CIA VETERAN: FLIGHT 007 WAS SPY PLANE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00806R000201180054-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 19, 2010
• Sequence Number: 54
• Publication Date: October 7, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/19: CIA-RDP9
SALT LAKE TRIBUNE (UT)
7 October 1983
Overwh elming' Evidence
eteran.='~Icr
7 ht)
r_j
Special to The Tribune
land With flight 007 the United States had no in
OGDEN I:
orean Airfli ht 007 was a s
g . to be shot down and thought,
plane that purposely flew into Soviet airspace.to .to ~., .tention for. the plane
simulate an invasion, said a 25-year.CIA veteran they were getting the best of both worlds. The
Thursday -United States would get the.information and Rus;
uld get a black eye.
sia wo
P.alph seMcGehee, a retired member of the t ; He refuted the idea that the KAL flight with 269'.
CIA who served . in numerous. overseas intell~ .:`
gence operations,' told -students at Weber ;State- people on board could have unknowingly been off;
College.that ;the United States: worked.with.the, :course. He said that the RC-135 would have known;
Korean_governmentio..orchestrate espionage by =b~?stsradar:equipment that the flight had left'its-
use of a commercial airliner.,:..:,; s a_>= -fight plan and could have contacted the'plane.,
Mr McGehee said, "The evidence is over i Korean and Japanese radar equipment also moni=
"tors tbe:area and would have known if it was in
whelming that this was a panned event by the Soviet airspace.",
United States to `send a commercial .airliner,, "You cannot, tt1 that area, stray wbouf every
e6uipped with spl equipment into :the; Sovietbodr telling yoti," he said.
Union thinking they would not shoot ,it down.
He continued, The .Korean airfhght veered off
_-He said that he believes that Soviet pilots did. in :course directly.over the area where the equip
fact. mistake the Boeing 747 commercial jet for':. '?ment in the RC-135 was aimed: They were able to=
the sophisticated spy plane, the RC,135,4at-was:. ;tell that KAL 007 had veered off. Why did they not:
circling nearby. tell them where they were? He said," i don't think the Soviets knew It was a 0..i ,'McGehee,?who said he is followed by' the CIA t
commercial airliner." ; and has wire taps on his phone; said the CIA is not +i
McGehee told the Weber State group that the'., ?.being..totall~, honest with the information it has'
United States has used commercial airliners in released on the incident and sites a long history of;j
the past for intelligence operations and that dur what he calls "repressed information"
ing the last two decades has ordered United r- : The formeragent.joined the CIA in 1952 and;
in order to test their defense radar.
ets du not keep their radar defense operating on a
continuous basis. This procedure makes it
sib)e for U.S. intelligence to understand their ra-;:
dar and build defenses in their aircraft and weap-
ons. The United States then has ,to "simulate"y
attacks so the Soviets will turn on the.radar.`_c_vr
On)c wfien the radar is activated can we moni;
.'tor their system," McGehee said.
Be-noted that the RC-135 contains .electronic
equipment that is designed to monitor the Rus;
sian radar once it is operating..:
He said that the day of the KAL Flight' there
was a planned ICBM test launch by the Soviets. A'`:
commercial airliner -wandered"_ directly .over,.,
that area as well as over several major, soviet'..'-
.-military installations :He added that in addition-:-
to the RC-135 that was in the area, an American:'
relay satellite passed directly over the commer-,''.
i.cial airliner both as It flew above the ICBM test s
site and again as It passed over the. military
stallations.
McGehee said,"In 1978 the United States did a';
similiar thing and the Soviets forced the plane to.",
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/19: CIA-RDP9O-00806ROO0201180054-0