U.S. EQUIPMENT STILL IN HANDS OF IRANIANS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP99-00498R000100160035-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 14, 2007
• Sequence Number: 35
• Publication Date: February 13, 1979
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2007/06/14: CIA-RDP99-00498R000100160035-9
STAT
Article appeared
on page A-l, 8
THE WASHINGTON STAR (GREEN LINE)
13 February 1979
U.S. Equipment Still
In Hands of Iranians
By Vernon A. Guidry Jr.
and John J. Fialka
Wash; a gton Star Staff Writer
Military hardware equipped with !
some of the most-secret US. defense
technology remains in Iranian hands
after the collapse _of the U.S.-backed
government there.. .. -
Private and government sources.
say plans to remove or destroy some
of the equipment were not acted on.
The most-sensitive weapon in-
volved is the F-14 with its Phoenix
missile and associated electronics.
Eighty of the fighters were gold to
Iran as part of an enormous military
buildup begun by the now-exiled
Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavii;
The F-14 is the' U.S. Navy's chief
fleet defense plane with its on-board
radar and computer that can. track .
nearly 30 potential targets and fire-.'
-missiles at six of them. -
One knowledgeable Washington
source said yesterday that the situa-:
tion in Iran was such that the United
States would have to assume that the
technology already was compromised.
Yesterday the former commander of
Iran's air force confirmed that sophis,
ticated planes and related equipment
bought from the United States are at
the disposal of the new regime.
THE FALL OF.the government; with
the acquiescence of the military, came
only a week after the chairman of the i
Joint Chiefs of Staff,.: Air. Force- Gen..
- David Jones, assured -interviewers
that U.S.-supplied equipment was se
cure.
The F-14 is manufactured by.,,Grnm
-man Aerospace Corp. Its 430 . employ:
ees in Iran and their 500- dependents,
were evacuated'at the direction of the
Iranian military. One source-said the'
Iranians made it clear that they would.
stop any attempt to-remove the air--
planes or associated equipment.'
One U.S. citizen recently returned
from Iran said he was appalled to
learn of U.S. government assurances
about the security of the sophisticated
weapons. Events in Iran over the last
month have given no basis for that
confidence, this source insisted
Concerns within the government
and Congress about the security of
such sophisticated weaponry surfaced
amid controversy last year when the
Carter administration convinced C,)n- ?
gress to permit the sale of an airborne
computer and radar air defense sys-
. At that time, CIA Director Stans-
field Turner raised serious que--tiors
about the ability to protect U.S. secrets
from what he oredicted was sure to
a determined Soviet swine effort.
One source familiar with the situa-
tion in Iran said last night that the
chaos surrounding the collapse of the
government would offer the Soviet
Union a better opportunity.
MEANWHILE, U.S. contingency
plans for a quick evacuation of Ameri-
cans from major cities in Iran re-
mained ready as officials continued to
weigh the danger there-
Despite a number of hitches that.
developed yesterday as the United
States moved to "preposition" six
large HH-53C "Super Jolly" helicop-
ters at bases near Iran, it appears that
the Pentagon and the State Depart-
ment have put one Iran contingency
plan into an advanced state of pre-
paredness.
'The helicopters, which have a
range of 575 miles, were originally
scheduled to be stationed at Incirlik
airbase in Turkey. However, accord-'
ing to a broadcast by Ankara Radio,
the Turkish government objected to a
unit of 69 Marines that accompanied
the helicopters.
"It is being made clear to the Turk-
islh public that the stationing of U.S.
Marines to be sent to Iran and the
granting of permission to this effort
by the Turkish government is out of
the question," said the government,;
owned -radio station. - i
WHAT HAPPENED after that re.
mains unclear. The Pentagon, which
said the Marine unit was intended to
reinforce. the 19 Marines guarding the
U.S. Embassy in Tehran, said the heli-
copters had been redeployed to "vari-
ous forward bases" outside of Turkey.
"We have a longstanding policy of
not responding to questions about
contingency plans," said a Pentagon I
spokesman.
By themselves the' helicopters,
which can carry about.. 60 persons
each, could not make much of a dent
in the problem of how to stage a quick
evacuation of the 8,031 Americans be-
lieved to be in Iran. That includes 820
U.S. military personnel and 120 civil-
ian government employees, along
with 23 government dependents.
However, there was official opti-
mism. that Iran would reopen Tehran
airport to allow commercial and U.S.
military transport flights to resume.
Confusion reigned at the airport
yesterday. According to a State De-'
partment spokesman, pro-Khomeini.
guards there arrested all 21 members-
of the U.S. Military Airlift Command,
unit that was coordinating flights in
and out of the airport.
The military group Was taken to,
Khomeini headquarters where, like;
several other groups of Americans ar-;
rested yesterday, they received pro-,
fuse apologies and were freed-
Approved For Release 2007/06/14: CIA-RDP99-00498R000100160035-9