WITH A FORGED MEMO, THE SOVIETS COUNTERATTACK

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000301900041-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 8, 2012
• Sequence Number: 41
• Publication Date: March 30, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/11/08: CIA-RDP90-00965R000301900041-7
WASHINGTON POST
30 MARCH 1983
Rowland- Evans and Robert Novak
aTorged Memo,
e Soviets Counterattack
? ,
Sudden publication in Warsaw's major Com, :
'friuniat Party-newspaper of a forged March 13,
r?1918,:iriemorandtim from nigniew Brzezinski- -
-tO President Carter, detailing. a plan to destabi- .
"iize Poland looks like the start of a desperate
--Sbviet defense in the case Of the attempted as-
"slisifiation,:of Pone John Paul 11.:;',!:?:
i_The'lorged. "toff,. secret". communication to
. ?
Carter from his natiiinalsecurity adviser was a? ?
.iletailed plan On how the then-rising discontent
.against .Poland's,anumunist regime could be
joined to Poland's powerful CatholiaChurch to
Create. revolutionary- turmoil- The: U.S. objec-
tive, the forged Brzezinski memorandum told
-1Carter,' was- to pull Poland L out of the, Soviet
orbit ?:T ?
Soviet-7:-. specialists:, here ? regard the sudden
publication of the-spurious memorandum , five
- years? after it was- purportedly written , by
Brzezinski as having -two- purposes: deflecting?L,1
? attention from theU.S. media campaign' charg-
,ing Soviet coMplicity, in the pope's attempted
murder in 1981; and providing new "evidence .
ragainst Solidarity leaders soon to be. put on trial
in 'Warsaw for crimes against the Polish state. ,
Soviet disinformation gambits- are scarcely ?
unusual. What sets the Brzezin.ski4arter
for-
gery apart is its veiled implication that Brzezin-
? -ski's alleged Plot to destabilize Poland, included,,,,
-: the installation of Polish Cardinal Karol Woj-
tyla as the first Polish leader of the Catholic ?
'Church. ?
,
Top State Department officials have not yet-
decided whether to publicly denounce4he,for-
gemy.
ItWaw apparently first published recently ,
in a center/left-wing Madrid weekly, EL Tiem7:
I ? -
then 'picked up by. the Washington corm--;
spondent of Zycie Warazawy arid Published in
' that newspaper last month under a Washington,
.'dateline.'. ?
' The sequence of events leading up to the for-
: ?
gery?a sophisticated job obviously done by the
KGB in the last few. months and then back-
dated five years--strongly argues. for-the Rea.:
gan administration to expose and denounce it.
Shortly after the October 1.9'78 election of Pone
John Paul II, U.S. intelligence agents uncovere47'
an undoubtedly- authentic but wholly erroneous
IZGa'rnialysis- portraying in elaborate detail,
'how the U.S. had 'plotted to elevate the Polish:,
7,
'cardinal to pope. ', ' ''? ' , ...
-. - According to this KGB analysis, Brzeiinski; a
native of Poland, and Cardinal John Krol of
Philadelphia, an 'ethnic Pole, were alleged d) ,
have org' anized the American cardinals to vote
in a blOc for Cardinal Wojtyla when the College
of Cardinals metin the Vatican in mid-October
for the papal election. .
. Further, the Carter , administration, with
Brzezinski leading the way, was portrayed by
the KGB as cultivating West German Catholic
, _ - -
leaders to line up behind Wojtyla. The purpose,
as the KGB reported it back to then-KGB chief
Yuri-Andropovand the. Kremlin, was to set :-?m the
stage for iti-Soyiel; revolt in Poland
: :"reconciliation" between- Poland and West Ger-. !.
, Many. - ..'.:, :-. -.1. ' ....??:: -:` - '" ._ ' - :- - ? :
? ' 'IntelligenCe' specialists who have read - this .
KGB analysis told us its authenticity is beyond'.
:. question. Even though its purpose could haVe.,,
been disinformation," it appears to? have :been .
based on no fads. at. alt Nothing in the written
record of either. Carter or Brzezinski bears re-?.
mote _resemblance-- to the KGB , analysis..
. Brzezinski's . receatly . published memoirs, .
"Power and :Trinciple Imention. Pope-.John -'
-: Paul H only twicasaying haWas:`struck" in his'..
,:. second, meeting- with.,how political the. pope's 1
. thinking was..", ,..:::,- . ,, ,- , - . - ,...`, .
... ..,..? ..
Now that the, Polish Communist Party's
principal newspaper has published the forged
-.Brzezinski. memorandum to Carter,' most (Ai-
, cials believe an American response is needed. If
not, the imlication that the U.S. government.,1
-? embarked on a deliberatecOurse of intervention-,
into the most intimate affairs of the papacy of-
fers! Andropm ? a "counterattack to charges of
'Soviet complicity in the attempt to minder the
? ,... ? . , ,?
pope.? Indeed, ' Andropov's attack: on Ronald.'
Reagan last weekend as a "liar" may have been
, intended. to seLthe stage for just such a coon-
; terattack..? '
. ?
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/11/08: CIA-RDP90-00965R000301900041-7