SOVIET NUCLEAR-ARMS SECURITY IS SOURCE OF GROWING CONCERN, CIA CHIEF SAYS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP99-01448R000401660038-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 22, 2012
• Sequence Number: 38
• Publication Date: May 31, 1991
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/23: CIA-RDP99-01448R000401660038-1
Soviet l'[uclear-Arms Security Is Source
Of Growing Concern, CIA Chief Says
By WALTER S. MOSSBERG thus starting the breakup of the U.S.S.R.
Staff Reporter of THF. WALL STRF.F.T JOURNAL And he declared that Soviet President Mik-
WASHINGTO
N-The U.S. and Soviet
governments are growing more concerned
about the security of Soviet nuclear
weapons amid the turmoil sweeping the So-
viet Union, retiring U.S. intelligence chief
William Webster said.
Mr. Webster, who is leaving his post as
director of central intelligence, noted that
both governments have long been confi-
dent that the Soviet strategic missiles and
warheads aimed at the U.S. are under
"ironclad" control and couldn't be fired
accidentally, even if rebellions break out.
But, he told reporters, "what I think
we're seeing now is some concern on the
part of the fSoviet I central government."
He said the U.S. has learned that the So-
viets have started "looking at what they
need to do to be sure that the missiles do
not fall into unfriendly hands, that they are
moved if necessary, that the systems that
they have in place to prevent someone
from engaging in unauthorized fire are in-
tact and protected."
He offered no further details, but said
the new Soviet concern of course lowers
the level of our confidence." In the past,
the U.S. has brushed off concern about
missiles based in rebellious republics by
asserting that Moscow maintains strong
and overlapping controls over the
weapons.
Concern Over Control
Mr. Webster cautioned that security
hasn't broken down yet, but he added that
"this is one [issue I that we will have to pay
a lot of attention to as the [Soviet I central
government loses its control on the
ground."
The Central Intelligence Agency boss
also predicted that some Soviet Republics
will win independence, possibly this year,
hail Gorbachev's own political survival is
"increasingly uncertain."
On another matter, Mr. Webster hinted
strongly that investigators probing the 1988
terrorist bombing of Pan Am Flight 103
now believe that the Libyans suspected of
placing the bomb on the plane weren't act-
ing in conjunction with a Syrian-based ter-
rorist band long thought to have master-
minded the mass killing. Instead, he sug-
gested, each group was working on its own
separate plan to blow up a plane, and the
Syrian-based group failed while the Lib-
yans succeeded.
"There were several of these activities
taking place all about the same time, with
different players," he said. "There were
lots of players, not necessarily coordi-
nated." Some efforts were aborted by ar-
rests and other factors, he added. Mem-
bers of the Syrian-based terror hand, the
Popular Front for the Liberation of Pales-
tine-General Command, were arrested in
Germany two months before the blast, but
it had been assumed the group was still be-
hind the bombing.
Warming to Syria?
Any official conclusion that the Libyan
activities weren't coordinated with the Syr-
ian group are likely to revive charges that
the administration is deliberately playing
down Syria's role in order to seek better
relations with Damascus. But Mr. Web-
ster, a former federal judge, emphatically
denied that charge.
"That is simply not true," he said. "No-
body has ever tried to say ... 'Let's
change the spin on it.' "
He also said he was cautiously optimis-
tic that the Western hostages held in Leba-
non might soon be released in a mass pris-
oner exchange with Israel, as Iranian and
Shiite leaders have hinted. But he cau-
tioned that such hopes have been dashed
before.
President Bush has nominated Deputy
National Security Adviser Robert Gates to
succeed Mr. Webster. The exact date of
Mr. Webster's departure from the post
isn't known.
The Washington Post
The New York Times
The Washington Times
The Will Street Journal
The Christian Science Monitor
New York Daily News
USA Today
The Chicago Tribune
Date / M R y
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/23: CIA-RDP99-01448R000401660038-1