U.S. FRUSTRATED IN EFFORTS TO COUNTER SOVIET SPYING

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000303570058-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 26, 2010
• Sequence Number: 58
• Publication Date: June 16, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/26: CIA-RD i 90-00552R000303570058-2 STAT
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%'D' YORK TI'1ES
16 June 1985
U.S. Frustrated in Efforts
To Counter Soviet Spying
The following article is based on reporting by Joel Brinkley and Leslie H.
Gelb and was written by Mr. Gelb.
WASHINGTON, June 15-American
counterespionage forces are finding
themselves understaffed and over-
whelmed in trying to combat increas-
ingly advanced and diversified Soviet.
intelligence operations in the United
States, according to senior Govern-
ment officials.
The officials, who deal with intelli-
gence matters, said the Federal Bu-
reau of Investigation had identified 500
to 600 agents of the K.G.B., the Soviet
intelligence and internal security agen-
cy, among the nearly 2,600 Soviet offi-
cials living in the United States.
In addition, the Senate Intelligence
wont Democrat who is vice chairman
of the Senate Intelligence Committee,
said: "How many other cases like this
are there sitting out there? We have to
assume the other Soviet intelligence
agents are out there doing something,
and we aren't catching them."
Although American intelligence offi-
cials agree that the K.G.B. has ex-
panded and improved its operations in
this country, there is debate over
whether the Soviet intelligence service
is now a formidable force or merely a
competent one.
Edward J. O'Malley, director of the
F.B.I.'s intelligence division, said,
Committee has identified at least 200 lecuve s to know everything
K.G.B. agents among the 800 members any given intelligence officer is doing
in the U.S. at all times." At the same
of the Soviet delegation to the United time, Mr. O'Malley acknowledged, "I
Nations.
The number of agents the F. F.B.I. has
assigned to monitor these Soviet agents
and hundreds of others who may be in-
volved in espionage is classified, but
Reagan Administration and Congres-
sional officials estimated the number
at 300 to 400.
Counterintelligence experts say four
agents are required to cover one sus-
pect day and night. "We don't even
have a man-to-man defense," William
J. Casey, Director of Central Intelli-
gence, said in an interview.
In interviews, officials from the
FBI" the Central Intelligence Agen-
t'. the State Department and other
Government agencies and members of
Congress said these problems helped to
explain how John A. Walker Jr.,
charged with leading an espionage
ring, might have passed vital secrets to
Soviet agents for. nearly 20 years with-
out being detected.
Calls for Improvement Made
Because of the charges against Mr.
Walker, members of Congress and
others are calling for significant im-
provements in American counterespi-
onage capabilities. This week the Sen-
ate and House Intelligence Committees
and the information subcommitee of
the House Government Operations
Committee began investigations of
those issues.
Senator Patrick J. Leahy, the Ver-
24 hours a day." although he asserted
that the bureau, by using electronic
surveillance and "certain other legal
techniques." was "in a good position to
severely hurt their intelligence-gather-
ing activities."
The officials agreed that the situa-
tion would be worse if Congress had not
insisted on increasing the number of
American counterintelligence agents
over the last several years, despite op-
position from the bureau and the Jus-
tice Department.
Intelligence sources have attributed
this opposition to bureaucratic con-
cerns and to the difficulty of finding
qualified agents.
Expansion of Soviet Forces
While the Government has debated
the number of counterintelligence
agents it needs, the Soviet Union has
improved and expanded its intelligence
operations here, senior officials said.
Over the last decade, intelligence of-
ficials said, Moscow has more than
doubled the number of intelligence offi-
cers assigned to the United States while
at the same time broadening their
operations to focus on American tech-
nology and military industries.
In the past Soviet officers worked
proved since the days when American
officers said they could easily spot
chiefly in only four or five major cities,
including New York, Washington and
San Francisco. But Mr. O'Malley said
they now operate nationwide.
In addition, past and present intelli-
gence officials say the quality of
K.G.B. agents has significantly im-
them by their baggy pants and ant,
ward English.
"They can now blend in, in speech,
manner, dress and education," said a
former senior intelligence official.
Still, Administration officials acknowl-
edge that there is a continuing and per-
haps irresolvable debate over the ex-
tent of K.G.B. capabilities and opera-
tions in this country.
Most intelligence officials say they
believe that American intelligence
operations are better than those of the
K.G.B. but that the K.G.B. does not re-
quire as much skill to operate effec-
tively in-America's open society.
Shoitc* in U.S. Operation
Interviews with numerous current
and former intelligence officers, along
with members of Congress and other
Government officials, also brought to
light these points:
The F.B.I. can regularly monitor
only the known Soviet intelligence offi-
cers. giving scant attention to sus-
pected officers, and surveillance of
even the known agents ends when their
lights are turned out in the evening and
they are presumed to be sleeping.
9American officials believe a large
number of Soviet agents have slipped
into the United States illegally and are
living and working here and reporting
directly to Moscow. With rare excep-
tions, Federal officials say they do not
know who or where they are.
The F.B.I. faces another potentially
large problem in that about 1,000 Soviet
6tnigr6s, many naturalized American
citizens, work in military industries
and have access to classified informa-
tion. The F.B.I. assumes these people
are loyal Americans, but because most
of them still have families in the Soviet
Union the bureau believes they are vul-
nerable targets for the K.G.B.
soviet officers place special em-
phasis on trying to recruit American
agents, but most Americans who spy
for the Soviet Union are volunteers, not
recruits, bureau officials say. Soviet
officers also use Americans who can be
unknowingly tricked into revealing se-
crets.
Intelligence officials agree that
Soviet officers have become increas-
ingly talented at the psychological
manipulation of American agents, to
insure that once they begin spying they
do not stop.
As was true with the arrest of Mr.
Walker, most espionage arrests are a
result of chance. Federal agents
learned of Mr. Walker's alleged activi-
ties only after his wife decided to turn
him in.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/26: CIA-RDP90-00552R000303570058-2