CAPITAL'S RUMOR MILL: THE DEATHOF AN AGENT AND THE TALK IT STARTED

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000201930015-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 9, 2010
• Sequence Number: 15
• Publication Date: September 23, 1980
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/09: CIA-RDP90-00552R000201930015-2
i'l f YORK TZt'',5
23 Sef,t;,-mber 10,80
.'1{.Vlc va
Capital s Rurnor"Mi l; staff members, White House aides and
journalists.
th
e
There are different accounts about
}?i? ; eatri o an I 11} origins of the Trigon case: According to
one group of intelligence officials, Trigon
And the Talk-It Started was the code name for a cable clerk in the
t Foreign Ministry who was re-
i
e
Sov
~`'~ cruited by, the C.I.A. when he was
I
-s. 1
tione(Li in -'Argentina in the early-1,970
Moscow, by this
s
`By PHILIP TAUBMAN When Tri gon returned to
Syciaf toThei ei,YorkTimes --- ,, ,,,.count he provided the C.I.A. with_clas-
Select Committee on Intelligence began The other, more widely accepted ver-
Iast.week trying :to separate the truth sign is that Trigon was the code name for
a. him er-ranking Soviet official named
kfroii-the rumors ina case thatdeveloped
Anatoly N. Filatov. In this version, Mr.
iw'that' twilight- worf&.- in;. Washington Filatov, who was first recruited in either
where. inteiligence? politics and journal= South America or the Middle East, re-
isinintersect . s } * turned t9 work at the Foreign Ministry in
Acting at the request of two committee Moscow in. 1973 and began supplying the
members,: Daniel 'Patrick` Moynihan; United-States with abundant intelligence
Democrat -of New ^York, 'And Malcolm information, some of considered very
sts
al
I
A
.
y
. an
.
Wallop; a Wyoming Republican, the com- yaluable by C.
starting in about 1976, analysts Reporters Are Told About Case
Then
,
mittee staff started investigating. allega-
began to question material coming from Mr. Sullivan went to work as a staff.
boas that in 1977 a'senfor';o#ficial in the Trigon because it was not confirmed by .~ ! aide to Senator Lloyd Bentsen, Democrat
ig as a ,United. States spy, in Moscow; Mr- Filatov had been discovered by the can of New Hampshire
and
K G B.
,
leading: to the arrest and death of the Soviet security service, the
Earlier this year, Mr Sullivan began
agent, whose cede name was Trigon. had become a double agent. calling reporters to tell therr~ about the
If the charges are true the case will be Cable About Kissinger Arrives Trigon case. These conversations, ac-
a serious political embarrassment. Even. In April 1977, after a period of silence, cording to several of the reporters, fol-
theexistence of a preliminary Senate in-. Mr. Filatov provided a copy of a cable to lowed the unwritten riles of Washington l
quiry into the matter', raises--questions the Soviet Politburo from Moscow's Am- ! journalism when sensitive information is
bassador to Washington, Anatoly F. Da being offered by a source. M f. Sullivan
about't inch ghl conduct oarea'. the Administration brynin In the cable, Mr. Dobiynin re- Bald he would provide information on the
r w
n a
sensitive ported on a conversation with former Sec- condition that he not be identified by
ee
o
s uot-
For weeks, rumors have beer circulat: articte.l
retary of State Henry A. Kissinger, q name or position in any
ing in the intelligence comxriunity about. r_inMr. Kissinger as being critical of the Staff aides for several other, senators,
g gainin~ g positici of Presi including Jesse Helms, Republican of
the wrpcsure of Trigon In public; off!- March 197Tbar -
ciais have carefully avoided naming any dent Carter in nuclear arms talks. Mr. North Carolina, also called !reporters
suggei ing that
denied ever about the Trigon case
ousl
i
,
y
gor
individual suspected of unmasking . the Kissinger has v
spy; but In private; intelligence analysts, making such remarks to the Soviet Am- they call Mr. Sullivan for a briefing.
. bassador,., Several reporters said they ere now
Senate staff members and reporters all willing to say that Mr.. Sull an had
-repeat. the same name-. David L. Aaron, When the microfilm- of the cable'
talked to them because they fel. the info-
deputy assistant-to'the President for na- reached C.I.A. _ headquarters outside ration he provided was misleading. Con
tionalsecurity affairs o Washington,, most officials doubted its cerned about their; own future contacts
to officials at the =authenticity. But a small group of aria- with officials, however, these tporters
according
However
n f
.
;
Central Intelligence Agency, which con- lysts argued that there was no reaso
or asked not to be identified.. % ducted its own Investigation into the ex- the Russians to embarrass Mr. Kissinger
posuie of Trigon, there is no evidence to by planting false information. Eventual- Sullivan Denies Giving information-
support the allegation ,that he was ?un ly,.a bitter dispute about the cable's au- They said that Mr. Sullivan had de
masked by Mr Aaron thentlcitydeveloped_ scribed thehistory, of the Trigon case; in
Aaron declined to comment pub- Meanwhile,,Trigon disappeared in cluding his role in it, and had reported,
'licly on. the case. Alfred Friendly Jr., Moscow..In 1978, the Soviet press re- that Mr. Aaron was suspected of having `
l
tov had been tried for exposed Mr. Filatov.:
Fil
M
a
r.
spokesman, for the. National Security ! ported that
Council and White House associate press treason and executed.' Some C I.A. offi- - In an interview with The New York
secreta called the charges a against Mn believing Times this month,': Mr. Sullivan denied
rY. g cials' doubt that* report, . that 'that he had ever discussed the: Trigon
Aaron `'completely unfounded.'' . .. .Trigon committed suicide. case with any reporters except for a brief.
Deputy. Attorney :General Charles B. How and when Mr. Filatov was uncov i conversation earlier this month with
Renfrew said In an interview that- the erect remains unclear. His loss was con- conversation
Mohr of rlie Times. Mr Sullivan
F.B.I. had. investigated the ? charges sidered The edealt s. only with
against Mr. Aaron and "found them with. said that conversation f a major blow to American intelli- the
C.I.A. investi out any support of substance:" gated exsively to to t pi point how previously g xte a published material.
Mr. Renfrew said he had directed the was exposed. In the "I am not involved in this matter," Mr.
F.B.I. to broaden its inquiry to determine C. - substanaaon ,
wheetther thad been any other Indis- C.I.A. officials said, an unsubstantiated Sullivan said.."I am fullyconscious of the
w there n ny information rumor that Mr. Aaron had exposed Mr. secrecy contract I signed with the C.I.A.:.
that classified he F.B.I. had coon Filatov by inadvertently mentioning his and have religiously abided by it,!'
and had
b e, o s o leaks
activities to a Rumanian diplomat at a The first major article about Trigon ap-
tided t#iere had not been,.-~ ;y~ashingtbn reception proved to be com i peared in the July t21 i issue of Newsweek
yt
? _ How Washington Works pletelyuri#ounded. on the eve of the Republican National
was forced to resign from the C.I.A. after
admitting that he had supplied copies of a,
top-secret agency report on the arms
limitation talks to a staff aide of Senator
Henry M. Jackson, according to intelli-
gence officials. Mr.: Jackson, Democrat
of Washington, was a leading critic.of the
arms negotiations. Mr. Sullivan told
friends he felt obliged to give Mr. Jack-
son the report because he thought it was
being. withheld by Adm. Stansfield . M.
Turner, Director of Central Intelligence,
in an effort to suppress information dam-
aging to the arms talks.
6 W Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/09: CIA-RDP90-00552R000201930015-2 t ..