SHUTTLE EXPLOSION PROBERS WARNED TO SUSPECT SABOTAGE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000100190002-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 6, 2012
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: May 22, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/06: CIA-RD
WASHINGTON TIMES
22 May 1986
Shuttle explosion probers STAT
warned to suspect sabotage
By Walter Andrews
and Warren Strobel
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
A former director of the Defense
Intelligence Agency yesterday
called on the presidential commis-
sion investigating the January space
shuttle catastrophe to look into the
possibility of sabotage.
"The case for foul play is undeni-
ably strong," retired Army Lt. Gen-
eral Daniel O. Graham said in a
statement. The general is currently
head of the High Frontier, a non-
profit group organized to gain sup-
port for a space defense against nu-
clear missiles.
Mike Weinberg, a spokesman for
the presidential commission, de-
clined commment other than to say
"the commission will consider all as-
pects of the matter."
A spokesman for the Federal Bu-
reau of Investigation, Lane Bonner,
said FBI agents were present at
Cape Kennedy for the January 28
liftoff as they routinely are for all
space launches.
He said "I'm not aware that
there's any sabotage investigation
underway." Asked if any evidence
pointed to sabotage, the spokesman
replied "I can't comment on that:'
In a telephone interview, Gen.
Graham - who was director of the
DIA from 1974 to 1976 - said he
doubted that sabotage was being in-
vestigated "because I know what
kind of reaction one gets when you
bring up such a possibility. The secu-
rity people get very nervous."
In the interview, Gen. Graham
said he was not making a case for
sabotage in the shuttle launch and
the failure since then of three NASA
rocket boosters. "I'm just saying
that you ought to look awfully close
at it."
He said "the only choices you have
[are] coincidence, a gross drop in
efficiency or a third possibility -
sabotage."
The general noted that in recent
weeks there had been three failures
of normally very reliable space
boosters - an Air Force Titan II
rocket, which destroyed an impor-
tant spy satellite; an April 25 misfire
of NASAs Nike-Orion, the rocket's
first in 55 launches and a more re-
cent failure of the highly reliable
NASA Delta rocket.
"The fiery demise of four [includ-
ing the space shuttle] of our space
transportation systems in a row can-
not be logically ascribed to 'coinci-
dence;' Gen. Graham said. Concern-
ing possible mismanagement, he
noted both NASA and the Pentagon
were involved.
He also noted all four space
launch systems had histories of high
reliability: the shuttle 100 percent
and the others 95 percent.
"The chances of four in a row fail-
ing are mathematically astronomi-
cal. The case for foul play is undeni-
ably strong;' the general said.
Three elements - motivation,
capability and vulnerability -
should be considered in examining
the possibility of sabotage, Gen.
Graham said.
On motivation, he said the Soviet
KGB would certainly consider sab-
otage if it thought it would set back
the President's Strategic Defense
Initiative space defense program by
denying American access to space
for a year or more. He did not
elaborate on how this denial would
set back the SDI.
On the space program's vulner-
ability, the general said it is "inher-
ently great " because of the highly
complex machinery and thousands
of technicians involved.
"Minor tampering with key com-
ponents can cause major disasters;'
he said.
On capability, he said "while mo-
tivation is clear, capability is less so,
and should be the focus of the inves-
tigation"
It would take lower ranking per-
sonnel to sabots e space shots than
those accused in recent years of
steam s satellite lans or Navy
communications codes, he said.
His suspicions o sabotage were
first raised when it was reported
that Soviet spy ships, which usually
monitor shuttle launches, "were cur-
iously absent at this launch;' the gen-
eral said.
He then wrote the chairman of the
presidential commission, former
Secretary of State William Rogers,
and asked him to look into what he
then considered the low possibility
of sabotage in order to forestall later
speculation such as occurred after
the 1963 assassination of President
Kennedy.
"If it had been possible to know
what was to follow, I would not have
been so tentative in my letter to Mr.
Rogers," the general said in his state-
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/06: CIA-RDP90-00965R000100190002-2