WEBSTER SAYS MAP OF SOVIET UNION COULD CHANGE BY YEAR'S END

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP99-01448R000401660040-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 22, 2012
• Sequence Number: 40
• Publication Date: May 31, 1991
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/23: CIA-RDP99-01448R000401660040-8
The Washington Post
The New York Times _
The Washington Times
The Wall Street Journal
The Christian Science Monitor
New York Daily News
USA Today
The Chicago Tribune
Webster says map of Soviet Union could change by year's end
By ELIOT BREMER
LANGLEY, Va. (UPI) Outgoing CIA Director William Webster speculated
some Soviet republics could secede by the end of the year and said
Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev's future is "increasingly uncertain.
A former federal judge and FBI director, Webster also told reporters
Thursday Moscow is showing new concern about the security of its
strategic nuclear weapons.
Webster, 67, who as CIA director supervises the entire U.S.
intelligence apparatus, will leave after four years on the job. He is a
holdover from the Reagan administration, having suceeded William Casey
after Casey's death.
President Bush has nominated Robert Gates, his deputy national
security adviser, to succeed Webster, who says he plans to practice law
in Washington.
Webster noted independence movements from the Kremlin and speculated
that five or six of the 15 Soviet Republics would secede. The Soviet
Union could "be in a different shape'' by the end of the year, said
Webster.
1 I think we will see efforts to pull the last remaining economic
strings from the center to make the departure more costly, '' said
Webster, "but I don't think that will do anything but slow down some
headed for the exit.''
As for the Soviet president, Webster said, "I think his future is
increasingly uncertain.'' There may come a time when leaders such as
Russian President Boris Yeltsin will keep Gorbachev to head a central
government as "the best of centrist alternatives'' while they pursue
their own agendas.
Webster said the United States had always thought Moscow's control of
its strategic weapons was "so complete and ironclad that there was very
little risk'' they might fall into "unfriendly hands'' in the event of
internal, uprisings.
We're seeing than pay more attention to this in ways that would
suggest they are not as confident as in the past. I don't want to put
that to you as something that's about to blow up. That's not the case,''
Webster said.
On the drug war, Webster said that some South American nations that
once indicated they wanted extensive cooperation on anti-drug matters,
notably, Columbia, are starting to back away from the commitment.
I'm concerned that some of the countries that we've counted on for
really all-out support for this effort are rethinking and looking at
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more conciliatory ways of dealing with their own drug barons, drug
lords. We see signs of erosion of will in Colombia," he said, citing
questions about extradition and whether Colombia will protect its
judges.
Additionally, Webster said the CIA is "getting a much better handle
of what is taking place in the world of drug trafficking and it's not a
very encouraging report.- For instance, Webster said that he believes
there is more evidence of crop growing now than in the past.
On other topics, Webster said:
Iraq's oil pipeline provides the best economic leverage there is to
oust Saadam Hussein and it will require a continued concerted policy
of coalition members to encourage those things that will result in his
removal. "
He does not believe that there is any truth to suggestions that
Casey, while serving as Reagan's campaign manager in 1980, sought a deal
with Iran to delay the release of American hostages until after the
November election. In return the U.S. would provide Iran with weapons at
a later date.
The intelligence community has more than a circumstantial case''
on the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, the jumbo jet blown out of the sky
by a bomb in December 1988 over Lockerbie, Scotland. "There were
several of these (terrorist) activities taking place all about the same
time ... There were lots of players, not necessarily coordinated, a
number of nations implicated. I think we now have a pretty good view of
where people came from for Pan Am 103 and how they did it.''
The budget for intelligence activities, rumored to be about $30
billion a year and all hidden within the Pentagon's budget, will fall by
several billion dollars over the corning years.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/23: CIA-RDP99-01448R000401660040-8