show the sites and even
have a little give on the part of the intelli- the Soviet missiles, unmistakably.
Bence community," he says. The European man on the street, he
Even if Rogers is wrong, the run- contends, does a lot of wishful thinking
around he has been getting from Wash- about the purely defensive posture of
ington is a commentary on the Reagan Warsaw Pact forces. "You can show the
administration's management of national offensive nature of the Warsaw Pact if
security affairs. He has been pressing you can show the massive amounts of
what he thinks is an important case at prepositioned river-crossing equipment,
the highest levels of the U.S. govern- the massive amount of prepositioned [pe-
ment and even getting a sympathetic troleum] pipeline and their ability to lay
hearing for almost four years. What he that pipeline up to 90 kilometers a day."
has not been getting is anything in the He has tested his theory. With the
nature of a considered response reflect- permission of Defense Secretary Caspar
ing a serious effort to make a choice be- Weinberger, he did a slide show for a
tween risks and opportunities. select group of European Cabinet minis-
Instead, intelligence technicians have ters: "You could hear the breath being
been bottling up useful and damning evi- sucked in when they saw the pictures
dence at a time when, (a) Europeans for the first time."
are regularly falling short in meeting Few American authorities question
NATO conunitments, (b) the Soviets his.analysis. The debate is over what to
are moving ahead in sheer numbers of do. And the remedy of choice, increas-
tanks, helicopters and other armaments, ingly, is to think in terms of threats that
and (c) Sen. Sam Nunn (D-Ga.) is using the United States will simply walk away
his considerable prestige to round up from the problem. Rogers makes a good
Senate support for drawing down U.S. case that before it comes to that, the ad-
forces if the Europeans don't do more in ministration ought to lay out its best
their own behalf. evidence of the Soviet threat that the
Rogers believes this would be the administration talky m'ich about, and
"ti raveling" of the alliance. Hr sees 4.e how thr L r i s - Te
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