EX-AMBASSADOR SHARES BLAME FOR MOSCOW SCANDAL, WEBB SAYS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000504530002-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 24, 2012
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: May 8, 1987
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/24: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504530002-6
i- ARTICLE
8 May 1987
ON PAGE_ d=L--a
Ex-Ambassador Shares B1amc
For Moscow Scandal, Webb Says
S' By George C. Wilson
~- w Mdly Mooney
Navy Secretary James H. Webb
Jr. has accused Arthur A. Hartman,
the former ambassador to the So-
viet Union, of being at least partly
to blame for the Marine security
scandal by setting a permissive tone
at the embassy in Moscow and al-
lowing "extraordinary access to
known KGB agents."
Webb's charge came as Defense
Department officials reported that
the military investigation of alleged
espionage activities at U.S. embas-
sies abroad has narrowed and is fo-
.cused primarily on the four Marines
arrested or charged in connection
with the probe.
Webb, in an interview this week,
criticized Hartman "for allowing ex-
traordinary access to known KGB
agents, dozens of them. His theory
was it's better to have them in the
tent rather than out of the tent. I
can't agree with that. Look at the
Soviet Embassy over here-they
have one American working in it
under their direct supervision."
Hartman, when told of Webb's
charge, said yesterday that the
Navy secretary "is talking through
his hat. I particularly resent those
remarks from somebody who has no
knowledge of the situation."
Webb also charged that Hartman
"had a complete arrogance toward
counterintelligence," the practice of
U.S. intelligence officers tracking
Soviet counterparts. Webb said
Hartman's philosophy was that
counterintelligence was "provoca-
tive." Illustrating why he thought
"this whole syndrome is very dan-
gerous," Webb cited the decision-
making for Marines at Beirut Inter-
national Airport: They were told
that if they dug in, it would provoke
the Lebanese Shiites into firing at
them.
Hartman, according to Webb,
"had an indifference toward the en-
vironment which allowed the pen-
etration by the KGB to occur," such
as allowing fraternization between
Marines and embassy employes and
Soviet women.
Webb, a former Marine platoon
leader who was sworn in as Navy
secretary last month, said "one of
the frustrations I have right now" is
the lack of individual accountability
across government.
"The Marine Corps is being fo-
cused on; the State Department
isn't," he complained.
Even the presidential commission
headed by former defense secretary
Melvin R. Laird is emphasizing
"systemic problems rather than in-
dividual problems," Webb said. "I
think Hartman deserves all the crit-
icism he has gotten."
Hartman, who served as ambas-
sador to Moscow from 1981 until
this year, said in a luncheon meet-
ing with Washington Post editors
and reporters on April 30 that the
Marines assigned to the embassy
had a reputation for rowdiness.
"They pulled [Soviet] flags down;
they'd run through Red Square" in
jogging clothes with offensive slo-
gans on their shirts. "But it's one
hell of a jump from that to treason,"
Hartman said. "We counted too
heavily on the esprit of that group"
to keep security breaches from oc-
curring, he said.
Hartman said his critics in Con-
gress and elsewhere have relied on
a cable he never sent in accusing
him of loose security practices. He
acknowledged that he did send off a
"colorful" cable opposing a recom-
mendation to limit the number of
Soviets in Washington "to well be-
low 100. My view was that was the
equivalent of breaking relations-
that they would close up the embas-
sy" in Washington because they
could not run it with so few people.
Webb stressed that Hartman's al-
leged permissiveness will not make
his department go any easier on
Marines charged with aiding Soviet
espionage. "We are going to hold
the individuals accountable," he said
of the Marines. "I'm not trying to
excuse their conduct." But, Webb
continued, "the ambassador sets the
tone" for conduct by embassy per-
sonnel.
Navy leaders and Marine Com-
mandant P.X. Kelley are consider-
ing a number of steps to tighten
Marine security, Webb said, with
shortened tours only one of the
changes in prospect. He declined to
discuss other remedies on the
grounds that all the facts about se-
curity breaches are not yet in hand.
A Defense Department official
close to the investigation said yes-
terday that officials anticipate no
more immediate arrests and are
scaling back the probe's scope. A
Marine official said the probe,
which had expanded to more than a
dozen embassies in Warsaw Pact
nations and other sensitive regions,
is now limited primarily to Moscow.
"We've reached the limits," said
one Marine official. "There are not
going to be a lot of surprises."
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/24: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504530002-6