SECURITY AT TRW WAS 'JOKE,' CONVICTED SPY TELLS CONGRESS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000605810003-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 3, 2012
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: April 19, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/03: CIA-RDP90-00965R000605810003-2
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'01 FLGZ
WASHINGTON POST
19 April 1985
Security at TRW Was `Jobe
ed Slp)T Tells Congress
Col~vlct Company Officials Defend Procedures
By Kathy Sawyer
Waehmiton Poet Staff Wntet
of the Senate Governmental Affairs Com-
mittee. The probe indicated that the system
for protecting secrets is collapsing because
Employes in a "black vault" filled with of bureaucratic infighting, a swelling work-.
sensitive government information at TRW load and lack of leadership.
headquarters in California treated security Boyce, whose espionage was depicted in
" k led in a permint I, F 1 d th
P P
Donald J. Devine, director-designate of
the Office of Personnel Management, told
the panel that the attorney general, in con=
sultation with Devine, is in charge of secu-
rity policies, subject to approval by the :Na-
tional Security Council and the president.
The NSC has not responded for nearly a
as a Jo e, smugg
the book and movie The a con an a schnapps inside a "classified" satchel and year to overhaul recommendations from an
Snowman," said he is helping the govern-`
used a code-card destruction machine to ment because he wants to perform "a con- interagency task force headed by the.Jus-
make banana daiquiris, which they drank on structive act." tice Department, according to testimony.
duty, convicted spy. Christopher Boyce told' Convicted in 1977 on eight counts of es- In testifying, Devine expressed outrage
a Senate hearin yesterday. at what he called "the shambles" the system;
g ionage Boyce is serving a 68-year sen
In this atmosphere during night and p fence in an isolation cell in a fed orison..' is in and said he has rectified his "mistake"
weekend hours starting in 1975, he was in March 1980 when he approved a cutback
able at age 21, to remove or photograph in Marion, the investigative staff - and a lessening of
, Ill. His espionage artner An- nvesti ative follow-throu h
secret documents concernin the o ration drew aulton Lee, the "Snowm an." is s ervi g g
o1 hi hl secret intelligence satellites, , ing a life sentence. ` Devine was criticized for recently chang-
oyce said. He was convicted of selling the No matter how security is improved,l ing rules governing'background investiga-
information to Soviet agents. Boyce said, it will not work without debunk-: tion procedures without consulting other
TRW officials yesterday maintained that' ing myths glorifying the spy business as' executive-branch agencies as some say is
security procedures were "sound" during exciting, sexy and lucrative. He blamed the; required under a presidentialnational se-
the period and called Boyce's charges "ex-' - entertainment industry and government'; curity directive:
aggerated." But they acknowledged that a-? security briefers for portraying treason in a' One' effect of the changes, according to
government investigation. had found "lim-.' way that is "just what all those bored, young statements from federal agencies,' is that
ited use of alcohol on the remises" .and .. " " certain employes who require no security
p secretaries" with secret clearances are dy
"poor security supervision." ing to hear." clearance now must be investigated more
"That makes me- wonder how serious He said he receives mail from ' women rigorously than others who need clearance.
you've been about correcting these things with security, clearances who are "thrilled"?
Sen. Sam Nunn (D-Ga.) said. Sen. Albert.. about espionage and want to be pen pals.
Gore Jr. (D-Tenn.) accused TRW officials of The truth about the spy business is
hiding behind "bureaucratese." ,. "sweaty palms and shaky hands .'..'and'gut-
Boyce testified that a fellow employe gripping fear," he said. "See a lawyer, or a
used a monkey photo on his security badge :. psychiatrist or a priest or even areporter,
and gained access to secret information. but don't see a KGB agent .... There is no
"That's still all right with you?" Gore askedZ; . exit from espionage."
"I've seen that badge..I find it extremely ' .. More stringent security might have?.de-
difficult ' to believe that badge was terred him, either in his security-clearance
used...," TRW executive Paul W. Schwe= investigation or in physical security: mea-
gler said.. He said badge accountability and sure's around the TRW facility, he said.,;
other security measures have...been,''. .Sen..William S. Cohen (R-Maine); .coau-
strengthened.. .. Thor with Sen. Gary Hart (D-Colo.) of- a spy
Boyce's security. supervisor, who spent -'novel, called Boyce's statement "one of "the
long lunch hours outdoors. riding a skate-
most. powerful and poignant". made. before
board and enlisted Boyce to spend a night-.., the Senate and said no novelist "has 'the
helping him spy on a janitor stealing coins;,- imagination to construct" what Boyce ' de-
from a coffee fund, resigned before Boyce's, scribed. "I can't help but think we're living
arrest, and no one else was disciplined in. !.- ,in a theater of the absurd,"-Cohen said.
the case, according to testimony. In the 'hearing, the subcommittee 'had
The hearing concluded a three-day series sought to pin down, as Nunn put it, "who's
based on a five-month investigation by the' in charge" of "mindboggling" government
permanent subcommittee on investigations.' security policies.-
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/03: CIA-RDP90-00965R000605810003-2