CIA SHOULD STILL HANDLE DEFECTIONS, MEESE SAYS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000302320069-0
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 4, 2012
• Sequence Number: 69
• Publication Date: February 7, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/10/04: CIA-RDP90-00965R000302320069-0
ARTICLE APPEARED
ON PAGE -2-4
WASHINGTON TIMES
7 February 1986
CIA should still handle
defections, Meese says
By Bill Gertz and John McCaslin
NMSHINOTON TIMES
Attorney General Edwin Meese III said
yesterday he opposes plans to shift respon-
sibility for the handling of Soviet intelligence
defectors from the Central Intelligence
Agency to the FBI.
In a wide-ranging interview during a Wash-
ington Times luncheon, Mr. Meese also said
the Justice Department could take action
against Nation of Islam leader Louis Farra-
khan if he defies President Reagan's ban on
travel to Libya.
The White House announced last month it
was considering several proposals on reform-
ing the CIA's procedures for dealing with de-
fectors. The proposals were drawn up follow-
ing the case of Soviet KGB intelligence
officer Vitaly Yurchenkw who defected to the
United States, recanted and returned to Mos-
cow last November afterdenouncing the CIA.
"I don't see any great reason for changing
who handles defectors," Mr. Meese said. "If
there were problems in regard to the handling
of Yurchenko, or anybody else, those can be
corrected by the [CIA]:
His comments were the first official Jus-
tice Department response to the White House
statements of the proposed policy change.
Mr. Meese said he did not know what went
wrong with the Yurchenko case since the de-
fector was handled by CIA officials.
Reforming current procedures, he said,
would be more effective than attempting to
put the FBI into a role for which it has no
experience.
On the Yurchenko defection, Mr. Meese
said, "We do think he gave us valuable in-
formation, which has been proved out"
Mr. Yurchenko supplied leads that resulted
in the arrest of former National Security
Agency analyst Ronald Pelton and helped un-
cover former CIA operations officer Edward
L. Howard, who fled the United States to avoid
arrest on spy charges.
FBI officials have said a number of other
cases have been opened that were based on
Mr. Yurchenko's information, but so far no
further arrests have been made.
Regarding Mr. Farrakhan, Mr. Meese said
the Justice Department would be prepared to
take action against the Islamic leader, who,
during a press conference Wednesday, said he
would go to Libya in defiance of a presidential
ban.
Mr. Reagan has blamed Libyan leader Col.
Muammar Qaddafi for promoting terrorism
throughout the world, and recently issued a
ban on travel by Americans to the north Afri-
can state.
"Depending on what (Farrakhan] does or
how he does it, if the law is violated, I think
he should be prosecuted," Mr. Meese said.
On a separate issue, Mr. Meese said he be-
lieved a proposal would soon be submitted to
President Reagan that would prohibit nu-
merical hiring "quotas" for federal contrac-
tors.
"There's been a lot more press disinfor-
mation than there has been information -
statements, for example, that I want to roll
back ... the 1965 executive order" on affirm-
ative action.
"Nothing could be further from the truth,"
Mr. Meese said.
Signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson,
the presidential order's guidelines require
contractorg doing business with the govern-
ment to hire women and minorities in certain
numbers to prevent job discrimination.
On U.S. counterespionage efforts, Mr.
Meese said the Justice Department has been
working to limit the number of Soviet bloc
spies in the United States.
"I once said, somewhat kidding, that we
ought to have an agreement with the Soviets
that they would not send over more spies than
we have FBI agents to follow them - make
that a function of the budget:' Mr. Meese said.
"Obviously that continues to be a problem."
On domestic security; Mr. Meese said he
was satisfied with FBI guidelines for inves-
tigation of domestic political groups. Those
guidelines, set up by former Attorney Gen-
eral William French Smith, "have served the
country well" by protecting citizens from op-
pressive police work but allowing security
operations to be carried out, Mr. Meese said.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/10/04: CIA-RDP90-00965R000302320069-0