CIA REMAINS MUM ON SOVIET DEFECTOR

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000303560097-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 1, 2010
• Sequence Number: 97
• Publication Date: January 26, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/01 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000303560097-0 STAT
ASSOCIATED PRESS
26 January 1986
CIA Remains Mum on Soviet Defector
By BRIAN BARGER, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON
The Senate Intelligence Committee has been told nothing about a senior KGB
major-general who, according to published accounts, defected to the United
States last year and was in CIA custody, Sen. Patrick Leahy, vice chairman of
the panel, said Sunday.
Leahy, D-Vt., said CIA officials continued to tell him as late as Sunday
morning that no such defector existed. "They are denying it today," he said.
However, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Lee Hamilton, D-Ind., said he
had received a "preliminary report" on the alleged Soviet defector. He declined
to comment further until he received a more thorough briefing on the case and
said he was "not yet sure about the information."
CIA spokeswoman Kathy Pherson declined comment on the report Sunday, saying
only, "We don't comment on defectors."
The alleged defection was first reported in U.S. News and World Report, which
said the Soviet officer "was smuggled out of East Germany in late April or early
May by helicopter and debriefed at a U.S. base in West Germany." The report said
the defection was kept secret "to prevent press leaks that might have upstaged
the Geneva summit in Geneva."
The U.S. News and World Report story described the alleged defector as
"extremely valuable," and said he fed secrets to U.S. intelligence even before
his defection. He was reporedly given a new identity, and settled in an
undisclosed location in the Midwest.
Leahy said that at any given time the CIA "handles several significant
defectors" whose identities are not made public. He said the CIA was
responsible for advising the intelligence committees about defectors, but said
he had not received any information on this case.
A congressional source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said there
were "several defectors over the past few years that have not become public,
and it could be one of them." He said that details concerning the defector "did
not jump out at him," but said it could be accurate."
The disclosure, and subsequent CIA denials of the report, raised
speculation on Capitol Hill that the story may have been leaked to influence an
upcoming debate over whether responsiblity for handling defectors should be
turned over to the FBI.
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The CIA was deeply embarrassed last November when Vitaly S. Yurchenko, a
senior KGB agent the CIA hailed as one of their "Most important defectors" in
years, fled his CIA handlers. He turned up two days later at a press
conference at the Soviet embassy, claiming he was kidnapped and drugged by the
CIA, and announced his intention to return to the Soviet Union.
The CIA denied the charges, and has since maintained he was a legitimate
defector who later had a change of heart.
As a result, criticism has mounted within the administration and Congress
over the CIA's handling of Yurchenko and other defectors in recent years.
Some officials, including Leahy, speculate Yurchenko was a double agent sent
by the Soviets to disrupt U.S. intelligence operations, and embarrass the Reagan
administration prior to the Geneva summit.
Leahy acknowledged he has asked for an investigation of the CIA's handling
of Yurchenko as well as another, undisclosed defector whom he refused to
discuss.
"I took another case simply to look at the techniques used in a case not
publicly disclosed to see if the proceedures used were the same," Leahy said. "I
found the techniques used to be largely the same."
Leahy said defectors should be handled uniformly "by one (agency) or the
other," and said current procedures involving both the CIA and the FBI leaves
"the authority hazy." He added that he had not yet decided on whether to
recommend using the FBI or the CIA in defector cases, and would await the
results of the investigation, which he predicted would take "a few more months"
to complete.
"When it is done right, everyone claims credit," Leahy said. "But when it
goes wrong, everyone says, 'it wouldn't have happened if we had handled it."'
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