KGB DEFECTOR IDENTIFIES U.S. LEAKS, SOURCES SAY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000605040054-1
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 23, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 20, 2013
• Sequence Number: 54
• Publication Date: September 28, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2013/02/20: CIA-RDP90-00965R000605040054-1
ARTICLE A;EAR WASHINGTON POST
ONPAGE u_ 28 September 1985
KGB Defector Identifies
U.S. Leaks, Sources Say
CIA Ex-Employes Are Implicated
J nwA -
A senior KGB officer who de-
fected to the West has told U.S.
officials questioning him that one or
more former, Central Intelligence
Agency employes provided infor-
mation to the Soviet intelligence
agency, U.S. government sources
said yesterday.
A congressional source said the
number of former CIA employes
implicated as Soviet agents was
more than one and less than six
.. Several." He added that at
least one served in a position to
pose a serious threat to American
interests.
But a Justice Department source,
familiar with the interrogation of
the defector, Vitaly Yurchenko
(sometimes spelled Dzhurtchenko),
said, "To say several would be mis-
leading." Both sources insisted on
anonymity.
[Last night, the Los Angeles
Times, quoting sources, said Yur-
chenko disclosed that the Soviets
were making heavy use of a poten-
tially hazardous "spy dust" to track
the movement of Americans in
Moscow. His warning, which came
amid indications that the Soviets
were using the chemical, persuaded
U.S. officials to go public with their
accusation, the sources said.
[The newspaper also quoted an
intelligence source as denying Hill
reports that Yurchenko had impli-
cated former CIA employes.]
Yurchenko, who served as first
secretary of the Soviet Embassy in
Washington, D.C., from 1975 to
1980, oversaw KGB intelligence
operations in the United States, the
congressional source said. The
source said it appears that some of
the former CIA employes quit the
agency. recently out of fear of ex-
posure and fled to "places where
they can be in contact with Russia."
Meanwhile, the Justice Depart-
ment and the CIA denied a New
York Times report yesterday that
Yurchenko had identified current
CIA employes as KGB agents.
Asked if the CIA would extend its
denial to cover former CIA employ-
es, CIA spokeswoman Kathy Pher-
son refused to go that far and said
the earlier statement would stand
as is. That denial said: "The New
York Times allegation ... that a
Soviet defector 'identified several
employes of the Central Intelli-
gence Agency as Soviet agents' is
untrue."
Declassified and Approved For Release 2013/02/20: CIA-RDP90-00965R000605040054-1