PENTAGON SHEDS LIGHT ON HOW WEST'S TECHNOLOGY ENDS UP IN SOVIET WEAPONS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000302550009-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 21, 2012
• Sequence Number: 9
• Publication Date: September 20, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/21 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000302550009-1
ARTICLE APih.
ON PAGE
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR
20 September 1985
Pentagon sheds light on how West's
technology ends up in Soviet weapons
By Peter Grier
Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
Washington
The Pentagon has released a detailed
picture of one line of work that Soviet
spies, such as those recently expelled by
Britain, are engaged in.
That work is acquiring
the West's technological
secrets for use in Soviet
weapons. A number of
Reagan administration of-
ficials, led by Assistant
Defense Secretary Rich-
ard Perle, have said for
years that such "technol-
ogy transfer" is a large
threat to United States
security.
"We now know that the
scope of the Soviet effort,
the investment they have
made in acquiring technol-
ogy information, is vastly
greater than was pre-
viously believed to be the case," said Mr.
Perle upon the release of a 32-page gov-
ernment report on the subject.
Previously the administration has .re-
leased details on specific technology ob-
tained by the Soviets, or bragged of sei-
zures of high-tech equipment illegally
Hound for the USSR. The new report,
iiowever, for the first time describes the
.--',oviet organization whose job it is to ob-
tain such stuff.
The 'organization, the VPK or "Mili-
tary Industrial Commission," is in es-
sence a Sears catalog store for the Soviet
high command, according to the US
report.
Heads of Soviet defense industries se-
lect specific items of Western technology
they would like. The VPK
passes these wish lists to
various Russian intelli-
gence agencies, along with
funds earmarked for the
items' collection.
More than 5,000 Soviet
military research projects
benefit significantly from
Western technology each
year, claims the report.
Weinberger: the West is
'subsidizing' Soviet buildup
The USSR has learned
much about airplane fire-
control radar from pilfered
information about the US
F-18 fighter, for instance.
By copying an unusual
National Aeronautics and
Space Administration wing design, the
Soviets have developed an effective short
take-off and landing aircraft, claims As-
sistant Secretary Perle.
Technology transfer saves the USSR
about 500 million rubles annually, the
equivalent of about $1.4 billion in 1980
dollars. claims the report. A congressional
source warns, however, that dollar-ruble
conversions are tricky, and the actual dol-
lar value may be much less.
"We are subsidizing the military buildup of the Soviet
Union," said Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger
at a press conference on the report.
The US government does not take a united stand on
technology transfer. Perle and other hard-liners have
feuded for years with their colleagues at the Department
of Commerce, who feel that the security gains of tougher
export controls don't make up for the economic losses of
diminished trade.
In addition, tech transfer is not a one-way street.
Though the Soviets undoubtedly learn more from the
West than the West learns from the Soviets, there is
some reverse flow as well.
Pentagon officials heading the Strategic Defense Ini-
tiative (SDI), charged with research into defense against
ballistic nuclear missiles, are quite proud of what they
have learned from the Soviets.
In particular, USSR expertise in particle-beam re-
search has benefited SDI. (Particle beams are rays pro-
duced by particle accelerators, familiarly known as atom
smashers.)
In the 1970s, from open Soviet scientific literature, US
researchers learned about something called a "radio-fre-
quency quadropole." This device can be used to help fo-
cus certain types of particle beams.
Since that time, however, articles on particle beams
and other exotic technologies that might be used for
space-based missile defense have disappeared from So-
viet publications, say Pentagon officials. That's a sign
the Soviets have decided these technologies might well
have military utility, say these officials.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/21 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000302550009-1