THE SQUABBLE OVER SOVIET SLAVE LABOR

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000100150011-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 29, 2012
• Sequence Number: 11
• Publication Date: December 17, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/08/29: CIA-R
ON
The Squabble
Over Soviet
Slave Labor
More than 120 years after the
Emancipation Proclamation, slavery
is once again a subject of controversy
in the inner circles of a presidential
administration. This time, though,
the slaves under discussion are So-
viet. not American.
For months, an inter-agency
group, including representatives of
the White House, the State Depart-
ment, the CIA, the National Security
Council and the Labor Department,
has been hotly debating the extent
of slave labor in the Soviet Union.
No one questions the fact that
forced labor is widespread in the So-
viet Union. What the government
experts have been arguing about is
whether slaves are being used on a
specific Soviet construction job: the
natural gas pipeline being built from
Siberia to Western Europe.
Like medieval monks disputing
the number of angels that can fit on
a pinhead, the inter-agency group's
members have been debating wheth-
er slave labor is being used on the
pipeline directly or indirectly, a lot
or a little. The squabble, unfortu-
nately, may become more important
than the issue at hand.
WASHINGTON POST
17 DECEMBER 1982
A conclusive finding that slave
labor is being used presumably
would embarrass the Kremlin. So
the White House representatives in
the inter-agency group were not
pleased when some State Depart-
ment officials and the CIA argued
that the evidence of slave labor on
the pipeline was not convincing. The
State Department officials and the
CIA also suggested that the issue
was "an old story" and didn't deserve
a big media push.
The squabble came to a head with
the drafting of a letter to Congress a
few weeks ago which accompanied a
preliminary report .on the group's
findings. The White House didn't
like Foggy Bottom's draft, which it
thought too weak. An administration
source told my associate Lucette
Lagnado there was "some dissatis-
faction" with the first draft.
So the White House people re-
wrote the letter.
As finally delivered, the letter
stated: "There is clear evidence that
the Soviet Union is using forced
labor on a massive scale. This in-
cludes the use of political prisoners.'
As for the specific issue of the
pipeline, the beefed-up letter said:
"A number of reports suggest that
forced labor has been used in some
of the site preparation and other
preliminary work on the export pipe-
line . . . clearing the forests, leveling
the right-of-way, building roads and
constructing living quarters."
DP90-00965R000100150011-6
The State Department and CIA
, were right about one thing. It was
indeed an old story. I reported last
September that the Russians were
using slave labor on the pipeline,
and Defense -Secretary Caspar -W.
Weinberger reported similar findings
a short time later.
Whether the story 'deserved" a
big media push or not, it didn't get
one. So the -inter-agency group is
now working on its final report fo
Congress, due to be delivered next.
month.
In addition to some dramatic new
evidence, reportedly including pho-
tographs, the task force is addressing
some points not .touched on in the
preliminary report, including the
question of whether Vietnamese
workers are being pressed into slav-
ery in Siberia. Such subjects are po-
tential sources of embarrassments
for the Kremlin.
The final report may contain pho-
tographic evidence, according to ad.
ministration sources. And it will be
subjected to "more supervision" from
the White House.
Bookstores in Danger: After
three years of preliminary study, the
Federal Trade Commission has e?;-
idence that chain bookstores and
paperback publishing companies
may be illegally driving independent
booksellers out of business. The
agency is reported ready, to launch's
full-scale investigation.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/08/29: CIA-RDP90-00965R000100150011-6