METHOD GIVING EMIGRES SECRET ACCESS IS ASSAILED

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000403310034-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 9, 2012
• Sequence Number: 34
• Publication Date: April 16, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/09 :CIA-RDP90-009658000403310034-7
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NEIJ YORK TIMES
16 April, 1985
Method Giving Emigres Secret Access Is Assailed
By BILL SELLER
apeW Io'Ib !Mw Yat 11mr
WASHINGTON. April 15 - The?De-
fense Departrnenthas granted security
clearances to thousands of ~igi'68
from the Soviet Union and other Com-
mudat oamtries. although the Govern-
went has no reliable way of checking
their bad. aooording to a Sao-
ate investigation.
Staff investigators for the Senate
Permanent Subcommittee on Investl-
gations, said the difficulty of verifying
the baclt of foreign-born resi-
dents was Potentially a serious weak
Hess is the way the Peatag?i Protects
Government secrets.
not confined to Communist countries.
For example, the subcommittee in-
vestigators conducted a detailed study
of how the Government performed its
eecairittyy check of P. Talds Veliotis, the
C,roek..bota former executive with the
General Dynamics Corporration who is
now a fugitive from Federal kickback
charges. The study found that :Mr.
Veliotls was given clearances to run
sensitive nuclear submarine projects
.for the Navy and the Department of
Energy, although there were large
gaps and incAnsistencies in the invests-
. gation of his background.
"American investigators simply
have great problems trying to conduct
According to Deface Department I background inquiries in a foreign na-
cmuy naturalised dti~ from the
Soviet Union, who work for military
contractors.
The Pentagon has approved top se-
for 121 Soviet EmigrEs,
ces
l
with hearings to begin 'Iliesday. "It is
especially difficult, and sometimes im-
possible, when the clearance is for
someone from a Communist nation or a
closed sodety,"? he added.
once level for the shipyards he ran.
Eventually, however, Mr. Veliotis
was given secret and top Secret clear-
ances by the Pentagon, and a "Q" a~
cess code from the Energy Depart-
ment, the equivalent of a top Secret
clearance.
The subcommittee said the clear-
ances appeared to have been based pri-
marily on a clearance he had obtained
in Canada, which in turn was based
only on a check of Canadian files and
fingerprint records.
Conflicting Information Reported
In addition, the report said, state-
ments flied by Mr. Veliotis gave con-
flicting informauon about his educa-
tion, about a 1954 conviction in Greece
on a charge of money order fraud, and
about a .business trip he made to Rus-
sia. These inconsistencies apparently
were not piusued. '
Accor'dinB to zhe investigatioh, Mr.
Veliotis kept his clearances even after
he came under investigation in conne.~
lion with an alleged scheme to accept
x1.7 million in kickbacks from a Navy
subcontractor. Mr. Veliotis was in-
dicted on the charge in 1963.. .
The alai[ report said that Mr. Veliotls
.'represents a potential breach of na-
tional security of serious dimensions."
Mr. Veliotis, whose politics are rigidly
.anti-Soviet, has denied suggestions that
he might. be a security risk to the
earan
cret c
No Pentagon .Comment
and secret clearances f~ Sean aaer' lpa3nel
members compiled by Steve Katsan, a spokesman for the
shave. pentagon's Defense Investigative
?~ ~ What L Tap Secret Service, which is responsible for inter-
';'. Top secret is defined as information Hal aecurit3'. said officials there would
=that could cause "ezoeptiortally iRw~ ~ have no comment prior m the Senate
damage to national securely'' if re- .? ant accounts
leased. Secret is used for information The Defense . Departm
that, ii released, would cause "serious ~ for about 90 percent of the 4.2 million
? damage to national aecnrity." Government employees,- uniformed
:. Secret and top secret cleateacea are ~ peISOnnel and contractors who have se-
so widespread in the Gova'nment that oral ~ mp Secret clearances.
some critics have said theft meaning is I ' As a case study th the difficulties. the
e
a
43-
d
..
~'~~ ~ special noosed pro-
grams" that require ea even higher se?
cutely clearance.
no ~, Fred Assdin. a ~'?:
mitres ~ ~ ~'~ ~
?N~ Dew ~ ~gia: said that a~
wo~rlte~th view some very s~tlva in-
,.formatioa ..
I by the Subcommittee, ?
has divan Security clear- ~ lion, said Senator Nunn. who re-
uested the Senate study in connection
lEmpbyaes as List
_ ~""'~ ~ -subcommittee listed
875 military wntrac~or employees
United States.
..?1?~ personnei security proce-
dures" used in the ~ "were made=
quote and demonstrate the need for
more thorough ~ingniry into the .back-
grounds ofnntmmi m aliens and re?
essay na dtizms," the staff
concluded. ;
g
P
a
subcommittee staff Prepare
report on the background check on Mr.
Veliotis, who ran the shipyard that
produced nuclear submarines for Gen-
erai Dynamics' Electric Boat Com-
pany division.
Mr. Veliotis now resides in Greece.
where he has provsded internal com-
pany documents to reporters and Con- '
into
k
l
ing
oo
gressional investigators
General Dynamics's dealings with the.
Government. = ' . ~-
According to ::corporate documents
obtained by the subcommittee, IVir.
Veliotis' foreign-born stag ~ti~y
worried the Navy enough
occasions it lowered the security clear-
10~ Cammuaiac ~~ that had ei-
ther~emcleared !orsecret andtop se-tI
oral intaematim or had applications,
?~~~00~'~t ~~ixrwae 3,291
from Chiaa.,1,068 tom Cabo, and 1.225
~~~mmittee aide said the prvb-
d~en~ idor p ~ ~ was
Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/09 :CIA-RDP90-009658000403310034-7