'SHOT DOWN AIRLINER MAY HAVE BEEN SPYING'

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00845R000201300032-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 18, 2010
• Sequence Number: 32
• Publication Date: June 18, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/18: CIA-RDP90-00845R000201300032-7
ARTICLE Ai i'E;.RED NEW YORK POST
OZ PAGE / 18 June 1984
THE Korean passenger jet- shot down over
the Soviet Union last year may have been
used to trigger Soviet radar and electronic
defense signals so U.S. spy satellites could
monitor them, according to an article in a
British defense magazine.
The article, published by the journal Defense
Attache under the
pseudonym "P. Q.
Mann", said one of the
two satellites involved
was the U.S. space
shuttle.
It also speculated
that in the resultant
diplomatic confronta-
tion Moscow may have
extracted a secret ac-
cord from Washington
to demilitarize the
shuttle.
Defense Attache, a
twice-monthly journal
widely-read in the Brit-
ish defense industry,
said it did not neces.
sarily agree with all
the views in the article
but published it to in-
spire further investiga-
tion.
The editor said the
author had to remain
anonymous for profes-
sional reasons but was
someone well-known to
h. m. -
The article linked the
incident last Septem-
ber to separate incur-
sions into Soviet bloc
air space by two U.S.
military planes in 1964,
shortly after the first
satellites went into
o hit.
The incursions by the
U.S. planes, both of
which were shot down,
coincided with Ferret
surveillance of the
area, it said.
In Washington, a
Pentagon spokesman
said today the Defense
Department would
have no comment on
the allegation until it
obtained a copy of the
article.
He said both the
White House and State
Department at the
time of the incident
denied various allega-
tions of any U.S. in-
volvement.
Washington said all
along that the Korean
plane was not engaged
in intelligence work.
But the article recalled
-that a U.S. military jet
with a similar profile
to that of the Korean
plane flew within
range of Soviet radar
shortly -before the
airliner entered Soviet
airspace. It described
this as a dummy-sell-
ing tactic to put Soviet
defense systems on
guard.
The writer said Mos-
cow itself initially
drew attention to ap-
parent coordination be-
tween the Korean
plane's movement and
repeated passes by a
Ferret satellite. It also
noted that the shuttle
was launched some 36
hours before the inci.
dent "eastwards at the
unusual local time of
0232, the first - night-
time launch."
It acknowledged that
the orbit went over nei-
ther the Soviet Union
nor the incident area
but said the shuttle
would have passed
close enough.
"It is possible that, in
its orbital passes to the
south of the Soviet
Union, it would have
been advantageously
placed to eavesdrop on
emergency communi-
cations streaming east
to west across the
USSR between the Far
Eastern command and
the center of political
control in Moscow," it
said.
STAT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/18: CIA-RDP90-00845R000201300032-7