DEFECTION REOPENING SEARCH FOR CIA 'MOLE'

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Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
CIA-RDP90-00552R000706950020-4
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RIPPUB
Original Classification: 
K
Document Page Count: 
2
Document Creation Date: 
December 22, 2016
Document Release Date: 
August 26, 2010
Sequence Number: 
20
Case Number: 
Publication Date: 
September 30, 1985
Content Type: 
OPEN SOURCE
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PDF icon CIA-RDP90-00552R000706950020-4.pdf153.83 KB
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Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/26: CIA-RDP90-00552R000706950020-4 P. ,f;C r_ AF'Z.ARED QN PACaE WASHINGTON TIMES 30 September 1985 6 Defection reopening search for CIA `mole' By Bill Gertz THE WASHINGTON TIMES Reports that a former CIA operative has fled to avoid arrest as a Soviet spy have rekindled a long-standing dispute over CIA counterintelli- gence policy that began nearly 20 years ago dur- ing a search for a Soviet "mole" within the agency, intelligence experts say. "The only question is whether the occasion is for the good of counterintelligence or for the NEWS ANALYSIS detriment of it;' intelligence analyst Angelo Codevilla said of reports that a top Soviet official had defected. It might still be too soon to determine the credibility of the defector, he said. Mr. Codevilla suggested the defection might be an attempt to confound the CIA and to distract attention from the loss of a key Soviet KGB officer in Great Britain. Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/26: CIA-RDP90-00552R000706950020-4 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/26: CIA-RDP90-00552R000706950020-4 Q In any case, he said the defector would still provide valuable infor- mation on Soviet activities to try to establish his credibility with the CIA and FBI. Officials in Washington have placed a tight veil of secrecy over the Aug. 1 defection in Rome of Vitaly S. Yurchenko, the KGB's No. S man, believed to be in charge of the Line KR counterintelligence section and the bureau that handles pen- etration of Western intelligence ser- vices. Mr. Yurchenko's defection reportedly caused the recent depar- ture of "several" middle-level CIA operations officers, according to U.S. government sources. Congressional sources said one of the CIA defectors was in a position to cause serious damage to U.S. national security and recently left the United States, the Associated Press reported Saturday. Three former CIA employees are suspected of spying for the Soviets, but Mr. Yurchenko's ongoing interro- gation was expected to lead to fur- ther revelations of KGB penetrations, CIA sources said. Since he defected, Mr. Yurchenko has been under interrogation by CIA and FBI counterintelligence offi- cials at an undisclosed location. Experts say that if the debriefing began in August, other suspected Soviet agents will be revealed in the coming months and a "damage assessment" of the CIA penetrations will take place. Sen. Malcom Wallop, D-Wyo., a former Senate Intelligence Commit- tee member and an outspoken advo- cate of tougher CIA counterintelligence measures, said he believed Soviet penetrations of the CIA were not limited to former agency employees. "I'm very suspect of the fact that its only former CIA employees:' Sen. Wallop said in an interview. Mr. Wallop said he had no direct knowledge of the Yurchenko case but stated "the only thing I have direct knowledge of is that we still don't have internal counterintelli- gence capabilities:' Mr. Wallop criticized former CIA director Stansfield Turner who assured the senator in the past it was "impossible there was a Soviet mole" in the CIA, he said. "You have to view that with extreme skepticism:' Mr. Wallop said. Adm. Turner could not be reached for comment. Since Western intelligence agen- cies have succeeded in penetrating the KGB and GRU intelligence ser- vices in the past, "it's inconceivable that after all those years of confron- tation between East and West ... that they haven't penetrated us. and have only penetrated us with past people:' Mr. Wallop said. Justice Department and CIA offi- cials on Friday denied news reports that Mr. Yurchenko had identified "several" CIA employees as Soviet agents. The denial provided the first offi- cial confirmation that Mr. Yur- chenko was in American hands. The fact that former CIA officials are suspected of operating as Soviet spies or have defected supports the long-held suspicions of many former CIA counterintelligence officials who believe the CIA has been pen- etrated by an deep cover agent, or "mole:' working for Moscow. Soviet defector Anatoliy Golitsyn, the only KGB defector to have attended the Soviets' higher intelli- gence academy, told CIA counterin- telligence officials when he defected in 1961 that the Soviets controlled a mole in the senior levels of the CIA, according to published accounts. Mr. Golitsyn provided leads that uncovered Soviet agents in the French, Swedish and British govern- ments, including the notorious Soviet spy Harold"Kim" Philby, who operated as double agent in the Brit- ish intelligence service M16. The search for a mole in the CIA proved fruitless. But Mr. Golitsyn, who holds unor- thodox views on Soviet policy, was challenged by another defector. Yuri Nosenko, whom many intelligence officials believed to be a provocateur sent by Moscow to distract U.S. offi- cials from finding a Soviet mole in the CIA. "Here was a fella who came over fin 19641 and flunks every one of his polygraph tests ... and nevertheless is believed because it would be inconvenient not to believe him:" Mr. Codevilla said of Mr. Nosenko. A recent CIA report on Soviet deception described Mr. Nosenko and another Soviet agent code- named Fedora as "good" defectors contrary to FBI evidence that Mr. Codevilla said proved the two Sovi- ets were loyal to Moscow while pre- tending to supply secrets to the United States. Mr. Nosenko was later hired as an agency counterintelligence lecturer by Adm. Turner in a drastic reversal of the CIAs policy of doubt toward the defector, according to published accounts. Mr. Wallop said a discovery that former CIA operatives worked for the KGB could vindicate former CIA counterintelligence chief James Angleton. Mr. Angleton and his counterintel- ligence section led the investigation of possible Soviet penetration of the CIA during the early 1960s based on information supplied by Mr. Golitsyn and other defectors. The mole hunt led to internal political disputes between the CIAs counterintelligence section and its Soviet operations division, accord- ing to published accounts. After Mr. Angleton left the agency in 1974, the CIAs counter- intelligence section was gutted through transfers and forced retire- ments, and a Soviet division official took over the post of counterintel- ligence chief. Adm. Turner. in memoirs released earlier this year, criticized Mr. Angleton's counterintelligence sec- tion for disrupting the agency dur- ing the search for Soviet penetrations of the CIA. The CIAs present deputy director, John McMahon, was appointed by Adm. Turner to a senior operational post and has been known to oppose past counterintelligence policies as well as policies formulated by the present CIA director, William Casey. Mr. McMahon lobbied on Capitol Hill against covert assistance to the Nicaraguan resistance, intelligence sources said. Mr. Yurchenko defected while investigating the disappearance of a Soviet scientist who had vanished earlier this summer, intelligence sources said. Before defecting, Mr. Yurchenko was the fifth ranking KGB official and has also been identified as a senior Communist Party official responsible for overseeing the KGB, a Soviet Foreign Ministry official, and the KGB's chief of operations in the United States between 1975 and 1980. As the official in charge of the KGB's American operations. dir. Yurchenko would have directed the estimated 4,000 Soviet bloc intelli- gence officials. A network of American agents working under for the Soviets could number in the thousands, experts say. The only recent CIA operatives linked to the Soviet Union are David Barnet and Philip Agee. A former CIA operative in Asia, Barnet was caught spying for the Soviets, and former CIA officer Agee has acknowledged publicly that he coop- erated with the Cuban authorities that are closely tied to the Soviet Union in writing exposes of CIA operations and agents. Soviet Embassy press spokesman Boris Malakhov would not comment on reports of Mr. Yurchenko's defec- tion. But Soviet Foreign Ministry press spokesman Vladimir Lomeiko, asked if the Yurchenko defection would affect the arms talks in Geneva, told reporters Friday "it would be inappropriate to link these two things." Asked if Mr. Lomeiko meant to confirm Mr. Yurchenko's defection, Mr. Malakhov would not elaborate on Mr. Lomeiko's remark. He would not say whether the Soviet Embassy in Washington had inquired about Mr. Yurchenko with the State Department. z Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/26: CIA-RDP90-00552R000706950020-4