TOP CIA OFFICIAL GIVES CHIN JURORS A LESSON IN INTELLIGENCE GATHERING

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000504650025-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 24, 2012
• Sequence Number: 25
• Publication Date: February 6, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/27: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504650025-8
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WASHINGTON POST
6 February 1986
Top CIA Official Gives Chin furors a Lesson in Intelligence Gathering
By Caryle Murphy
Washington Post Staff Wnter
In an unusual court appearance yester-
day, a top CIA official gave jurors in the
espionage tfial of Larry Wu-Tai Chin a les-
son on the basics of intelligence gathering.
John H. Stein, the Central Intelligence
Agency-'Ts deputy director for operations,
was one of four witnesses presented by fed-
eral prosecutors as experts on intelligence.
Chin, 63, is charged with espionage and
conspiracy for allegedly having handed over
classified information to Chinese intelli-
gence officers since 1949 while working as
an analyst and translator for the CIA's For-
eign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS).
He also is charged with violations of income
tax and financial reporting laws.
Testimony from the intelligence experts
was detailed but revealed little that is not
widely known. Stein told the jury that "some
90 percent" of final intelligence reports,
such as those seen by the president, come
from overt or open sources. But personal
contacts, which are mostly clandestine, are
extremely important because "it is only
through humans that you can get inten-
tions."
Stein acknowledged later outside the
courtroom that he could "not think of another
example" in recent years of when a high-level
CIA official testified at an espionage trial.
Chin's former boss, Cy Braegelmann,
also testified, describing him as on he
very best" Chinese translators in the Chin-
ese section of FBIS' Rosslyn office. Brae-
gelmann, who said he met Chin in 1970,
testified that the Chinese section he headed
handled an average of 50 classified docu-
ments a day.
He said, however, that only "once in a
while" did guards conduct spot checks of
people leaving the building because "every-
one knew you could not take classified doc-
uments out of the building." Asked if em-
ployes were ever frisked or their clothing
was checked, he replied, "Oh no, no."
An FBI agent testified Tuesday that Chin
told him he put classified documents in his
briefcase or coat pockets and took them out
of the FBIS office to photograph at home.
Under cross-examination by Chin's law-
yers, Jacob A. Stein and W. Gary Kohlman,
John Stein and Braegelmann said they never
saw any of the documents Chin is accused of
giving to the Chinese.
The government has offered as evidence
documents similar to those Chin had access
to at his job.
Jacob Stein told U.S. District Court Judge
Robert R. Merhige Jr. Tuesday that Chin
will testify that the information Chin gave
to the Chinese was not damaging and was to
encourage a reconciliation between China
and the United States.
Yesterday, his lawyers questioned the
CIA's Stein about whether he knew in 1969
that President Nixon was secretly planning to
normalize relations with China. Stein said he
had not known. He also acknowledged that he
had no direct knowledge of Chin's alleged
espionage.
Federal prosecutors sought to stop de-
fense attorneys from questioning FBI coun-
terintelligence agent Mark R. Johnson
about the FBI's original source on Chin's
alleged spying, which the agency has de-
clined to identify.
Johnson testified that during an interview
last November that Chin speculated the
source was a Chinese intelligence officer he
had met in Hong Kong named Ou Qiming
and that Ou had defected.
After a long bench conference, Merhige
permitted defense attorney Kohlman to ask
Johnson if he had "checked with Mr. Ou about
the documents" Chin allegedly gave away.
"No," was his reply.
Chin is expected to take the stand today.
Asked if employes were
ever frisked or their
clothing was checked,
[Cy Braegelmann, Chin's
former boss] replied, "Oh
no, no."
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/27: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504650025-8