THE SOVIET FORGERY WAR

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP84B00049R000902220014-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 23, 2006
• Sequence Number: 14
• Publication Date: July 13, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN

UNCLASSIFIED
-Approved For Release 2006/04/19 : CIA-RDP84B00049R000902 001A7 / S
OPERATIONS CENTER/CURRENT SUPPORT GROUP
News BulletinWALL STREET JOURNAL, 13 July, page 32.
13 July 1982 ILLEGIB
Item No. 1
The Soviet Forgery War
It sounds like a John Le Carre spy
thriller. Soviet agents forge some offi-
cial-looking U.S. documents and try to
use them to stir up anti-American sen-
timent in Europe. There are letters
from President Reagan, former Sec-
retary of State Haig and other high-
ranking officials. There are sugges-
tions about a military coup in Greece
to overthrow Socialist Premier Papan-
dreou, a secret agreement for a U.S.
intelligence base in Sweden, a letter to
King Juan Carlos of Spain about ways
of countering opposition to joining
NATO and efforts to neutralize the
anti-nuclear movement in Europe.
Although it may sound like spy fic-
tion, it's all too real. These are actual
forgeries by the Soviet Union, which
were uncovered by U.S. and allied in-
telligence and released to the press
last week by the administration. The
forgeries are only the latest in a long
line of Soviet propaganda and covert
action measures against the U.S.
The Central Intelligence Agency
presented a lengthy, detailed report to
Congress in 1980 about the Soviet Un-
ion's efforts to sway public opinion
against the U.S. in Europe and else-
where. The report cited some 150 anti-
American forgeries, many on official-
looking stationery and supposedly
signed by top U.S. officials, which
were uncovered by the CIA. It "con-
servatively" estimated that the Soviet
Union spends $3 billion a year on such
propaganda and covert action.
The Soviet Union's propaganda
war has manifold aims: to influence
world public opinion against U.S. poli-
cies; to portray the U.S. as an aggres-
sive and "imperialist" power; to dis-
credit those foreign governments and
officials who cooperate with the U.S.;
to obfuscate the true nature of Soviet
actions and intentions, and to create a
favorable environment for the execu-
tion of Soviet foreign and military pol-
icies.
John McMahon, who presented the
CIA's report to Congress in 1980 and
recently replaced Admiral Bobby In-
man as deputy director of the agency,
told Congress: "There is a tendency
sometimes in the West to play down
the significance of foreign propaganda
and to cast doubt on the efficacy of co-
vert action as instruments of foreign
policy. Soviet leaders, however, do not
share such beliefs. They regard pro-
paganda and covert action as auxil-
iary instruments in the conduct of
their foreign policy by conventional
diplomatic, military and economic
means."
The latest disclosure of the Soviet
forgery campaign is another reminder
that the Kremlin leadership is con-
ducting an orchestrated war of ideas
against the West. Americans have
generally been reluctant to recognize
this, quickly dismissing suggestions
that Soviet cultivation may play a cru-
cial though of course not total role
in the growth of international terror-
ism and domestic discord in Western
societies. This reluctance is under-
standable, since conspiracy is alien to
the American experience while red-
baiting demagogy is not.
Yet no American interest-least of
all the avoidance of demagogy-will
be served if serious Americans fail to
recognize the nature of the challenge
we face. When we are reminded that
the Soviets use forgery as a routine
propaganda tool, we have to ponder to
what other lengths they may go.
Approved For Release 2006/04/19 : CIA-RDP84B00049R000902220014-7
UNCLASSIFIED