EMBASSY TYPEWRITER BUGGING BLAMED ON ROUTINE SHIPMENT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000402920042-2
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 8, 2012
• Sequence Number: 42
• Publication Date: March 27, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/08: CIA-RDP90-00965R000402920042-2
ARTI CLB APP 10-0
On PAGE.
WASHINGTON POST
27 March 1985
Embassy Typewriter Bugging Blamed
on Routine Shipment
By David Hoffman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Typewriters bugged by the So-
viets in the U.S. Embassy in Mos-
cow had been shipped through "nor-
mal channels" instead of receiving
special diplomatic handling, allow-
ing electronic devices to be placed
in them, intelligence sources said
yesterday.
They speculated that the bugs
were "passive" devices that re-
flected signals to low-level trans-
mitters hidden in embassy walls,
presumably allowing the Soviets to
monitor what was written on the
typewriters.
Administration officials con-
firmed this week that the Soviets.
had penetrated security at the em=
bassy for at least a year, and per-
haps longer, by "lifting things off
typewriters." They said the bugging
was ended after being discovered
last year.
One source, who asked not to be
identified, said yesterday that the
Soviets probably did not gather
much valuable U.S. intelligence by
bugging the typewriters because
little of the most highly sensitive
material would be kept in the Mos-
cow embassy.
In addition, this source said, ma-
terial kept there is handled careful-
ly in special areas that have been
"swept" for listening devices, mak-
ing it impossible for the typewriter
bugs to work.
"I don't regard it as terribly se-
rious," the source said of the bug-
ging, suggesting that the security
breach is not as threatenin to the
United States as other intelligence
losses to the Soviets in recent
years.
An administration official said,
"The trouble is that you never know
exactly what they did get" with the
devices in typewriters. The incident
"was taken seriously" by U.S. offi-
cials, he said.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/08: CIA-RDP90-00965R000402920042-2