UR A TARGET FOR SPIES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000404030061-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 31, 2010
• Sequence Number: 61
• Publication Date: October 19, 1981
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/31 :CIA-RDP90-005528000404030061-5
ROCHESTER TIMES-UNION (N.Y.)
19 October 1981
-~~tt s?~,e say ~e'~e t~~y~~g . _
to d~? ~~ ~~i~~ in .~I.~'.~'..' .
. _ -,
ByJOHN HILLKIRK ?
Times-Uniae btoney staff '
The doors of research facilities at the University of Rochester have
. swung open freely to Soviet visitors for the last 12 years. '
_: In that time. at least one alleged Soviet spy has visited here and
'gathered information for' the Russian KGB, an -international '
strategic trade consultant says. '
Some federal officials suspect that other visiting Soviet academics
have done similar work for the KGB. .L,
Such visits bV intelligence attents pa+ing.as scholars are not
unusual, federal officials say. It is believed by some profes.~ors and
federal officials that most, if not{ all, Soviet visitors to U.S. research
institutions are Communist Party members trained by the Kt;E3.
? .That's why doors at research facilities here and at ether in~titu-
tions around the coon are beginning to close to Soviet visitors.
If some anti-Soviet liners in the Reagan administration ha~?e
their way, the doors wt soon slam shut
? . At stake, congressmen and intelligence 'agents claim. is our
national security ~ particularly our technoloo cal superiority
over the Soviets in the fields of electrical engineering, physics,.
computer science and chemistsy.
? THE UNIVERSI'T'Y OF ROCHESTER, with its laser energet-
ics lab and vast research facilities, is a target for Soviet espionage,
said Dr. I~iileg Costick, head of the Washington-based Institute for
SUategic Trade, a think tank specializing in economic and strategic
affairs. Costick fre-
quently tzstifies at cone essional hearings
about the dangers of technology transfer to
unfriendly countries. ?.
Dr. Moshe Lubin, director of the laser lab
until seven months ago when~he left to take a ?
position- wits Standard Oil. of Ohio, 'said. ,
'The Soviet exchange (program) is abomina- '
ble. They are all'(Commurust) party mem-
bers briefed by their Intelligence agents.".:
The alleged Russian spy who visited the
UR was Sergei Diolotchkov, Costick said.
Molotchlcov carne here as a,guest of the
university's political, science department
through the International Reseazch and Ea- '
change (IREX) Program in 1978.
The UR has been active in IREX-and
several other exchange? programs since de-
~tente opened .the. doors :between the two
:countries about a dozen years axa. ? -
? "b10LOTCIIIiOV IS A KGB MAN, no
doubt," ?said Costick, w?ho has interviewed
120, Russian" visitors over the last 13 years.
"He has been at various places under various
disguises collecting everything he could."
Molotchkov has been .a prime suspect,
Costick said, in numerous international in-
vestigationa of intelligence operations in-
volving science and technology transfer;
The FBI and CIA refired to comment on
Molotchkov, who is not in the U.S. now and
probably ts-ilI "never be` allowed back in,
according to Costick. ? ,~ . ,
People at the university became suspicous
when he was here;' according to. Professor
Peter Regeastrief,-who- hosted Molotcli=l
The CIA rtes contacted; sources said, and
a CIA agent in Rochester investigated -and !
made a report on'Molotchkov to inteLigence
officials in ~i'ashi o~ton. ? ? ..
"I suspected him of ? unbelievable ~mis-
chief," Regenstrief said. = ~~ . ~ ~ ?.
While at the UR, 11-iototchlov was cape-
trolly interested in Canadian-U.S. relations; ~
Regenstrief said, and spent corriderable
time -stud}zng oil exploration in the two
countries. "He spent a lot.of time at they
Xerox machine"copying technical and poIit-
ical documents, said Regenstrief. ''
THERE IS GRO:iTING CONCERN in
1~'ashington about such activities which,
though they may appear harmless, could
threaten national security.'. ? -' ~
A [ormerintelligenceoffrcer of a Commu-
nist country told the FBI that his operation ~
spent an entire year devising ways to get I
access to an important U.S. computer. ac- I
carding to an Aug. 1 report by FBI Director
William Weh~ter.._ ?-, .
Intelligence operations, a recent Pentagon
report said, have enabled the Soviets to
rapidly close the technology gap between the
two countries
? " ~'Vith technology transfer," Costick said,
"we've saved the Soviets 5100 -billion in
research and development costs. ~Z'e've sup-
ported their hwting for 12 years." ~ -
This sp}ing, however; does 'seem to be' a
twa-way street- U.S. professors going to
Russia are interrogated by the CIA before'
leaving, said Professor Barbara Meehari-
R'alters, co-c'.irector of the UR's Russian 4
Studies pros am and IBEX ezchaage-
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/31 :CIA-RDP90-005528000404030061-5