AGENT DETAILS PELTON'S SALE OF SPY SECRETS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00587R000200880052-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 14, 2010
• Sequence Number: 52
• Publication Date: May 29, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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WASHINGTON TI:?IES
29 May 1986
Agent details
Pelton's sale
of spy secrets
By Bill Gertz
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
BALTIMORE - Former National
Security Agency official Ronald W.
Pelton supplied the Soviets with
technical details of a top-secret lis-
tening device used to eavesdrop on
the Soviet Union, an FBI agent testi-
fied yesterday.
Special Agent David Faulkner tes-
tified in U.S. District Court about
statements Mr. Pelton made to the
FBI shortly before his arrest on es-
pionage charges Nov 24.
Mr. Faulkner said that Mr. Pelton
told the FBI that in January 1980 he
gave Soviet KGB officials informa-
tion about an NSA "intelligence-
collection system" identified in
court by the code name "Project A"
Mr. Pelton told the FBI agents the
information included details of "pur-
chases of certain parts for equip-
ment;' the design and size of the col-
lection system and "some of the
problems in utilizing the collection
system."
STATsecutors showed jurors a ma
tence of life imprisonment plus 10
years.
Agent Faulkner's testimony was
followed late yesterday by an an-
nouncement from CIA Director Wil-
liam J. Casey and National Security
Agency Director Lt. Gen. William E.
Odom that classified information
about U.S. intelligence-gathering
capabilities would be released by
government officials when they
testify at the trial.
"Those reporting on the trial
should be cautioned against spec-
ulation and reporting details beyond
the information actually released at
the trial;' the statement said. "Such
speculations and additional facts are
not authorized disclosures and may
cause substantial harm to the na-
tional security."
Mr. Casey has asked the Justice
Department to prosecute The Wash-
in ton Post and NBC News
easin information that Mr. Pelt n
allegedly y passed to the Soviet Union
about a'secret underwater
Ilience-collection
on which Mr. Pelton had ctrcl CIA spokeswoman
where Project A was located, repo 'd the statement was a call for the
edly near the Sea of Okhotsk in the media's "help and cooperation" in
far eastern area of the Soviet Union.
The map remains classified, accord- order to limit any national security
damage
ing to court prosecutors. .
The Soviets maintain military fa- Mr. Faulkner said that Mr. Pelton,
cilities on the nearby Kamchatka a 14-year NSA code specialist who
Peninsula and use it as a range for retired in 1979, decided to provide
testing missile accuracy, according secrets to the Soviet Union on an
to U.S. intelligence officials. "impulse" after the former NSA em-
"[Mr. Pelton] said he did not have ployee had "mortgaged himself to
the exact location of the system but the hilt."
the general location" and drew a cir-
cle around it on a map provided by "He said that walking into the So-
FBI agents, Mr. Faulkner said. viet Embassy [in Washington) on
"I asked him [Mr. Pelton] if he felt Jan. 15, 1980, was the biggest mis-
w h a t he had done was life- take of his life, but that when you are
threatening to the individuals who broke, you do some crazy things;'
service the equipment." Mr. Mr. Faulkner testified.
Faulkner said. "He did not answer." Asked by Assistant U.S. Attorney
with Mr. six Pelton,
counts 5, of has been espionage for his charged John Douglass if Mr. Pelton believed
STATin passing NSA secrets to the his activities damaged U.S. security,
aoviet Union between 1980 and 1985 Mr. Faulkner replied, "[Mr. Pelton]
in exchange for $35.000. If con- said the bottom line was yes, it had
victed, he faces a maximum sen-
been harmful to the country."
Another intelligence project al-
legedly compromised by Mr. Pelton,
identified as Project B, involved "in-
side" details of NSA operations,
based on the agency's five-year bud-
get cycle, about how NSA was
gradually upgrading equipment
used to "collect signals" from Soviet
targets.
Mr. Pelton told the FBI that
Project B was a program that would'
provide the NSA with "quicker pro-
cessing of signals" - coded Soviet
communications.
At the end of the first FBI inter-
rogation session, "Mr. Pelton stated
that it was probably very disgusting
for someone like me to have to deal
with somebody who had done what
he had done;' Mr. Faulkner said.
Mr. Faulkner said the $35,000 was
a "very, very minimal" payment
compared with the value of the se-
crets that Mr. Pelton had compro-
mised.
The FBI agent said Mr. Pelton told
him the Soviets were interested in
finding out what information the
United States was getting from So-
viet embassies and from "overhead
collection systems" - spy satellites
that can photograph and electron-
ically intercept communications.
Mr. Pelton told the FBI agents the
Soviets showed little interest in
three intelligence-collection sys-
tems identified in court only as
Projects C, D and E, Mr. Faulkner
said.
According to Mr. Faulkner, Mr.
Pelton said he traveled in October
1980 to Vienna, Austria, where he
was picked up at his hotel by a Soviet
official and driven to the Soviet Em-
bassy compound. Mr. Pelton told the
FBI that he spent several days an-
swering written questions about the
NSA at the Soviet ambassador's per-
sonal residence, Mr. Faulkner said.
Prosecutors have charged that
Mr. Pelton received $20,000 from the
Soviets after his October 1980 visit
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29
been harmful to the country."
Another intelligence project al-
legedly compromised by Mr. Pelton,
identified as Project B. involved "in-
side" details of NSA operations,
based on the agency's five-year bud-
get cycle, about how NSA was
gradually upgrading equipment
used to "collect signals" from Soviet
targets.
Mr. Pelton told the FBI that
Project B was a program that would,
provide the NSA with "quicker pro-
cessing of signals" - coded Soviet
communications.
At the end of the first FBI inter-
rogation session, "Mr. Pelton stated
that it was probably very disgusting
for someone like me to have to deal
with somebody who had done what
he had done," Mr. Faulkner said.
Mr. Faulkner said the $35,000 was
a "very, very minimal" payment
compared with the value of the se-
crete that Mr. Pelton had compro-
mised.
The FBI agent said Mr. Pelton told
him the Soviets were interested in
finding out what information the
United States was getting from So-
viet embassies and from "overhead
collection systems" - spy satellites
that can photograph and electron-
ically intercept communications.
Mr. Pelton told the FBI agents the
Soviets showed little interest in
three intelligence-collection sys-
tems identified in court only as
Projects C, D and E, Mr. Faulkner
said.
According to Mr. Faulkner, Mr.
Pelton said he traveled in October
1980 to Vienna, Austria, where he
was picked up at his hotel by a Soviet
official and driven to the Soviet Em-
bassy compound. Mr. Pelton told the
FBI that he spent several days an-
swering written questions about the
NSA at the Soviet ambassador's per-
sonal residence, Mr. Faulkner said.
Prosecutors have charged that
Mr. Pelton received $20,000 from the
Soviets after his October 1980 visit
to Vienna and $15,000 after another
trip in April 1983.
Mr. Faulkner said the Soviets ar-
ranged to contact Mr. Pelton by
phone at a Falls Church pizzeria on
the last Saturday of every month. If
Mr. Pelton was late, he had to wait
another month to contact the Sovi-
ets, Mr. Faulkner said.
Mr. Faulkner said Mr. Pelton's last
contact with the Soviets took place
in April 1985, when he received a
telephone call at his unlisted Silver
Spring number. A Soviet official told
him, "We have something for you" -
a prearranged signal for him to go to
Vienna, Mr. Faulkner testified.
Mr. Pelton had planned to go to
Vienna last fall and told the FBI that
if U.S. officials wanted him to coop-
erate in a counterintelligence opera-
tion, "he could pull it off;' Mr.
Faulkner said. He told Mr. Pelton not
to make the trip and to report any
Soviet contacts.
When asked to account for the
time in between meetings, Mr. Pel-
ton told Mr. Faulkner that "he felt the
KGB had finished debriefing him
and did not know what to do with
him."
Defense Attorney Fred William
Bennett challenged Mr. Faulkner's
methods of interrogating Mr. Pelton
at the Annapolis Hilton Hotel, saying
that he had violated FBI rules on
questioning suspects. Regulations
require questioning to take place at
a suspect's home or business or at an
FBI office, Mr. Bennett told the
court.
Mr. Bennett said the cost of rent-
ing the six hotel rooms where Mr.
Pelton was questioned cost the FBI
$10.000.
"I am arguing that [Mr. Pelton's]
statements were not voluntary and
freely given without coercion," Mr.
Bennett said in an interview. "With-
out those statements, the govern-
ment's case crumbles like a house of
cards."
U.S. District Judge Herbert Mur-
ray ruled earlier this month that Mr.
Pelton's statements to the FBI before
his arrest could be admitted as evi-
dence.
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