AL: HOW CIA BUNGLED ON POPE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000201420010-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 30, 2010
• Sequence Number: 10
• Publication Date: February 22, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/30: CIA-RDP90-00552R000201420010-3
NEW YORK POST
22 February 1983
By NILES LATHEM
Bureau Chicf
WASHINGTON - New
York Sen. Alfonse
D'Amato accused the
CIA last night of ignor-
ing the most damning
evidence of Soviet-Bul-
garian links in the plot to
kill Pope John Paul II.
In an interview,
D'Amato said the CIA
;never even bothered to
investigate whether a
Bulgarian airline official
arrested by Italian au-
thorities in connection
with the assassination
attempt was an intelli-
gence agent.
D'Amato said the CIA,
nearly six months after
the official was arrested,
still doesn't know
whether the official is an
agent of the KGB-con-
trolled Bulgarian Secret
Service.
In fact, the senator
says, all the agency
knows about the official
is that his knowledge of
the airline business Is
The CIA admits this
glaring gap in its mas-
sive intelligence-gather-
Ing machine despite the
fact that the official,
identifed as Sergei Iva-
nov Antonov, has been in
an Italian jail since
November.
The new twist to the
story about the "Pope
gap" was first revealed
to D'Amato by the CIA's
top man in Rome last
month.
And 'members of the
mittee verified last night
that they have received
similar information dur-
ing recent CIA briefings.
Antonov, an employe of
the Bulgarian. national
airline, was one of three
men . Turkish gunman
Mehmet All Agca said
helped him plot the as-
sassination of the pontiff.
Antonov is accused of
helping Agca plan the
assassination attempt,
accompanying him to St.
Peter's Square for a "re-
hearsal" of the shooting,
and planning to help him
disappear after the
shooting.
But despite the world-
wide publicity surround.
ing . Antonov's arrest,
D'Amato was told, the
CIA still has not been
able to determine if An-
tonov indeed has links to
the Communist bloc. spy
network. -
But he said Italian au-
thorities have confirmed
that Antonov was a
member of the Bulgar.
ian Seeret- Service.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/30: CIA-RDP90-00552R000201420010-3