U.S. COUNTERSPY EFFORTS SEEN PAYING OFF

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000504890022-5
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 22, 2012
• Sequence Number: 22
• Publication Date: November 26, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/22 :CIA-RDP90-009658000504890022-5
ARTICtI: APPE~gE~D
ON PAGE --1--
LOS ANGELES TIMES
26 November 1985
U.S. Counterspy Efforts Siren Paying O~
By l[ICxAEi. wnv>~B and RON/1LD J. o6~1'ItOw, 71 bna St~J wrar.
WASHa1GTON-A wave at es-
pionage cases thb year. cutmiaat-
ing in the arrests of four people on
three separate spying charges ~-
ing the last five days, rrpresenta
the inrits of a decade's strengthen-
ing of U.S. counterintelligence
abilities. some intelligence a[6dals
now say.
Those officiab credit increased
spending on cotmtaaPy P~~
and unusually close eooperatioa
between the FBI and its CIA and
Defense Department rivals with
the filing of espionage charges
~~ 11 persons so far in 1986-
themost siaoe World War II.
The latest arrests brought the
total nt~ber d spying charges
lodged siaa 1842 to 3{!. Another 20
Soviet and Frstern Bloc officials
have ban ezpelled for espionage
durfag the same period. FBI Dtrec-
tar William 13 Webster said last
month.
The view that this fat roster of
accused spies proves the success of
II.S. counterspy Programs-and
not their faiha+e-is disputed by
~e~t ~ence experts, who
spectacular arrests.
including the breakup of the
spnwliag spy ring d John A.
Walker Jr. this a~mer, have come
largu!ly from 1?cky tip. and not
spsdewcet
Reagan Administration officials,
however. contend that the facts
paint a brighter pictta~e. "You're
seeing the Lrnition a[ a bt of eNarts
in foreign catmterintelligence."
William Baker. assistant FBI dhbc-
a8airs, c~~ongreso'ooal and public
Intelligence aglnCies "ere learn-
ing the deterrent value Of prosecu-
tions," added Stephen S. Trott.
assistant attorney general in
charge of the Justice Depsrtmeat's
criminal division.
Such woasses. Administration
offlcials say. spring. in part, from a
buildup d FBI counterintelligence
programs begun in 1983 and sub-
stantial irx~ses in the counterspy
budgets of the Odense Intelligence
Agency and other military espio-
nageoffices.
Although spending figures are
classilled. Bakes said that the FBI
has moved to reverse the unfavor-
able ratio between Soviet Bloc
operatives and agents assigned w
counterintelligence. The Senate
Intelligence Committee has ap-
proved spending increases "inmost
ii not ail of the intelligence budg-
ets" it has reviewed, a committee
spokesman acid.
In another gesture to the
new-found iaaportanoe of camtsr-
mtelligeaa, the Natlanal Sectaity
Cancll has established a staff d
CIA. FBI and Odense Depa tmeat
experts to prepare national assess-
ment of foreign espionage threats.
F~perts also sal thst iatpe+oved
cooperation betwaa intettigeaoe
agencies sad the F'BI, which is
legally assigned to investigate es-
pionage cases. has repeatedly paid
off in arrests thb year.
That closeness has its roots is the
administrations a[ Gerald FL Fbed
and Jimmy Carter. which changed
national policy to ceder the public
wbtr~b rW~e~sre d
national secrets.
the FB younger CIA
continued to frustrate the iavati-
gatioa sad prosecution d accused
oflk~als ~~ ~Aation
has improved ifl retixnt y~T~he
Senate Intelligerx~e Committee de-
manded OOOrdiaatlon of cotaltll'apy
efforts among the FBI and intelli-
gence agencies after 1862 hesrh~gs
disclaed continued problems.
lewd Case CMei
In at least some cases, the ooop-
erat~on appears to have worked.
Jonathan J. Pollard, charged, along
with his wife. with pasdag military
secrets to an unnamed fore3~
power. was fingered by co-workers
at the Naval Intelligence Sepia
after he sought untmual aoaas to
secret documents. Earlier. the FBI
arrested two persons on charges d
spying for Ghana after one of them.
CIA clerk Sharon 11[. Seranage.
failed alie-detector test.
The FBI also stressed the ooop-
ention of the National Sectaity
Agency in anrwtimcing l[onday's
arrest of Ronald W. Felton an
charges of passing NSA codes and
other secrets to the Soviet Union.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/22 :CIA-RDP90-009658000504890022-5