LETTER TO WILLIAM J. CASEY FROM WILLIAM COHEN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90B01390R000600710019-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 29, 2010
• Sequence Number: 19
• Publication Date: October 1, 1986
• Content Type: LETTER

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/10/29: CIA-RDP90BO139OR000600710019-6
i~XECUTIVE SECRETARIAT
ROUTING SUP
ACTION
INFO
DATE
INITIAL
1
DCI
2
DDCI
3
EXDIR
4
D/ICS
5
DDI
6
DDA
7
DDO
8
DDS&T
9
Chm/NIC
10
GC
11
IG
12
Co t
D
X
14
D/PAO
15
D/PERS
16
VC/NIC
17
C/SE
X
18
D/Exec
19
20
21
22
STAT
6 Oct 86
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/10/29: CIA-RDP90BO139OR000600710019-6
 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/10/29: CIA-RDP90BO139OR000600710019-6
OFFICE OF CONGRESSIONAL AFFAIRS
Routing Slip
ACTION
INFO
1. D/OCA
X
2. DD/Legislation
-3. DD/Senate Affairs
X
4. Ch/Senate Affairs
X
5. DD/House Affairs
X
6. Ch/House Affairs
7. Admin Officer
8. Executive Officer
X
9. FOIA Officer
Constituent Inquiries
10' Officer
11.
12.
Oct 10 86
Action Officer-
Remarks:
Oct G 36
Name/Date
STAT
STAT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/10/29: CIA-RDP90BO139OR000600710019-6
 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/10/29: CIA-RDP90BO139OR000600710019-6
ACTION
ER 86-4543x
OFFICE OF CONGRESSIONAL AFFAIRS
Routing Slip
ACTION
INFO
1. D/OCA
X
2. DD/Legislation
X
3. DD/Senate Affairs
X
4. Ch/Senate Affairs
X
5. DD/House Affairs
X
6. Ch/House Affairs
7. Admin Officer
8. Executive Officer
X
9. FOIA Officer
Constituent Inquiries
1 ~' Officer
11.
12.
SUSPENSE Oct 10 86
STAT
STAT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/10/29: CIA-RDP90BO139OR000600710019-6
 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/10/29: CIA-RDP90BO139OR000600710019-6
DAVE DURENBERGER, MINNESOTA. CHAIRMAN
PATRICK LEAHY, VERMONT, VICE CHAIRMAN
WILLIAM V. ROTH, JR., DELAWARE LLOYD BENTSEN, TEXAS
WILLIAM S. COHEN, MAINE SAM NUNN, GEORGIA
ORRIN HATCH, UTAH THOMAS F. EAGLETON, MISSOURI
FRANK MURKOWSKI, ALASKA ERNEST F. HOLLINGS, SOUTH CAROLINA
ARLEN SPECTER, PENNSYLVANIA DAVID L BOREN, OKLAHOMA
CHIC HECHT, NEVADA BILL BRADLEY, NEW JERSEY
MITCH McCONNELL KENTUCKY
ROBERT DOLE. KANSAS, EX OFFICIO
ROBERT C. BYRD, WEST VIRGINIA, EX OFFICIO
BERNARD F. McMAHON, STAFF DIRECTOR
ERIC D. NEWSOM. MINORITY STAFF DIRECTOR
The Honorable William J. Casey
Director of Central Intelligence
Central Intelligence Agency
Washington, DC 20505
October 1, 1T
Dear Director Casey:
In conversation with senior national security officials
we have been disturbed to learn that few are aware of two
major pieces of legislation Congress has either enacted or
is about to enact. The Leahy-Cohen diplomatic equivalence
and UN equivalence amendments are major tools the Executive
Branch can apply in controlling and reducing the Soviet
espionage presence in the United States. We are sending for
your personal information the attached memorandum which
summarizes the history and intent of these two amendments.
It is our intention to press for full and strict
implementation of them in the coming Congress.
With best regards.
united ostates senate r t G- 4543X
SELECT COMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE
WASHINGTON, DC 20510 5
CA
~' .. 4.~.,~,,,..~?n.,,,,.,.,w,,.,..,.
San
itized Copy Approved for Release 2010/10/29: CIA-RDP90BO139OR000600710019-6
4cfZy
 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/10/29: CIA-RDP90B01390R000600710019-6
MEMORANDUM
For several years, Congress has been seeking to enact a
statutory framework for controlling and reducing the Soviet
intelligence presence in the United States operating from within
Soviet diplomatic and consular establishments and from the Soviet
(and Ukrainian and Byelorussian) Missions to the United Nations
in New York.
This effort resulted in an amendment in 1984 to the
Intelligence Authorization Act by Senators Patrick Leahy and
Walter Huddleston stating the sense of the Congress that the
United States should apply a policy of numerical equivalence and
reciprocity in the sizes and treatment of US diplomatic missions
and the missions of nations which conduct hostile intelligence
operations in the United States. That legislation required a
report from the Department of State on plans to implement such a
policy.
In 1985, Senator Leahy and Senator William Cohen introduced
an amendment to the Foreign Relations Authorization Act which
mandated in statutory language a national policy of numerical
equivalence in the sizes of the US and Soviet diplomatic and
consular establishments in each nations. The legislation
required a report from the Secretary of State and the Attorney
General on plans to implement this national policy. The report
was to outline how the Executive Branch would reach numerical
equivalence between the current sizes of the Soviet diplomatic
and consular establishments in Washington, D.C. and San Francisco
(320 personnel) and the US establishments in Moscow and Leningrad
(approximately 200 personnel).
After reviewing the plan submitted by the Executive Branch,
the Senate Intelligence Committee has expressed its concern that
the intent of the Leahy-Cohen diplomatic equivalence legislation
is being frustrated. The plan received by the Committee
indicates that no reductions in the 320 Soviet diplomatic and
consular personnel are planned, and that equivalence will be
reached in a number of years through increases in the number of
Americans assigned to the Soviet Union.
In 1985, Senator Leahy and Cohen also introduced a bill to
apply the principle of numerical equivalence to the sizes of the
US and Soviet Missions to the United Nations in New York. It,
too, required a report from the Secretary of State and the
Attorney General containing a plan to reach numerical
equivalence. At the time the bill was introduced (October 1985),
it was estimated that the Soviet (and Ukrainian and Byelorussian)
Missions numbered some 275 personnel, and that the US Mission,
the next largest, totaled sane 130.
Subsequently, in March 1986, the President issued a
Directive ordering that the Soviet UN Mission be reduced by 105
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/10/29: CIA-RDP90B01390R000600710019-6
 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/10/29: CIA-RDP90BO139OR000600710019-6
persons, bringing the Soviet total down to sane 170, over a
period of years.
Senators Leahy and Cohen revised their bill to permit the
Executive Branch to define "substantial equivalence" to mean that
the Soviet UN Mission could be up to one third larger than the US
Mission. This change was designed to take account of the fact
that the US Mission can be supported by officials from
Washington, D.C., and to align the bill with the policy
established by the President's order. The Leahy-Cohen bill would
require the Soviet UN Mission to be reduced to approximately 170
personnel, if the US Mission remained at some 130.
In September 1986, the Leahy-Cohen bill was added to the
Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal 1987, and passed by the
Senate. There is no opposition to the Leahy-Cohen measure on the
House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and it will be
enacted by Congress upon approval of the FY87 Intelligence
Authorization Act prior to adjournment.
With enactment of these two Leahy-Cohen measures, Congress
will have established in statute the most comprehensive and
far-reaching national policy of equivalence in representation the
United States has ever had. Strict implementation of the two
measures should result in a substantial reduction (as many as
175) in Soviet official personnel in the United States. The
authors of the legislation intend and expect implementation to
force significant curtailment in Soviet espionage activities
operating under diplomatic or UN cover, and an easing of the
burden upon US counterintelligence agencies.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/10/29: CIA-RDP90BO139OR000600710019-6