STATE NATIVE KEY PLAYER IN POW RESCUE MISSION DRAMA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00901R000500230014-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: December 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 30, 2000
• Sequence Number: 14
• Publication Date: April 27, 1986
• Content Type: NSPR

STATINTL
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Atnici.E APFOWD OKLAHOMA CITY SUNDAY OKLAHOMAN (OK)
ON. __ 27 April 1986
State' Native Key Player i
- POW Rescue Mission Drama
The cast of characters includes se-
veral men who
Ions of the (1.5. military a mysterious
ex-policeman who claims to have ex-
posed two government mu -A-- 55-G.-
the publisher of a magazine for mer-
enar es. a Texas billionaire, t
and other assorted intelligence agen-
cies.
Trie script calls for the rescde, by
hook or by crook, of U.S. prisoners
allegedly left behind in Southeast
Asia when American military forces
pulled out 12'years ago.
This script, unlike those of Sylves-
ter Stallone and Chuck Norris, is be-
ing played out in real life. And for the
last seven years, its characters have
spent untold sums of money hatching
plots and counter plots, all in search
of at least one of the elusive prison-
ers.
The common thread among the di-
verse cast of characters, touching
each of them in one way or another, is
James Gordon "Bo" Gritz, a tough-
talking, barrel-chested former Green
Beret officer whose bold and thus far
unsuccessful excursions into hostile
Laos have made him a legend in his
own time among the more militant
factions of the POW /MIA movement.
A native of Enid, Gritz won a chest
full of medals and a reputation for
leading native mercenaries on daring
and unconventional missions during,
the war in Indochina. He retired from*
the Army as a lieutenant colonel in
1978 and has since occupied himself
developing prisoner rescue plans with
names such as Lazarus, Grand Eagle
and Velvet Hammer, which couldn't
fail to capture the media's attention
and the public's imagination.
The Gritz missions have given rise
to others:
- One, which never got off the
ground, was developed by a congress-
man who claims at one time to have
had the support of President Rea-
gan's national security adviser.
- The publisher of Soldier of For-
tune magazine built his own camp in-
side Laos to search for U.S. prisoners.
- The government, it has been
widely reported, has sent its own
teams of mercenaries into Laos in
search of prisoners.
For the last two months, The Okla.
homan has i e tigated the connec-
tions bete ritz, the government
and the o factions of the POW.
/MIA mo nt, and thy,, old, some-
times bizarre and always unsuccess-
ful operations that have been
Throughout his forays into Laos. in-
cluam a 1982 mission that resulted
in his arrest in TgAIJAUIL itz-Mk
claimed to have the support of va-
A~tencv MIA) and a secretive Army
,unit known as the Intelligence sup-
port Activity. However, the record on
w e er the government extended
any support to Gritz is unclear.
jhe most frequently cited piece of
evidence_ Gritz, cTaim is
an undated letter t him from Lt. Gen.
Harold Aaron a former de ut Ti
--
o t e an chief o Army
xn a ence w o die o a ear a-
tac in In the e ter, Aaron en-
orses Gritz' retirement from the mil-
itary to pursue the POW issue through.
private channels and adds:
"Because of the politics involved,
contact me only if you get in a spot
with no way out. This thing is so sensi-
tive it could result in a real inquisi-
tion if word leaked out that we were
proceeding unofficially." The letter
concludes, `Bo, boy this and all,
other written communication be-
tween us."
Gritz contends that it was Aaron
who visited him in Panama in 1976
and asked him to investigate the pos-
sibility that U.S. prisoners were still
being held in Southeast Asia.
Of the letter, Gritz said in an inter-
view with The Oklahoman last month,
"Aaron did not need to do that.... the
reason Aaron did that at all is to
maybe give me a warm feeling that I
wasn't going to be put out on a limb
and then have the limb sawed off."
But Aaron's immediate superior at
the DIA, Air Force Lt. Gen. Eugene
Tighe, said In an interview that. he
doubted the letter's authenticity.
Tighe said he had seen at least
three different versions of the letter,
the first of which was unsigned and
written on Army three-star general
stationery. That version first surfac-
ed in 1984 In the syndicated column of
reporter Jack Anderson.
The second version, Tighe said, was
slightly different in composition but
bore what purported to be Aaron's
signature. And the third version,
Tighe said, was similar to the second
except that it was written on DIA sta-
JYghe said be found
sional. would t t no an
the on er a d' co clu wit .
amat c line nstruct
t. o e Muir,
"that shows something about Bo, be-
cause Be didn't destroy it, obviously."
Billionaire Denies
Ties to Gritz
Like Gritz, Tighe has publicly
stated that he believes U.S. prisoners
are still being held in Southeast Asia.
But unlike Gritz. Tithe feels that
a effort to rescue them is doomed
unTess it has the support either pub-
lic or covert, of the U.S. government
Informed of Tighe's statements
concerning the letter, Gritz said:
"Makes no difference to me. Does he
question the authenticity of the pris-
oners of war? Does he question the
authenticity of H. Ross Perot's in-
volvement?"
The Involvement of Perot, a bil-
lionaire Dallas computer magnate, is
an article of faith among Gritz sup-
porters. Many activists in the POW
movement support the establishment
of an independent commission,
chaired by Perot, to study the possi-
bility that U.S. prisoners are still be-
ing held in Southeast Asia.
As Gritz told it during the inter-
view, he was summoned to Perot's of-
fice sometime in early 1979. As they
stood under an imposing bronze stat-
ue of actor IQhn Wayne, Perot al-
it suspicious
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iegedly gave Gritz a mandate to re- lend its support to Gritz' operations. He said Gritz's allegations against
solve the POW issue. Inman ad e was him were either a "misunderstanding
Gritz claimed Perot told him: "Bo, I tra e- oft with Gritz on what the CIA of the true facts" or "a flat out lie
want you to go over to Southeast Asia. would or wouldn't in response for - that he has come up with simply to
Do everything you have to do. Use his not undertaking those actions." cover his own incompetence."
whatever means you have to use." Brown denied that there was any
Gritz said he returned from South- Magazine Finds grudge between him and Gritz. "I just
east Asia with a plan to bring prom- think Gritz is a flake," he said.
ising witnesses to the United States No Real Evidence "Nobody's trying to do a job on
for polygraph tests, but that Perot It was in November 1982, with the Gritz," said Tom Reisinger, the di-
rejected it. launching of the ill-fated POW rescue rector of special projects for the mag-
Perot is a firm believer in the exis- mission code named "Operation Laza- azine. "We didn't question his cause
tence of American prisoners in South- and we still don't. We question the
east Asia, but he denies that he ever rus,~, that Gritz burst upon the public methods that he used, in certain in-
scene, leading several Americans and stances. But nobody's out to et."
solicited Gritz to tackle the problem. more than a dozen local commandos , get."
"I never asked him to do anything. from a base camp in Thailand across A friend of Browns, retired Army
I met with him once at his request," the Mekong River into Laos. Maj. Gen. John K. Singlaub, estimated
Perot said in an interview. "So he and The group was ambushed in Laos that the publisher had spent $300,000
I don't have any ties." and scrambled back across the river scouring refugee camps in Thailand
Perot also said that bringing the into Thailand, where word of their for information on American prison-
prisoners home t rough an armed mission had leaked to the press and ers in Laos.
rescue mission seemed to be out of was even being carried on the Voice At one point, Soldier of Fortune had
the question, because there appeared of America broadcasts being beamed even built its own covert base camp
to solid intelligence as to w ere into Laos. Gritz and four of his com- in Laos, code named Liberty City and
theyare."You're gonna have to nego- rades landed in a Thai jail. manned by anti-communist Laotian
bate them out," he said. Lazarus wasn't the first Gritz oper- guerrillas recruited by the magazine.
"We felt we had some very good
ation but it was the one which made leads," Reisinger said. But he said the
No Trade-Off, him a celebrity. It also was the one which put him operation failed to produce any "con-
Ex-CIA Man Says at odds with Robert K. Brown, the crete evidence" that Americans were
being held prisoner there.
Gritz charged that the U.S. govern- Solddieer of Fortune, , the who Colorado- "We did nothing illegal," said Rei-
ment, u
ment, whether through incompetence based magazine for adventurers. singer, who crossed the border into
or faint-heartedness, has repeatedly Laos at least five times himself.
failed him and his men on rescue mis- At the time, Brown and the maga- "We did not cross any borders with
sions, or asked them to stand down zine were involved in their own pro- weapons or anything like that."
after months of preparation. Jett aimed at finding and treeing
All the while, he said, the stream of POWs, which was staffed in part Other Efforts
disaffected members of a previous us
servicemen's bones from Southeast Gritz operation. The following year, In the Works
Asia has continued, with the govern- Soldier of Fortune put out a special
ment wiping its books clean of one issue with a scathing expose of Gritz' But Gritz and Soldier of Fortune
missing serviceman after another. operation, and posed the uestion: hardly had the field to themselves.
"It's in every bureaucrat's ... best "Bo Gritz: Hero or Huckster?' In May 1981, the U.S. government,
interest to keep it on a bone basis," he Gritz charged that it was Brown under criticism from activists in the
said. "I have never been in the bone and the magazine staff who learned of POW movement, dispatched a team of
business." Operation Lazarus and leaked it to a Laotian mercenaries across the bor-
Gritz claimed for instance, that in reporter for the San Diego Union. der to reconnoiter a site where satel-
December 1981 Adm. Bobby Ray In- As a result of the report in the lite and reconaissance photography
man then deputy director of the CIA, Union, Gritz claimed, the Voice of had reportedly suggested some of the
ha asked him to drop the POW issue, America even informed its Laotian prisoners may have been held. The
promising that the spy agency would listeners that his operation was tar- mission failed to produce evidence
devote its "fullest attention" to it if- geted at the towns of Senphan and that Americans were imprisoned at
Gritz halted his operations. Gritz said Gnommarat. the camp.
he refused. "Soldier of Fortune did release it. Meanwhile, another plan, hatched
,,Inman, now retired from the Navy There's no question about it," Gritz by U.S. Rep. John LeBoutillier, a New
and chief executive of Micro-Elec- said. "Brown was trying to figure out York Republican and leading activist
tronics and om uter Technology some way he could use it, because it on the POW issue, was in the works.
nc., denied that the meeting went as was red hot." LeBoutillier, who was in the House
Gritz said. In a statement issued Brown confirmed that he had of Representatives from 1981 to 1983,
through a corporate spokesman, In- passed the information to a reporter said he had convinced then-National
man said Gritz approached the CIA for the San Diego newspaper, but said Security Adviser William P. Clark to
"with a proposal for some things that that was not until the Gritz story had use money from the coffers of the U.S.
he wanted to do." appeared in a Thai newspaper, the Drug Enforcement Administration to
The CIA, Inman said, refused to Bangkok Post. ti:~'-
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buy the prisoners' way out of Laos. Pao, who commanded the CIA's secret that there may have been a real nig-
The plan called for the DEA, which ercenar, arm In Laos- urin the ger in the woodpile here. Enough so
had agents in Southeast Asia and ac- war an is now v ng in e United that our next effort is going to be sans
cess to large amounts of cash, to give a es. any liaison (with the government)."
the money to LeBoutillier's organiza- Gritz, in an interview, said Barnes
tion, known as "Save Our POW/ approached him unsolicited, saying
MIAs," which would make the pay- that Vang Pao wanted to see him.
offs. When the two men finally did get
LeBoutillier said Clark endorsed together, Gritz recalled, they tried
the operation because "he thou lit it unsuccessfully to settle the question
was a good an where we coul c r- of just where Barnes had come from.
cumvent tee CIA. w h fie diIiat "I thought he's your guy," Vang
want to deal t and et govern- Pao reportedly said. Gritz replied,
meat money o get a sou pri- "No, general, he's your guy."
vatel so if there was any embarrass- Gritz claimed that the eager Bar-
ment t Qovernmen w nes never accompanied him on any of
to take it. his missions to Southeast Asia. Bar-
But ark, whom LeBoutillier?
called "a good guy and a patriot,"
became secretary of the interior in
1983 and was succeeded by Robert
McFarlane. LeBoutillier said McFar-
lane, who has since stepped down as
national security adviser, canceled
the operation.
Before leaving the post last year,
McFarlane made an ostensibly off-
the-record speech to a private busi-
ness group in which he said he be-
lieved Americans were still being
held in Southeast Asia. LeBoutillier
tape recorded McFarlane's remarks
and released the tape to the Wall
Street Journal.
Tighe has frequently said that
there would be nothing wrong in pay-
ing what would amount to a ransom
for the return of U.S. prisoners.
If such a plan could not be carried
out through official channels, he said,
a private entity could be used as an
intermediary to cover the govern-
ment's involvement.
"I think John LeBoutillier was at-
tracted to that idea," Tighe said.
Circumstances
Described Differently
It was about 18 months before the
Lazarus debacle that Gritz' path
crossed that of Scott Barnes, a free-
lance adventurer and former private
police officer, who has emerged as
one of the most controversial and
shadowy figures to become involved
in private rescue efforts.
The two men differ on the circum-
stances of their meeting; Gritz claims
that Barnes came to him, and Barnes
says it was the other way around.
Barnes in a court affidavit on file in
North aro ina sai Gritz con acte
him seekin an intro uc on o a or-
mer aot an genera name ang
nes, however, maintains that he went
to Thailand and crossed into Laos,
with a man identified as "Mike J.
Baldwin" and 30 native members of a..?
Gritz reconaissance team.
About 27 kilometers inside Laos,.
Barnes claimed, the team came upon-
a prison camp occupied by men he .
described as "clearly Caucasian."
Barnes said the team then,-re-treated into Thailand, where it,
learned Gritz was no longer in chal'ge?
of the operation.
He said he was informed that the'
U.S. embassy In Thailand had sent the
team instructions "that if the press
ence of Caucasian(s) was confirmed
at this location that the 'merchandise
was to be liquidated.
At that point, Barnes said, he
dropped out of the operation and re-
turned to the United States.
That incident was the second time
Barnes had gone public with allega-
tions of a government murder plot.
Earlier. Barnes had charged that
the CIA had asked him to kill Honolu-
lu financier Ronald L RRewald, who
was a en n mse a ains zau .
charges by claiming t o t o spy
agen
Iront.
--AM News broadcast Barnes'
cares an in an un rec onto
move t e filed a airness com-
a nt a s nst the networ with the
e era Communications omen s-
sion. AM, had already ac now e e
in
confirm Barne 'alt gationc and the
CIA's complaint was'dismissed.
As epos his next move from his
home in the Nevada desert, Gritz
looks back on a series of unsuccessful
missions and places much of the
blame on the U.S. government.
Recalling all the mix-ups and
missed chances, Gritz says, "I can see
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U.S.NEWS & WORLD REPORT
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Can U.S. buy embassy safety'?
^ The State Department wants $4.4
billion to guard against terrorist attacks
on its embassies, but it may be unwit-
tingly following a system that will leave
them tragically vulnerable.
No one questions the need for great-
er security. Libyan strong man Muam-
mar Qadhafi threatened war against
Americans around the world following
his humiliation by the Sixth Fleet in the
Gulf of Sidra. Officials vow to avoid a
repetition of the 1979 takeover of the
U.S. Embassy in Teheran or the April
1983 suicide bombing that killed 86 in
the Beirut Embassy. A total of 33
Americans have been killed in 243 at-
tacks and attempted attacks against
U.S. embassies and personnel abroad
since 1975.
A bill providing for new buildings
and improved security at U.S. embas-
sies is moving through Congress. Yet
U.S.News & World Report has learned
that government investigators and in-
dependent experts fear the costly pro-
gram may overlook several glaring
compromises of security:
? For $1,000, anyone can legally pur-
chase detailed architectural blueprints
for any overseas mission to be built,
giving potential foes a guided path for
infiltration and attack.
? Several new embassies now under
construction fall short of toughened se-
curity requirements.
? Background checks of the embassies'
foreign employes, including security
guards, are sometimes inadequate.
? New measures focus heavily on the
threat of bombings and may overlook
defending against other types of terror-
ist attacks.
The embassy bill, now pending in the
Senate after passing the House of Repre-
sentatives by 389 to 7, proposes the most
ambitious construction project in State
Department history. Over the next five
years, the U.S. intends to erect 79 new
missions, beef up 175 existing facilities
and launch programs ranging from buy-
ing fleets of armored vehicles to hiring
thousands of local guards.
But how safe will the new embassies
really be?
Current procedure allows any firm,
American or foreign, to buy from the
State Department's Office of Foreign
Buildings the design and specifications
for U.S. embassies scheduled to be
built. Contractors routinely reproduce
the plans for their subcontractors to
estimate costs while preparing bids.
A State Department official ac-
knowledges that even a company front-
ing for the Libyan government could
Blueprints are impressive, but
an enterprising terrorist can
get them for $1,000. It's
the system, diplomats explain
In Beirut, the U.S. Embassy lies In
ruins after 1983 suicide bombing
acquire the floor plans for a U.S. mis-
sion under construction.
"The blueprint they can buy for
$1,000 doesn't jeopardize our securi-
ty," insists Robert Lamb,, director of
the Bureau of Diplomatic Security.
"What we need to protect are the secu-
rity systems and our work in secure
areas, and that's classified work done
by cleared American personnel."
Others see a definite risk.
"If you want to blow up a building,
you have to know the layout," notes
Shelly Lynn, an engineer with Con-
trolled Demolition of Cliffside Park,
N.J. He adds that if a person skilled in
use of explosives knows a building's
weak points, he can bring the whole
structure down like a house of cards.
A former hostage from the Teheran
Embassy explains: "Having a b ueprint
is a great advantage to terrorists. If
anybody wants to penetrate a building,
particularly one that is designed against
terrorist attacks, he would want to get
hold of the floor plan."
The former hostage recalls that the
U.S. Embassy in Teheran was "a sim-
ple and open building," which the Ira-
nians entered through a basement door
they had pinpointed. After the take-
over, six Americans escaped to the Ca-
nadian Embassy through a back door
left unguarded by the attackers.
In 1976, an Israeli rescue force was
able to stage a precision operation to
free hostages in Entebbe, Uganda, be-
cause it had the blueprint from the Is-
raeli firm that built the airport.
U.S.News learned that one of the
firms i m or the new regional em-
bassy in Oman is the Consol-idate
Contractors Company (CCC), headed
by Hasib Sabbagh, a Palestinian busi-
ness executive who served as Yassir
Arafat's representative in arranging the
withdrawal of ra at s besieged ales-
tine Liberation organization from Leb-
anon i$ .
American intelligence documents ac-
cuse Ara at ot approving the 1973 as-
sassination in Khartoum, Sudan,
Ambassador Cleo Noel and is
deputy, George Moore.
Washington officials view Sabbagh
as a moderate, and his 30-year-old firm
is one of the region's largest. But ter-
rorism experts are concerned that fac-
tions in the PLO could obtain blue-
prints for the building through
individuals working for the company.
Contacted by U.S.News at CCC's
In San Salvador, guards use mirrors to check under a car
before it is allowed to enter the embassy grounds
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Global cooperation seen as key to peace STATINTL
By Hm
Staff wrier of The Christen Scene Monitor
Austin, T?xas
As the world moves into an era of shifting power
among nations, the deterrence afforded by US and
Soviet nuclear weaponry can no longer be relied upon to
safeguard humanity from a third world war, according
to American and Soviet experts at a Uni-
versity of Texas conference last week.
The key to another 40 years without
global warfare, say these superpower ex-
perts, will be cooperation - not only be-
tween the US and the USSR, but encom-
passing the rest of the world as well.
These were among the points stressed at
a conference entitled: "The Future of US-
USSR relations: Lessons for 40 years with-
out War."
Several participants said the 40-year ab-
sence of world conflict was "remarkable,"
especially in light of the feelings of inevita-
bility about nuclear war that gripped the
The `need for
[superpower]
cooperation
greatly exceeds
the capacity for
cooperation at
this point.'
- Robert Bowie
world in the years following World War II.
Nevertheless there was a reluctance to use the word
"peace" to describe the state of affairs in the post-war
period, with some American participants stating it was
a "bitter peace" for those nations that had come under
$oviet'domination after the wai.Otte rs c ios ~Inw ly to
use Fhg term "non-war-to 'desc'ribe t e perj , ..
Participants, who ranged from former national secu-
rity advisors among the Americans to scientists and
Americanologists among the Soviets, generally agreed
that the presence of nuclear arms was the greatest
single deterrent to world war since 1945.
"Optimism is a vital prelude to war," said John
Gaddis, a Cold War historian from Ohio University.
"But nuclear weapons have a dampening
effect on anyone who might otherwise
have been optimistic about the outcome of
a war."
Notes of caution were sounded over the
possible destabilizing effects of expanding
technologies, and of an emerging new inter-
national economic order.
Noting a "recent, radical shift" in third-
world countries to a rapid adaptation of
high technologies, former national security
advisor Walt Rostow said the world's secu-
rity might depend on how the superpowers
respond to an accelerating shift in world
economic standings. "The real job," he said,
will be to "organize our affairs so the absorption of the
rest of the world into this kind of technology is done
peacefully."
Several participants said continued deterioration in
the Soviet Union's economy could emerge as a major
threat to inoernal;ional %ability,'[n light of this,
dent Reagan's multi-billion-dollar Strategic Defense Ini-
tiative (SDI) was termed destabilizing by some Ameri-
cans, as well as by the Russians.
"In as much as SDI becomes another way to conduct
economic warfare with the Soviet Union, then it is
clearly destabilizing" and "dangerous," said Ed Hewett,
an economist with the Brookings Institution. Sergey
Rogov, first secretary at the Soviet embassy in Washing-
ton, said his country considers SDI - also known as
"star wars" - an American attempt to "force us to
spend beyond our means on armament."
The Soviets expressed particular frustration over the
development of an expensive, all-new arms technology
since it comes at a time when their "feeling of security is
the greatest perhaps since Peter the Great" in the early
18th century, according to Andrey Kokoshin, deputy
director of Moscow's Institute for the USA and Canada.
The Soviets stressed arms reduction as the only
means of enhancing world security. But a number of the
Americans said it would be foolish to rush into disman-
tling the very weapons systems that have helped bring
the world "fragile security" for four decades.
"To toy around with [arms reduction] before we've
achieved better relations between the US and the Soviet
Union would be very destabilizing," said Brent
Scowcroft, former national security advisor to President
Gerald Ford.
Former Sen. John Tower, who has just completed a
little more than a year in Geneva as arms reduction
negotiator, said that even though both sides accept the
concept of a non-nuclear world, I don't think that either
nation has a carefully formulated, practical plan to
arrive at that result."
Several participants noted that nuclear arms reduc-
tion - or eventually their elimination - made little
sense if the result was to make the world safe for
conventional warfare.
Former CIA deputy director Bobby Ray Inman cau-
tioned that ra id technolo 'cal advancem
tion wee - and the growing number of "world
p a ers w o wi ave access to them - will new
threats to world stability.
Robert Bowie, former deputy director of the CIA and
University, said he sees the "needs for cooperation
great y exceeding the capacity for cooperation at this
point.' e rtneless, a said the superpowers are'stag-
gering toward the cooperative approach."
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i'Ma
WASHINGTON POST Ile - 8 April 1986
Bob Inman
STATINTL
Protecting Americans Abroad
Department of State to make them more effec-
The House of Representatives will soon be tive, establishing accountability following ter-
voting on an extremely important piece of legis- rorist attacks, and strengthening our physical
lation: the Omnibus Anti-Terrorism Act of facilities overseas to make them more secure
1986. At stake are: from assault.
^ The security of 254 American embassies In the days of Gramm-Rudman and federal
and missions abroad, and foreign diplomatic spending cuts, this latter recommendation has
posts in this country; raised some eyebrows, because the package au-
^ The lives and safety of thousands of Amer- thorizes spending $4 billion over five years to
icans and their families who are serving their relocate, upgrade or otherwise strengthen our
country in diplomatic posts throughout the overseas facilities to deter terrorist attacks and
world. to protect them from increasingly sophisticated
^ And, ultimately, the security of our nation, electronic spying.
and how it does business with other nations. Realistically, the question is not whether we
Historically, most societies have recognized can afford to do this but whether we can afford
the importance of communicating with each not to. Financially, we already have a multi-mil-
other, and the safety of ambassadors was held lion-dollar investment in facilities abroad, and
inviolate-that is, right up to our times, which simple business sense dictates this investment
might well be dubbed the Age of Terrorism. must be protected.
The tragic fact is that ambassadors and diplo- In human terms, we have a moral obligation
mats throughout the Free World are prime tar- to protect those of our citizens who are serving
gets for terrorist kidnapping, assault and mur- us, often at great personal expense, in overseas
der, regardless of nationality. posts.
Americans, because of the leading role their The omnibus bill creates a new Bureau of
country plays in world events, are prime tar- Diplomatic Security in the State Department,
gets. Over the past decade, our facilities and headed by an assistant secretary of state, and a
our people have been assaulted by terrorists on Diplomatic Security Service, to strengthen and
the average of once every 17 days, and unless streamline the security function, and establishes
something is done, the situation is expected to accountability by setting up boards of inquiry
get much worse in the years ahead. following a terrorist attack to determine where
A major step toward stemming the tide is the and why security might have failed, who might
anti-terrorism act now before the House. This be held accountable and what lessons might be
sweeping legislation incorporates many of the learned to help thwart future attacks.
recommendations of the Vice President's Task Other portions of the legislation would sub-
Force on Combatting Terrorism and the major stantially improve maritime security at both
recommendations of the Secretary of State's U.S. and foreign ports (the need made dramati-
Advisory Panel on Overseas Security, which I cally evident by the Achille Lauro incident), and
had the privilege of chairing. would go far toward preventing weapons-grade
The problem of international terrorism is a nuclear material from falling into terrorist
complex one, and it will not be solved overnight hands.
with a single piece of legislation. However, this In a world with many destructive forces,
bill is a major step in the right direction; it de- common sense dictates that America must con-
serves the wholehearted, bipartisan support of tinue to meet, discuss, negotiate and communi-
Congress, the administration and all Americans. cate with a broad spectrum of diverse societies
It will very significantly improve the security and peoples. That world also watches how we
of Americans serving overseas, and of foreign act and react in providing security for our citi-
diplomats in this country. Key provisions in- zens serving their country abroad. Protecting
clude reorganizing the security functions at the our own diplomats is in a very real sense a basic
requirement of our national security.
The terrorist seeks to force us to pull back,
to withdraw, to become isolated and alone. If we
are to remain a world power we cannot allow
him to succeed. And that is why this anti-terror-
ist legislation is so important to all of us.
The writer, former deputy director of Central Intelli-
t president and chief executive o tcer of Mi-
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 STATINTL
. Z d For Release 2003/04/02 : CIA-RDP91-00901 R0005002
ON
PAv~ SCIENCE DIGEST
April 1986
59
av unt
lands in East Germany. Moscow says
the plane was spying.
The Washington Post prints a ru-
mor that a battery of SS-20 Soviet mis-
siles is being shipped to Nicaragua.
Crisis talk dominates the nightly
news. The British prime minister
urges the President to talk personally
with the Soviet premier.
What Washington does not know
is that the Soviet Union has perfected
a daring secret strategy to win without
a fight-by demonstrating that it can
neutralize the "invulnerable" heart of
our nuclear-defense triad with con-
ventional weapons: The Soviets al-
ready have the ability to shoot down
our aging B-52 bombers and destroy
many of our Minuteman III ICBMs in
their silos. Now they will find and sink
one of our nuclear-missile-carrying
submarines.
If they're successful, our longtime
policy of nuclear retaliation will no
longer be credible, and we will be
forced to negotiate a Middle East set-
dement on Moscow's terms. The rea-
son for Washington's diplomatic
about-face will remain hidden in the
ocean depths for many years.
At the crisis point of East-West ten-
sion, the secret plan, code-named SO-
CHI, is approved by the politburo.
Quietly, orders are issued from naval
headquarters in Moscow dispatching
an attack-submarine group to sea.
Three days later, the U.S.S. Von Steu-
ben, a black-hulled strategic-missile
submarine carrying 16 Poseidon mis-
siles, puts out on routine patrol from
Charleston, South Carolina. A Soviet
agent watches it pass beneath the har-
bor bridge. That night, coded signals
pass from an orbiting satellite to a So-
viet Victor III-class nuclear attack
submarine lying quietly under the sur-
face 70 miles offshore. Some 75 feet
shorter than Von Steuben, the Victor
III boats carry a large sonar pod
mounted on the after stabilizer fin.
Two other Soviet submarines are
within 100 miles: a missile boat of the
Yankee class, the same size as Von
Steuben, and a much smaller, fast,
deep-diving Alfa attack submarine
with twice the speed of the American
sub. The Yankee-class boat is deliber-
ately making a fair amount of noise by
foTrce 1 td d
t~atua`bte. e: The oche? pas ael?-`
mired by esident Reagan .qp
n
ma
y other' Washingtoniaa$. in-a
0.6 on to know that it , keehni.
cal thesis was frighten Aft" .i to.~--7he Walkee,~py.rMg trncoct
d':
a year;-Ergo,, may- have
seriously coinpronriayed totecte
rity of.eer tjl'cpr-s:rbiwarine'~+
,forwe long?b tp2?d to be m r~~
able to attack,
ou
- _
--
---rr- 0......0
tmrr"f war planners nightmares
somethjitg like this:
.In the:Make.of the.Ayatollah.-
Khontelai's dealt ran is tor%,"
blopdy CM war.
The S&fet Union invokes 11%
1921 treaty with Iran and sends
150,000 troops south to help "restore
order."
At the UN, the United States pro-
tests the action. The Soviet premier re-
jects the protest.
Soviet fighters harass a Pan Am jet
in the Berlin air corridor. It crash-
BY T. A..1EPPENHEIMER
;gr'a 44- se best-.
running its pumps faster than usual.
Von Steuben picks up the noise, but
the other two Soviet vessels are quiet
and go undetected. As the American
submarine leaves port, the Victor III
boat tracks it, using large on-board hy-
drophones. Slowly, carefully, it ma-
neuvers into Von Steuben's "baf-
fles"-the acoustic blind spot to the
rear of the submarine where sonar
will have difficulty detecting it.
The three Soviet submarine com-
manders coordinate their movements
by means of an acoustic communica-
tion system built around accurate,
well-synchronized atomic clocks. The
frequencies of their underwater trans-
mitters and receivers are rapidly
changed in a random but coordinated
pattern. The Soviet submarines' mes-
sages are heard as noise by Von Steu-
ben. They maneuver to form a trian-
gle-with U.S.S. Von Steuben in the
middle, aware only of the Yankee-
class boat.
The captain of that Soviet craft sets
the trap by heading his boat toward
Von Steuben at a high enough speed
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