C.I.A. SAYS NEW RADAR IN SIBERIA IS 'POTENTIALLY QUITE VULNERABLE'

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP99-01448R000301220070-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 15, 2012
• Sequence Number: 70
• Publication Date: January 25, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/08/15: CIA-RDP99-01448R000301220070-4
ARTICLE APU NEW YORK TIMES
ON PAGE
25 January 1986
C.I.A. Says New Radar in Siberi
Is 'Potentially Quite Vulnera
By MICHAEL R. GORDON ?
Special to The New York Times
WASHINGTON, Jan. 24 ? A senior
Central Intelligence Agency official
has told Congress that the Soviet radar
under construdtion north of Kras-
noyarsk is a "potentially quite vulner-
able" installation. As a result, the offi-
cial said, some intelligence analysts
believe the radar may have limited
suitability for any future Soviet anti-
ballistic missile defense.
The assessment was provided by
Robert M. Gates, the Deputy Director
?of Intelligence, in a written response to
a question submitted to the agency
from Senator William Proxmire,
Democrat of Wisconsin.
Mr. Gates is also the chairman of the
National Intelligence Council, which
prepares the Government's classified
'assessments of Soviet strategic force
developments.
The C.I.A. response represents the
most complete disclosure to date of
classified intelligence analyses on the
radar's vulnerabilities. The response is
contained in a recently published
record of a joint heating of the Senate
Armed Services Committee and the
Senate Appropriations Committee.
U.S. Accuses Soviet
The Reagan Administration has
charged that the Soviet Union has vio-
lated an important provision of the
antiballistic missile treaty of 1972 by
building a large phased7array radar at
the small town of Abalakovo north of
Krasnoyarsk, a city in central Siberia.
The 1972 treaty stipulates that radars
of this type must be on the periphery of
a country and oriented outward. The
C.I.A. has affirmed the charge.
Many experts who are ci?itical of the
Administration's arms control policies I
agree that the radar is a violation of the '
antiballistic missile treaty.
A separate debate has been carried
on within the Administration over the
possible military use of the radar. ?
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The New York TiryieK ,3 in 25. 1986
Phased-array radar is being built
at Abalakovo, near Krasnoyarsk.
The Defense Department has
stressed that the radar might be a
"long lead time element" in an even-
tual Soviet nationwide antiballistic
missile system. Such radars "consti-
tute the foundation for any system of
territorital defense," Richard N.
Perle, an Assistant Defense Secretary,
has said.
Could Give an Early Warning
C.I.A. officials have said the radar at
Abalakovo could be used for detecting
and tracking missiles to provide early
warning of an American attack.
But such tracking data from the
radar could also be used "to feed an
ABM system," Lawrence K. Gershwin,
a national intelligence officer for
strategic programs at the C.I.A., told
the committee hearing in June. This
would be done by sending tracking data
to other radars that would direct inter-
ceptors at incoming missiles.
Mr. Gershwin, who also serves on the
National Intelligence Council, cau-
tioned that this does not mean that
"necessarily the Soviets intend to have
a nationwide ABM system as a result."
Mr. Gates, responding in writing to
questions submitted by Senator Prox-
mire after the June hearing, went be-
yond the ,C.I.A. testimony in June and
took note of the radar's possible vulner-
abilities. The heating record and Mr.
Gates s responses were published re,
cently.
Phased-array radars, such as the one
at Krasnoyarsk, "are large fixed in-
stallations, vulnerable to direct attack,
and they are potentially susceptible to
degradation from nuclear blackout ef-
fects," Mr. Gates said.
A Debate on Suitability
Mr. Gates said there was a debate
among intelligence analysts over the
"suitability" of the Abalakovo radar
for an ABM system. "These radars ap-
pear less suitable for ABM battle man-
agement to some analysts than to other
analysts," he said.
"Because such radars are fixed, and
they are key nodes for an ABM sys-
tem's capability, there will always be
an issue of whether an ABM system is
'worth having which depends to a great
extent on a few, potentially quite vul-
nerable facilities," he said.
Mr. Gates also said that the C.I.A.
"remains concerned" about the Soviet
Union's "potential" to deploy a wide-
spread antiballistic missile system and
that the deployment of such a system
"would pose serious national security
problems."
A classified 1984 assessment entitled
"Implications of a New Soviet Phased-
Array Radar," which Administration
officials have said was drafted by
C.I.A. officials and coordinated by in-
telligence workers, also identified
some of the potential vulnerabilities of
the Abalakovo radar, Administration
officials have said.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/08/15: CIA-RDP99-01448R000301220070-4