CASEY WARNS OF PROPAGANDA BLITZES BY SOVIETS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00806R000100370003-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 9, 2010
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: September 18, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/09: CIA-RDP90-00
UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL
18 September 1985
Casey warns of ''propaganda bli'tzes'' by Soviets
806R000100370003-7
DALLAS
The Soviet intelligence agency has dramatically stepped up its propaganda
campaign against President Reagan's proposed ''Star Wars'' program, CIA
Director William Casey said.
Casey said the propaganda campaign is an attempt to cut into Reagan's
bargaining power during his upcoming meeting with Soviet leader Mikhail
Gorbachev.
''If people understand how Soviets use propaganda, they stand a good chance
of not being manipulated,'' he said Wednesday during an address to the Dallas
Council on World Affairs.
Casey said Soviet propaganda was successful in stopping the neutron bomb and
partially successful in slowing the deployment of U.S. missiles in western
Eu rope.
The Soviet intelligence agency also used propaganda effectively to manipulate
public opinion after the Soviet downing of Korean Air Lines Flight 007, said
Casey, who charged that propaganda changed the perception of the incident from
''a Soviet massacre into a spy mission in the minds of many people around the
world.''
''I'm not trying to whip up anti-Soviet hysteria,'' Casey said. ''Our best
defense is to tell the truth.'-
''We are on the eve of one of the largest propaganda blitzes we have ever
seen in the Soviet campaign against President Reagan's Strategic Defense
Initiative,'' also known as the ''Star Wars'' defense plan, said Casey.
He said organizations which front for the Soviet Union, which he said include
the World Federation of Trade Unions and the World Federation of Democratic
Youth, issue statements in opposition to ''Star Wars'' as part of the Soviet
propaganda plan.
Casey also claimed the Soviets plant stories in small publications, and they
are later quoted in respected publications.
Casey called the British expulsion of 30 alleged Soviet spies ''the tip of
the iceberg'' of disorganization within the KGB, the Soviet intelligence agency.
''The KGB is in far greater disarray and has suffered far greater losses,''
he said.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/09: CIA-RDP90-00806R000100370003-7