REAGAN SIGNALS REBIRTH OF COUNTERSPYING

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000302330069-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 10, 2012
• Sequence Number: 69
• Publication Date: July 1, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/10/10 :CIA-RDP90-009658000302330069-9
~~ `+~ WASHINGTON TI~~IES
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By Bill Gertz
7HE NMBNINOTON TIME9
President Reagan has called for a
renewed effort to counter the activities of
foreign spy services after what he called
"mistakes of past restrictions" on U.S.
intelligence officials during the 1970s.
Of the more than 2,500 Soviet-bloc offi-
cials stationed in the United States, the
president said 30 percent to 40 percent
were known or suspected intelligence
officers.
Besides espionage directed against
U.S. secrets and. high technology, the
Soviets recently have stepped up "active
measures" -disinformation, propa-
ganda, subversion, forgeries and covert
action- directed against the West, Pres-
ident Reagan said in his weekly radio
broadcast Saturday.
The president said the United States
needs to "deal severely with those who
betray our wuntry."
Congress recently passed a measure
calling for the death penalty in cases of
espionage. The move follows revelations
of a major espionage operation involving
the loss of U.S. Navy nuclear submarine
secrets to the Soviet Union.
"We're in a long twilight struggle with
an implacable foe of freedom.... We
need to reduce the size of the hostile
intelligence threat we're up against in
this country;' the president said.
He called for reducing the number of
Soviet bloc spies working in the United
States to "more manageable" levels and
singled out the United Nations as a "spy
nest:'
The administration he said is i ~ t
on streng emng t e .S. intelligence
communi 's ca bili to curb s b
foreign powers, own as counterintel-
ligence.
"During the '70s we began cutting
back our manpower and resources, and
imposed unnecessary restrictions on our
security and counterintelligence offi-
cials;' Mr. Reagan said.
The president was referring to the
period in the mid-1970s when congres-
sionalcommittees uncovered evidence of
abuses by U S intelligence agencies. As
a result of the committee findings, activi-
ties of the FBI, CIA and other agencies
- primarily the counterintelligence and
surveillance programs - were
restrict~e ..
W Rav Wannall former head of FBI
counterintelli ence believes both the
an ve not ~u ~reco~vered
from t-+pae cc~u_nterin~gence cutbacks?
He said some 400 counteri ~telligence
perannnn were cut _rOm the C:IA. ena~
similar number were dropped from the
"When you take a man who spent 25 to
30 years in counterintelligence work and
he drops out the picture, you don't find
his knowledge in files;' Mr. Wannall said
in a recent interview, "he's carrying it
around in his head:'
Morale amon U.S. intelli ence offi-
cers sue as a res t o cutbacks. nar-
ticu-Tarry vent t e CIA. which~S
lei n counterinteW
to fates. n er former CIA chief
tans ie rner m o ice -
ident Carter, more than 2.200 CIA veter-
ans rest, actor g to a report by the
Association o~ Dormer me igence Offi-
cers.
The association estimates the loss of
experienced personnel cost the agency
30,000 man-years of experience. In whai
critics describe as a " ur e" of a r-
ien o is s, er fired
o is s m to r 1977. The mass
was a oween
massacre" and led to the voluntar
retirement o?f some o~ a most a r-
ien mte aence o is s.
"'Ibtally competent people trained for
years in certain jobs were just dismissed
with pink slips or tranferred to the side-
lines;' one former intelligence official
said.
Adm. '1lirner defended the dismissals
by claiming he was only carrying out a
program of cutbacks agreed to under the
previous administration. He could not be
reached for comment on the president's
radio address.
President Reagan said "we've begun to
rebuild" counterintelligence efforts, but
called for more coordination among U.S.
agencies and improved analysis of
threats posed by hostile spies.
He said the United States should
"learn from the mistakes of past
restrictions which unduly hampered us:'
Without elaborating, the president
said U.S. officials have veloped a "list"
of proposed security reforms.
STAT
Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/10/10 :CIA-RDP90-009658000302330069-9