PUBLICITY TO COMPLICATE U.S. SPYING, EXPERTS SAY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000807390002-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 5, 2012
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: April 16, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/05: CIA-RDP90-00965R000807390002-6
DALLAS MORNING NEWS(TX)
16 April 1986
Publicity to complicate U.S. spying, experts say
Libya expected to tighten up methods of communication
By Richard Whittle
Washington Bureau of The News
i WASHINGTON - President
Reagan's public confirmation that
US. intelligence intercepted mes-
sages showing Libya to be behind
the April 5 bombing in Berlin will
make it hard to tap such communi-
cations again, experts said Tuesday.
"It's not uncharitable to cal 'it a
lucky break," said a former. senior
U.S. intelligence official. "And
likely as not, because of the disclo-
sure, it will be a good deal of time
before we have another break this
lucky."
Terrorists usually operate in
small "cells" of two or three people,
making it almost impossible to dis-
cover'their plans, this and other ex-
perts noted. But Libya under Col.
Moammar Khadafy has been either
bold or careless about disguising its
involvement in terrorism.
"Our intelligence has really
solid goodies on Libya," said a cur-
rent U.S. official, who demanded
anonymity. "The Libyans are not
noted for their super-sophisticated
telemetry, and they also bluster and
brag a lot. Their messages are read-
ily picked out of the air."
But that will &henge, the experts
agreed, following Reagan's confir-
mation on television Monday night'
,that the United States had inter-
cepted messages between Tripoli
and the Libyan People's Bureau in
East Berlin on March 2S, April 4 and
"They'll change codes and
they'll change methods of commu-
nicating," said the former senior in-
telligence official.''The president
went very far last night in giving
away the ebvious source of access.
So you.re ti* likely to get informa-
tion (that way) for a long time."
George Cth ver, a former deputy
director of theomplained that
Reagan "was so detailed that it may
be a very long time before we get
anything like that comparable qual-
ity, and as a result, Americans
might die."
But others said the judgment
was akin to decisions presidents
have made through the years, tak-
ing the chance of revealing intelli-
gence sources and methods in order
to win political support for actions
involving war or the threat of it.
'The commander in chief deter-
mined that it was in the interest of
the country to open up and explain
that we had intelligence to support
e attack on Khadafy for the disco
tubing," said John Greaney, exec-
utive director of the Association of
Former Intelligence Officers and a
32-year CIA veteran.
"In 1962, when the Soviets were
sending missiles into Cuba," Grea-
nev recalled. "the president (John
F. Kennedy) went public with the
photographs we had of the Soviet
missiles. Not many people realized
that we had a capability to take
those kinds of picture in those
days."
"It's a political judgment." said
another former intelligence offi-
cial. "You have to give some specif.
ics if you're going to get support."
"You're willing to pay that price
to get the support of your country
and your allies," said retired Adm.
Daniel Murphy, who sat on the Na-
tional Security Planning Group at
the White House when he was chief
of staff to Vice President George
Bush.
These intelligence experts also
predicted that U.S. ability to inter-
cept Libyan communications - and
Libya's tendency to use electronic
communications - could return to
normal before very long.
"The odds are that eventually
they'll go back to (electronic mes-
sages)," said the former senior in-
telligence official. The alternative
is to use couriers, this expert said.
Greaney argued that the Libyan
intercepts show that the U.S. intelli-
gence community is improving its
ability to help combat terrorism. He
said those who discerned the mes-
sages between Tripoli and the East
Berlin People's Bureau deserved
credit for their diligence.
The 60,000 or so civilian and mil-
itary employees of the National Se-
curity Agency can use satellites and
earthbound listening devices to in-
tercept almost any radio or tele-
phone conversation or any cable or
telex transmission in the world.
The bigger problem is sorting
through what is intercepted.
"This demonstrates the vigi-
lance with which the intelligence
community is working on the ter-
rorists," Greaney said.
But Greaney and others cau-
tioned that terrorists rarely make it
so easy to spy on them. Spy planes
and satellites, known as,' national
technical means," and what is
called "COMINT" - communica-
tions intelligence, or interception
of communications signals - sel-
dom work against terrorists.
"The overhead systems will gen-
erally tell you where terrorist train-
ing is taking place, but they don't
tell you who's being trained and
where they go from there." said Rob
Simmons, former staff director of
the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Communications intelligence is
usually of minimal use, Simmons
said, because "terrorist groups are
usually extremely small, and while
in the course of a terrorist event
they may communicate between
themselves and with the outside
world, they generally don't talk be.
fore they go into action. So a second
important means is of marginal as.
sistance."
This leaves "HUMINT," or
human intelligence - the infiltra.
tion of agents into terrorist groups.
But penetrating terrorist groups is
almost impossible, the experts say.
To illustrate the point, one intel-
ligence expert cited a widespread
belief in intelligence circles that
one of the American hostages miss-
ing in Beirut was the CIA station
chief and was captured by Shiite
terrorists when he was trying to
make contact with a Shiite he
thought might be willing to become
an agent.
"Terrorist groups are small, they
are highly disciplined, they keep
close track of their members, and
it's very difficult to insert some.
body into the group itself," said
Simmons.
For these reasons, said Greaney.
"Intelligence is, a great many times,
more good luck than good manage.
ment. You don't always have it.
that's'the problem."
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/05: CIA-RDP90-00965R000807390002-6