SOVIET ROLE IN NUCLEAR FREEZE LIMITED, FBI SAYS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00806R000201090038-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 25, 2010
• Sequence Number: 38
• Publication Date: March 26, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/25: CIA-RDP9
STAT
tt.t I I J..L i. c-:.RtG
ON PAG"
THE WASHINGTON POST
26 March 1983
Soviet dole in, Nuclear Freez
ST r,Bi Says
By George Lardner Jr.
Washington Post Staff Writer
The Soviet Union has stepped up
its efforts in the past two years to
exploit the U.S. nuclear freeze move-
ment, but by no means playsa lead-
ing role in it. the FBI said in a re-
port made public yesterday. - -.
"Based on information available
to us, we do not believe, the Soviets
have achieved a dominant role in the
U.S. peace and nuclear freeze move.
rents, or that they directly control
or manipulate the movement," the
FBI intelligence division concluded.
At the same time, the bureau said,
Soviet agents have achieved some
success in creating an impression
that the Soviet Union is more inter.
est.ed than the United States in dis-
armament..
The report. conflicted with Pres-
ident Reagan's oft-stated suggestion
that the freeze movement was "in-
spirec" by communist agents, even
though it did say that the Soviets
have been striving to capitalize on it.
The FBI report, dated March,
1983, and entitled, "Soviet Active
Measures Relating to the U.S. Peace
Movement," was prepared at the re-
quest of the House Intelligence
Committee. A declassified version
was released by. Rep. C.W. Bill
Young (R-Fla).
A major portion of the study was
devoted to last June's peace demon-
stration in New York City that drew
nearly a million people together in
protest-against nuclear weapons.
The FBI said that "based on
available information, we do not be-
lieve that the Soviet Union and its
proxies directly controlled the -pro-
ceedings . . . -nor were they respon-
sible for the large turnout at the ral-
ly.
.The overwhelming majority ...
were members of independent peace
and civic organizations, and they
attended the rally as an expression
-00806R000201 090038-8
Limited.
of legitimate concerns about nuclear
weapons," the FBI said.
The report added, however, that
"Soviet-controlled organizations par-
ticipated at the highest levels of the
June 12 Committee" that planned
the rally and exerted pressure to
focus .the rally primarily on what the
committee called U.S. responsibility
for the arms race.
The FBI said the "pro-Soviet"
U.S. Peace Council, founded in 1979
with U.S. Communist Party mem-
bers in "key leadership positions,"
.played an important role in the
planning and organization of the
June 12 demonstration and had at
least one seat on-the June 12 exec-
utive committee.
During committee meetings, the
report said, -U.S. Peace Council-'
Communist Party representatives
"fictively campaigned to direct the
focus of the demonstration ex-
clusively against U.S. weapons sys-
tems," and the committee largely
agreed. characterizing the U.S. gov-
ernment as "the least willing to stop
its nuclear insanity."
"The committee's rationale was
that the Soviet Union supports sev-
eral committee proposals. including
a bilateral nuclear freeze," the report
said.
The FBI said the Soviet KGB has
also been taking part in the cam-
paign by "at-tempting to develop con-
tacts with religious figures in the
United .States," and by collecting
personal and biographic information
on several peace activists to deter-
mine if any of them: might be "vul-
- nerable to recruitment. operations." .
The report, however, did not sup-
port Reagan's contention in-a speech
last October when he"said the freeze
movement was "inspired not by the
sincere, honest 'people who want
peace, but by some who want the
weakening of America and so are
manipulating many honest and sin-
cere people."
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/25: CIA-RDP90-00806R000201090038-8