SENATE SPY EXPERT SAYS DEFECTION STORY IS TRUE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000302320074-4
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 4, 2012
• Sequence Number: 74
• Publication Date: January 28, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/10/04: CIA-RDP90-00965R000302320074-4
ARTICLE ATENFIED
ON PAGE A ?ito
WASHINGTON TIMES
28 January 1986
Senate spy expert says
defection story is true
/1) By Bill Gertz
TlevaimiNermi TIMES
Despite White House denials, a congres-
sional intelligence expert yesterday con-
firmed recent reports that a senior Soviet
intelligence officer has defected to the United
States.
Senate Intelligence Committee member
Chic Hecht, Nevada Republican, confirmed
that a high-level Soviet defection had oc-
curred but would not provide details on who
the defector is or when he defected.
"Where there's smoke, there's fire, and I'm
sorry about the leak ? [that] the story came
into print," Mr. Hecht said of the reported
defection. "There's been too many leaks, and
here's another leak."
U.S. News & World Report and The New
York Times last weekend reported that a high-
ranking KGB official, believed to be a major
general, defected in late April or early May
by escaping from East Germany.
Asked if the reports mistakenly referred to
the reported defection of a GRU general who
left the Soviet Union in 1983, but whose jump
to the West remains unconfirmed by U.S. of-
ficials, Mr Hecht, a former intelligence oper-
ative, declined to comment.
The Washington Times reported yesterday
that some intelligence experts believe the
high-ranking defector referred to in recent
press reports is the Soviet GRU military intel-
ligence officer ? identified in press reports
as "Lt. Gen. Grishin" ? who defected in Sep-
tember 1983 in Istanbul, Tlirkey, disguised in
the uniform of a low-ranking Soviet military
officer.
White House spokesman Larry Speakes
flatly denied news reports that the CIA was
concealing the defection last year of a high-
ranking Soviet KGB intelligence official.
Referring to the U.S. News report, Mr.
Speakes yesterday told reporters, "That story
is not correct." Pressed for details, Mr.
Speakes said "the whole thing" is incorrect.
U.S. News Senior Editor James C. KWpat-
rick defended the magazine's report in a
statement issued yesterday. He said several
sources confirmed the story and that one
source warned the magazine to expect an of-
ficial denial of the report.
A New York Times spokesman in New York
referred questions about the Times' Sunday
story to the Washington bureau. Washington
bureau officials could not be reached for com-
ment.
Two knowledgeable U.S. intelligence
sources reached Sunday by The Washington
Times would not confirm or deny the reports
but expressed skepticism that the reported
high-ranking defection was true.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman
Lee Hamilton, Indiana Democrat, would not
comment yesterday on the reported defec-
tion, although on Sunday he told reporters he
had received a preliminary report on the sub-
ject but was uncertain about the information
supplied to the committee.
Senate Intelligence Committee spokesman a
Dave Holliday said the committee checked
with the CIA on the reports and concluded
there is "no information to indicate that there
is any substance to that story" He said he had
no information about the GRU general.
CIA spokesman Kathy Pherson yesterday
repeated the official CIA position that the
agency does not comment publicly about de-
fectors.
But a CIA official, speaking at a back-
ground briefing, said that both U.S. News and
The New York Times were informed that the
agency had no knowledge of the alleged KGB
general.
"It's a little disappointing to . . say to The
New York Times we don't know of any such
guy and then in the Sunday morning paper
they end up quoting people who are willing to
say 'the CIA leaked this so they can deny it
and continue resettling defectors:" the of-
ficial said.
The New York Times, quoting congres-
sional sources, reported that some officials
believe the agency put out the story about the
KGB general in response to news reports that
the White House planned to shift responsibil-
ity for defectors from the CIA to the FBI fol-
lowing the redefection of Soviet KGB official
Vitaly Yurchenlco.
Mr. Yurchenko disappeared last November
and then charged the CIA with kidnapping
and drugging him during three months in
agency custody. The affair has led to congres-
sional and administration reviews of CIA pro-
cedures for handling defectors.
The CIA official said the agency does not
"play those kinds of games" with the news
media.
"Basically, it seems to me that somebody is
pushing this story" the CIA official said. "I
don't know who it is; I don't know where it's
coming from:'
Declassified and Approved. For Release 2012/10/04 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000302320074-4