SPY-DAMAGED HUNT SPREADS TO AIR FORCE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000807470038-8
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 12, 2012
• Sequence Number: 38
• Publication Date: June 14, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/01/12 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000807470038-8
ARTICLE Ztj
ON P`GE
WASHINGTON POST
14 June 1985
Spy-Damage
Hunt Spreads
To Air Force
All Services Search
For Leaks to Soviets
By George C. Wilson
Wsington Pat Staff Writer
The Defense Department said
yesterday that all the military ser-
vices are now assessing what secret
communications the Soviet Union
might have intercepted as a result
of the alleged spy ring headed by
John Anthony Walker Jr.
Spokesman Michael I. Burch,
confirming The Washington Post s
re rt yesterday that the Army as
we l as the Navy has established a
ama e-assessment team,
say t e
Air Force also is "moving out" on
the potential problem of compro-
;raised communications.
He said the services will review
and possibly modify coding systems
and procedures in hopes of foiling
Soviet decoding efforts.
Observing that military services
.and government agencies use much
the same sensitive communications
systems, Burch said:
"As a result of the Walker case,
the services are going back and
looking at that point in time during
,which there may have been an ex-
change of information, there may
'have been communication. Once
they do that, they will assess any
possible damage that may have
been done and what might have
been compromised during that pe-
riod.
"Independent of that, they're all
reviewing the procedures by which
they handle, transmit and receive
classified information in hard copy
and voice, handling and storing.
'The system is one which has built-
in safeguards. One of the safe-
guards is continually changing."
Although Burch declined to elab-
orate other sources said inte i-
ence o icials are particularly wor-
ried about the likelihood that the
Walker ring gave the Soviets top-
secret cards inserted into coding
machines to code and decode sen-
,HIM messages.
Cryptographers are supposed to
change the cards at the sending and
receiving ends of secure commu-
nications links at least every day,
and sometimes more often, officials
said.
. But, having enough of the key
cards and knowledge of communi-
cations and coding hardware might
have enabled Soviet specialists to
break U.S. codes on sensitive mes-
sages, sources said.
Adm. James D. Watkins, chief of
naval operations, said Tuesday that
the Navy assumes that materials
supplied by the Walker ring enabled
the Soviets to break the Navy's sup-
posedly "secure" voice and teletype
communications. He said the Navy
is changing the systems on an "ac-
celerated basis" to minimize possi-
ble further compromise.
Other government officials said
much of the communications and
coding systems to which Watkins
referred are used widely through
the government, raising the possi-
bility of widespread damage to U.S.
security. Burch declined to discuss
the possibility of compromising be-
yond the Defense Department.
He said the National Security
Agency has "an interest in this" be-
cause of its responsibility for pro-
tecting U.S. coding systems and
"attacking foreign communica-
tions."
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/01/12 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000807470038-8