FBI COUNTS 1,000 SOVIET SPIES IN U.S.

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00806R000100130021-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 27, 2010
• Sequence Number: 21
• Publication Date: April 25, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/27: CIA-RDP90-00806R000100130021-3
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CHICAGO TRIBUNE
25 April 1983
FBI counts 1, 000 Soviet s~~:es in U. S.
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WASHINGTON--Three people expelled
ast week from the United States because
hey were accused of being Soviet spies
ire only a few of about 1,000 communist
kgents operating in this country, FBI
Director William Webster-said Sunday.
He. said there are about 3,000 Soviet-
)loc diplomats in the United States, and
10 to 40 percent pursue. U.S. secrets,
specially military information and laser
and computer technology. They are
watched carefully but are not usually
n elled.
"These are going on all the time,"
Webster said on CBS-TV's "Face the
Vation."
"One out of three at varying times have
ntelligence responsibilities, training and
nasignmants ... 30 to 40 percent are in-
~olved in espionage. These are the people
we have actually identified as known
ntelligence offbeers,.". fr said.
The U.S. decision,' announce the ex.
xilsions last Thuz d y was made only
after foreign policy and national security
considerations were considered, he said.
By expelling the three, the administration
wanted to send a message to the Soviet
Union, he said.
"THERE ARE foreign policy and na-
tional security considerations," Webster
said. "There are other considerations be-
sides our own intelligence operations."
The FBI identified the expelled agents
as a military attache from the Soviet
Embassy caught retrieving rolls of film
containing secret information from the
base of a tree in a Washington suburb, an
expert on U.S. affairs who tried to obtain
highly classified information from a con-
gressional aide, and an intelligence offi-
cer at the Soviet UN mission.
Apart from military secrets and mili-
tary strategy, the 'Soviet Union had in-
creased its efforts to obtain high technolo-
gy especially in lasers and computers, be
said.
~`7bere is a broad effort not only to
's66iaL'jiie ' secrets but to obtain samples
through theme use of diplomatic pouches and
thra
other cot "
tigh he shi '
br i
WEBSTER ALSO SAID the Soviet
Union had sought "diligently, assiduously
and through the use of funds" to gain
control of organizations within the U.S.
nuclear freeze movement. But he said
there was no evidence Moscow had suc-
ceeded in dominating or successfully
manipulating the movement.
But Webster said it was becoming more This month, France expelled 47 Soviet
difficult for the FBI to keep track of diplomats, journalists and trade represen-
foreieign diplomats who had what he called tatives, saying they were suspected of
"intelligence responsibilities" in the Uni- being spies. Britain, Spain and Italy also
tad States. He cited a lack of staff and have expelled. Soviets on the same
'funds. gam.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/27: CIA-RDP90-00806R000100130021-3