PELTON CASE FUELS DEBATE ON LEAKS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00561R000100120038-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 24, 2012
• Sequence Number: 38
• Publication Date: May 27, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

., Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/24: CIA-RDP91-00561 R000100120038-7
1)
BOSTON GLOBE
27 May 1986
Pelto~ ease fuels
debate on leaks
By Stephen Kurkjtan
Globe Staff
BALTIMORE - An eight-foot round bronx plaque
of an American eligle he symbol of the country's
military. might, is mounted on the front wag of Fed-
eral Courtroom 5C where Ronald William Pdton will
be tried today for allegpoly- selling some of the most
sensitive US Mt stslcreb to the Seviih.
Pieltob: k 44 yy q4 larig' residenr'ind fa-.
ther of tour, is accused of selling classified Infoema-
tion that 11e gained while working for 15 years with
the National Security Ageency, the top-secret US de-
partment that collects and decodes intercepted com-
muniques of fgovernments.
His trial. wbeen last.aeek with the selec-
tion of ks; has already tXfggered a controversy be-
tween the Reagan administration and the American
press over the sensitive issue of Informing the public
about intelligence operations without jeopardizing
national security..
The information that Pelton is accused of selling
to the Soviet Union is so hi>rhly claeainPd that it
prompted CIA Director William Casey last week to
threaten The Washington Post and NBC News with
criminal prosecution for breaking stories about it.
Moreover, government lawyers have sought to keep
details of what Pelton may have actually turned over
to the Soviets out of the trial.
Despite Casey's protests, the Post last Wednesday
reported that the Information Pelton allegedly turned
over to the Soviets compromised a "highly success-
ful" US operation that used sophisticated technology
to intercept Soviet
communications. Two days earli-
er. NBC correspondent James Polk
reported that the operation. code-
named "Ivy Bells," involved a top-
secret underwater eavesdropping
operation by US submarines, in-
side Russian harbors.
Although the Post, after a con-
versation between its board chair-
man Katharine Graham and
President Reagan. deleted a siz-
able amount of detail on the com-
promised technology from its arti-
cle. the White House later an-
nounced that the CIA was review-
ing the article to determine if it
should be referred to the Justice
Department for prosecution under
the law that prohibits disclosure
of classified intelligence informa-
tion.
Some, inciudtngSen. Patrick J.
Leahy (D-Vermont), vice chairman
of the Senate Select Committee on
Intelligence. view Casey's protests
as an attempt to clamp down on
all leaks of sensitive information.
"The Post printed what was at
least common gossip around
town, and nothing more," Leahy
said.
"There is a true frustration on
the part of this administration to
shut down the leaks. But the vast
majority of them are coming out of
the administration; they ought to
be putting their own house in or-
der before going after the press
and raising real constitutional
problems."
The Reagan administration is
reportedly considering measures
to stop such leaks, Including re-
ducing the number of people with
access to classified material, creat-
ing an FBI task force to investi-
gate unauthorized disclosures,
and increasing the use of poly-
graph tests.
While the debate about First
Amendment rights and national
security became heated In Wash-
ington last week, Pelton sat ner-
vously in a fifth floor federal
courtroom listening to US Judge
Herbert F. Murray advise prospec-
tive jurors to avoid reading any
press accounts about the trial.
Although Pelton faces life im-
prisonment if convicted on the six
counts of disclosing'and delivering
national defense information to
the Soviets, it is unlikely that the
jury will be told in any detail
about what top-secret items Pel-
ton is accused of selling.
Both the prosecution and de-
fense in the case have agreed not.
to reveal any of the secret infor-
mation for which Pelton allegedly
received $35.000 from the Soviets.
The government listed the items
In an exhibit that Judge Murray
sealed after Attorney General Ed-
win Meese stated in an affidavit
that disclosure of the items
"would damage the security inter-
ests of the United States."
However, other documents filed
in the case and testimony at pre-
trial hearings provide a portrait of
Pelton as a financially troubled
man who allegedly sold his only
remaining asset, US Intelligence
secrets. to pay his debts.
His arrest last Nov. 24 followed
six hours of FBI interrogation,
during which, the government
now says. Pelton provided a partly
detailed confession.
Pelton's lawyers contend that
his statements were improperly
gained because he had no lawyer
preseril, that he was under the in-
fluence of alcohol and drugs dur-
ing the interrogation and that he
thought the government was
planning to offer him Immunity in
exchange for a full accounting of
what he had supposedly turned
over to the Soviets.
The court papers also raise dis-
turbing questions about the gov-
ernment's failure to pick up Pei-
ton's trail until five years after he
first approached the Soviets.
During that period, he alleged-
ly made several visits to the Soviet
embassies In Vienna and Wash-
ington without being detected and
opened negotiations with the Sovi-
ets with two anonymous tele-
phpne conversations that were in-
tercepted by the United States but
never Identified as being, Pelton's
voice.
In addition, in April 1979.
three months before leaving his
position as a communications spe-
cialist at the National Security
Agency, Pelton filed for bankrupt-
cy in Baltimore. On his form. he
listed having $64.000 in debts and
less than $10 in cash assets. Also.
he later admitted that for a couple
of years during his employment
with the agency he had not filed
any income tax returns.
Had they been known by his
superiors, his personal financial
failings would have surprised
those bosses who recalled Pelton's
adeptness as the budget officer for
his department during the mid-
1970s.
A "wheeler-dealer"
One of his superiors, Phillip C.
Ambler, said Pelton was known as
a "wheeler-dealer" and "extreme-
ly assertive" among the agency's
middle managers because of his
ability to protect the department's
several million dollar budget from
being cut.
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 Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/24: CIA-RDP91-00561 R000100120038-7
After giving up his budgetary
duties in 1976, Pelton became
deeply involved in the super-secret
world of Soviet intelligence. In
1978, according to court docu-
ments, he authored "a classified
document concerning technical
information about the Soviet
Union."
Although nothing about the re-
port's contents has been made
public, it was the information in
the report that was the basis of
Pelton's apparent importance to
the Soviets.
Pelton allegedly traveled to Vi-
enna in October 1980 and Janu-
ary 1983, staying each time three
or four days at the apartment of
the Soviet ambassador to Austria
within the Soviet Embassy's com-
pound. For about eight hours a
day on both visits, it is alleged.
Pelton was debriefed by a Soviet
Intelligence officer named Anatoly
Slavnov.
Providing written answers to
the Soviets' written questions. Pel-
ton later allegedly confided to FBI
agents. he was "questioned about
every area of sensitive informa.
tion to which he had access" at
the agency. including "all of the
programs" outlined In his 1978 re-
port.
Ironically. the man who ulti-
mately put federal agents on Pel-
ton's trail was one of the first So-
viet agents that Pelton allegedly
had contact with in January
1980.
According to government docu-
ments, Pelton. "acting almost on
Impulse," decided to call the Sovi-
et Embassy in Washington. Al-
though he did not identify himself,
Pelton told the Soviet officials that
he had information to discuss
with them. Both that phone call
and another one made later that
day were intercepted and recorded
by US agents. The taped conversa-
tions are expected to be played for
the jury at Pelton's trial this week.
A meeting was scheduled for
the next day, Jan. 15, at the em-
bassy. At that time, according to
one FBI affidavit, Pelton "agreed
to provide sensitive information
relating to United States intelli-
gence activities In exchange for
payments."
In all. Pelton allegedly received
$35.000 for the information.
In an apparent effort to show
his good faith at his first meeting
with the Soviets, Pelton "provided
information relating to a US intel-
ligence-collection project targeted
at the Soviet Union," the FBI affi-
davit states.
Links to Yurchenko alleged
One of the Soviet officials who
allegedly briefed Pelton in Wash-
ington was Vitaly Yurchenko,
who served as chief security offi-
cer for the Soviet Embassy from
1975 to 1980.
Yurchenko was also a high-
ranking official in the KGB, the
Soviet Intelligence agency. Yur-
chenko was obviously adept at his
work. After Pelton allegedly spent
the day Inside the Soviet com-
pound, Yurchenko had him shave
off his beard and put on work
clothes In an effort to avoid possi-
ble detection by US surveillance.
Last August, Yurchenko, hav-
Ing risen to the No. 5 position In
the KGB. defected to the West.
Among other things, he told US
agents of his contacts with a for-
mer employee of the National Se-
curity Agency who had provided
valuable Intelligence information.
Yurchenko professed, however,
not to know the name of the man.
In early November, Yurchenko
renounced his defection and re-
turned to the Soviet Union. But
his story about the former Nation-
al Security Agency employee had
set off a feverish search inside the
US intelligence community about
who might have sold the informa-
tion to the Soviets. US agents be
gan to target Pelton as a suspect
by Oct. 15; court records show
that on that date the FBI sought
authorization to tap phones at
Pelton's apartment, two business-
es in Silver Springs, Md., where he
had worked In recent months, a
Georgetown health club he had
Joined and his girlfriend's apart-
ment.
The court records do not indi-
cate what Information those gov-
ernment taps may have produced.
The next month, on the Sunday
before Thanksgiving. Pelton re-
ceived a midmorning phone call
from David Faulkner, an FBI
counterintelligence agent.
Faulkner told Pelton that he
wanted to discuss with him a mat-
ter of "extreme urgency." By that
midnight. Pelton would be arrest-
ed and charged with selling top se-
cret US Intelligence to the Soviets.
Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/24: CIA-RDP91-00561 R000100120038-7