POLISH SPIES IN US PREY ON HIGH-TECH MILITARY SECRETS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000302530027-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 11, 2010
• Sequence Number: 27
• Publication Date: January 4, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/11: CIA-RDP90-00552R000302530027-1
.. E A.: FL;L:._.
ON FAGE
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONIT
4 January 1984
Polish spies in US
prey on high-tech
military secrets
They're armed with KGB-supplied
`shopping lists' - and plenty of cash
First of three articles on Polish espionage in the
United States.
By Warren Richey
Staf writer of The Christian Science Monitor
It is called Sluzba Bezpieczenstwa.
And the fact that most Americans don't know what it
is - let alone how to pronounce it - goes a long way in
explaining why the Polish intelligence organization, SB,
has been so successful in obtaining sensitive details of
this country's most secret defense systems.
It is said to rank second only to the Soviet KGB in
terms of spying activity in the United States. And - like
the KGB, with which the SB is linked - the primary tar-
get is technology, particularly US military technology.
"Polish intelligence is actively targeting US classified
information and technology. The threat is serious in this
country," says Phillip A. Parker, deputy assistant direc-
tor of the FBI's Intelligence Division.
The SB's record speaks for. itself. According to two
spy cases involving Poland which have been made public
in recent years, the organization has acquired:
? Volumes of classified information on American ef-
forts to design a system that would enable US Minute-
man nuclear missiles to survive a preemptive nuclear at-
tack by the Soviet Union.
? Plans for the "quiet" radar. system for the B- I and
Stealth bombers.
? Details of the "look-down, shoot-down" radar sys-
tem for F-15 fighters.
? An all-weather radar system for US tanks.
? Information.on the Phoenix air-to-air missile used
on Navy F-14 fighters.
? Documents on the Patriot surface-to-air missile.
! Details of the improved Hawk sur-
face-to-air missile.
The method used by the SB to obtain
these military secrets was a simple one:
They bought, them for cash from Ameri-
can citizens, often at bargain-basement
prices.
The Minuteman missile documents
cited above were sold to Polish agents in
1980 and '81 by an American engineer
who received $250,000, according to the
FBI. The documents were considered so
important in Poland and the Soviet Union
that the Polish agents received two com-
mendations for their efforts, one of them
signed by the man who was then chief of
the KGB, Yuri Andropov.
The American engineer who reportedly
sold the documents, James D. Harper Jr.,
was indicted in early December by a San
'Francisco grand jury on six counts of es-
pionage and three counts of tax evasion.
He denies the charges.
All the other documents cited above
were sold to Polish agents between 1978
.uia '81 by an American engineer at
Hughes Aircraft Company. The engineer,
William H. Bell, received payments. of
S110,000, according to the FBI.
Mr. Bell is serving an eight-year prison
sentence in California. Marian Zacharski,
the man who recruited Bell for the Polish
intelligence service, was sentenced to life
in prison for his part in the espionage
scheme.
Though the Bell case went to trial in
1981 and the Harper case is not expected
to go to trial until midyear, both Harper's
and Bell's involvement with Polish agents
took place during roughly the same period
of time in the late 1970s.
The two cases offer a rare glimpse into
the workings of the Polish intelligence or-
ganization and the murky world of Soviet-
bloc espionage in the US.
According to an FBI affidavit filed in
the Harper case, the Polish intelligence
organization is divided into units or
"vcydzal " each with an individual KGB
liaison officer.
The affidavit says that each year,
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/11: CIA-RDP90-00552R000302530027-1