SPY-CASE FIGURE HOPES CIA LINKS WILL HELP HIM

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000302530016-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 11, 2010
• Sequence Number: 16
• Publication Date: April 5, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/11: CIA-RDP90-00552R000302530016-3
ARTICLE AFFEAMED SAN JOSE MERCURY NET'S (CA)
CZi PAGE
case riure; no
.1s . Tin ne
5 April 1984
By David Willtnati"~ ~; `-'
Staff Writer
William- e11~I ugle the Silicon
-'Va11ey entrepreneur named as a
.target of a federal grand jury espi-
probe; ha_s ormed_sev=`
'?onage
_
al jobsfor the Central Intelli-
erquy
bald the M
.
News on `
'
'
~r
bg
interyiew
, - In a aide-ran g
:bone frOM his suite_at? a Paris
bote ?'Hugle detued`any involve-
n3ent In the es ions a under inves-
tigation and said be o i
pes p st
links with the CIA will help l`sbie3-
~Lm~I om rosecU~OII ''~ ! : _tic:._:
"Td like' to ie said."that:
if' -usb' comes~to' shove, that r11
have.-the pport'of the CIA t';...
I've done several'jobs for the CIA'
.7 -in countries for them.
I have talked with them and cooperated with them
In many cas
Hugle would not elaborate on what those lobs
entailed, but he said he was never paid for any of the
work. A spokesman for the CIA in Washing;ton__D_jC,,
did not return a phone call on the subject.
Hugle has previously said that he aided the State
Department during the Iran hostage crisis in 1979-
1980. The State Department has verified that Bugle
assisted in the negotiations with Iran, apparently as a
liaison with his son-in-law, Ali Reza Nobari. Nobari at
the time was governor of the Central Bank of Iran and
was considered a top aide to then-President Abolhas-
san Bani-Sadr.
Bugle has been named as a central figure in the
government's espionage case against Mountain View
resident James D. Harper Jr.
Harper, a Silicon Valley engineer and promoter.
was arrested Oct. 15 and later indicted by a grand jury
on six counts of espionage and three counts of tax
evasion. He allegedly stole Minuteman missile secrets
and sold them to Polish agents. The secrets allegedly
were later delivered to Russian agents.
An FBI affidavit composed in support of Harper's
arrest contained an allegation that Harper had agreed
to give Bugle one-third of the $250,000 to $1 million
peid by the Soviet bloc for the military secrets.
The FBI document, which named Hugle 19 times,
also said that Harper had known him as "the Big Man"
who first introduced him to a Polish intelligence
officer. Moreover, a federal prosecutor on Nov. 10 said
in open court that Bugle was a "target" of the same
grand jury in San Francisco that indicted Harper on
Dec. 9.
But Bugle has not been indicted, and, with less than
three weeks until Harper is to go on trial, prosecutors
steadfastly have refused to discuss his status.
In the interview Wednesday, Hugle said he is confi-
dent he will not be indicted on any espionage charges
because he has done nothing wrong.
'No evidence whatsoever'
While Hugle recalled first meeting Harper in 1972,
he said he has not seen him for five years. He said he
also knew Zdzislaw Przvchodzien, who the FBI says is
a Polish agent. But Bugle said he does not recall
whether he introduced the two.
"There's no evidence whatsoever that I was
involved in that case," he said. "I think the espionage
thing has to be kind of a laugh, in a way.... I was
there in California and they could have indicted me
already. And I appeared (before the grand jury in San
Francisco) all the times they asked me to appear."
Hugle said the FBI and the U.S. Attorney's Office
assisted him early this year in obtaining a new 10-year
passport when other agencies were insisting that he
was eligible only for a five-year passport.
L(ntinued
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/11: CIA-RDP90-00552R000302530016-3