WATCHWORD FOR FOREIGNERS IN MOSCOW: THE WALLS HAVE EARS

Document Type: 
Collection: 
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
CIA-RDP88G01116R001402570011-1
Release Decision: 
RIPPUB
Original Classification: 
S
Document Page Count: 
4
Document Creation Date: 
December 22, 2016
Document Release Date: 
May 20, 2011
Sequence Number: 
11
Case Number: 
Publication Date: 
October 2, 1986
Content Type: 
MEMO
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PDF icon CIA-RDP88G01116R001402570011-1.pdf222.13 KB
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Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/05/20: CIA-RDP88GO1116R001402570011-1 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/05/20: CIA-RDP88GO1116R001402570011-1 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/05/20: CIA-RDP88GO1116R001402570011-1 US NEWS & WORLD REPORT September 29, 1986 U.S. Embassy is surveillance target No. 1 Watchword for foreigners in Moscow: The walls have ears Moscow Relentless Soviet scrutiny of Nich- olas Daniloff did not. end when he moved from prison to the U.S. Embassy. The KGB can still watch and listen through an Orwellian surveillance net covering all West- erners-though none so stiflingly as those judged especially suspect. At the American Embassy in Moscow, U.S. technicians ceaseless- ly search for electronic bugs planted in equipment and walls. [For ultrasensitive conversations, the embassy has at least one win- dowless room that has been encased in a shell impenetrable to listening devices, sources in Washington say. Kept free of air-conditioning vents as an extra precaution, the room can be unbearably stuffy.] U.S. diplomats once complained In Soviet Union, a yellow license plate with K 004 identities U.S. correspondent that the KGB had sprinkled offices with "spy dust" to track people by telltale residue. On another occa- sion, the U.S. found devices in elec- tronic typewriters that transmitted what was typed to receivers in near-. by walls-and then to Soviet agents outside. Diplomats routinely pro- test the health threat from micro- waves aimed at disrupting Soviet electronic surveillance. The problems may worsen when the U.S. moves into a new embassy next year-thanks to a bad U.S.- Soviet deal made years ago. The site, one of the lowest points in the city, is surrounded by tall buildings. This will make it harder for the embassy to eavesdrop on communications in Moscow, while making it easier for the Soviets to spy on the Americans. In contrast, a new U.S.S.R. Embas- sy in the U.S. sits on one of Wash- ington's highest hills, again giving the Soviets the advantage. As construction of a new Ameri- can Embassy continues, listening devices are regularly discovered. Sources say steel bought from So- viet firms is riddled with devices implanted during casting. As a re- sult, extra crews have flown in from the U.S. to finish the work. The usual suspects in most bug- ging are the 200 Soviet citizens who work in the embassy and Leningrad consul general in low-level jobs. They could be fired-no Americans work in the Soviet Embassy in the United States. But replacing them with U.S. citizens has been ruled out, at least for now, as too costly. Outside the embassy, most for- eigners are housed in one of 20 buildings scattered around Mos- cow. Militiamen guard floodlit gates, ostensibly to protect occu- pants from crime but actually to discourage Soviet visitors and re- cord Westerners' movements. Tenants assume their apartments are bugged. And foreigners who try to evade scrutiny are easy to follow, since their cars bear distinctive plates-red for diplomats, yellow for business people and journalists. A yellow plate with a K and the numbers 004 means a U.S. reporter. Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/05/20: CIA-RDP88GO1116R001402570011-1 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/05/20: CIA-RDP88GO1116R001402570011-1 US NEWS $ WORLD REPORT 6 Oct. 86 America's white elephant in Moscow The new U.S. Embassy being built in Moscow is so riddled with Soviet eaves- dropping equipment and structural flaws that construction may be halted indefinitely, threatening a fresh snag in U.S.-Soviet relations. The seriousness of the problems, un- masked by U.S. investigators combing the eight-story building in September, prompted the State Department to agree to congressional demands for a top-to- bottom inspection by outside experts. Sophisticated listening devices have been implanted in everything from pre- cast floors and prefabricated concrete columns to steel beams-Congressional investigators also think the structure is dangerously flawed because little, if any, lime was used in mortar cement- ing the brick facade and frame, raising fears that it will absorb moisture, freeze and crumble. Alarmed by reports from the latest on-site inspections, Senator Lawton Chiles (D-Fla.) seeks to mandate sus- pension of work pending review of the project, which, along with other build- ings in the complex, is already five years behind schedule and S80 million over budget. Some experts on Capitol Hill and in the CIA are even lobbying behind the scenes for demolition of the building, U.S.News & World Report has learned. "We have two choices," says Repre- sentative Dan Mica (D-Fla.), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcom- mittee on International Operations: The embassy "can be made secure or we will have to blow it up." The State Department is worried that lawmakers, in hushing to hold up completion of the embassy, will complicate East-West diplomacy. There is "overreaction" in Congress, declares Ronald Spiers, under secretary of state for management. "We are very aware of the problems, and we have plans to deal with them." Soviet families have moved into the new U.S.S.R. Embassy in Washington. But, by agreement, Soviet diplomats cannot occupy their offices in the com- pound until work is finished on the U.S. Embassy in Moscow. Some estimates now suggest it will be 1959-and per- haps much later-before that happens. Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/05/20: CIA-RDP88GO1116R001402570011-1 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/05/20: CIA-RDP88GO1116R001402570011-1 WASHINGTON TIMES 29 SEP 1986 Pg.12 Embassy in Moscow Infested with `bugs' By Ricnaro Beeston THE WASHINGTON TIMES The unfinished U.S. Embassy in Moscow is suffering from a severe plague of bugs-the electronic van- etv The listening devices have been discovered in steel girders supplied by Soviet firms, according to U.S. officials. who say they were im- planted during the casting. U.S. News & World Report, whose Moscow correspondent -Nicholas Daniloff has been accused Iif espi- onage by Soviet authorities. said yes- terday that extra crews have been flown in from the United States to finish the work after construction was delayed by discovery of the bugs. A Soviet microphone was once found hidden in the U.S. seal above the ambassador's desk in the present embassy, and electronic devices ca- pable of transmitting what was typed were found in embassy type- writers. The site of the new U.S. embassy in Moscow is on low-lying land. In a much-criticized decision. however, the United States has per- mitted the Soviet Union to build its new embassy in Washington on high ground. It is locrited on Wisconsin Avenue above t,'eorgetown ?- over- looking the White House. the Pen- tagon and the State Department - an ideal. arrangement for eaves- dropping. But the vast white fortress where most Soviet diplomats ;inn staff will eventually live has had problems of its own. During the early stages If con- struction. Soviet supervisors ;ouna mat a large quantity of concrete had been poured by an American con- struction company into the founda- tions without embassy supervision. Fearing bugs, they ordered it re- moved. and the foundations had to be repoured. Washington Post 28 September 86 Washington Times 30 September 1986 Tough on buggers "Now is the time for Congress to get tough with the Soviet 'bug- gers: Enough is enough," said Rep. William Broomfield, Michigan Republican. He intro- duced a resolution to put Con- gress on record as opposing any use of the new Soviet Embassy in Washington until the bugging problem is solved at the U.S. Em- bassy in Moscow. "According to recent accounts, State Department technicians found electronic devices planted in the precast pillars, floors and walls of the U.S. chancery in Mos- cow. As construction of the new building continues, listening de- vices are regularly discovered implanted in walls, steel beams and other equipment:' said Mr. Broomfield in a statement. The Soviet Embassy in Wash- ington has been completed but cannot be occupied until the U.S. Embassy in Moscow is finished, under an agreement reached by the State Department and the So- viets. The U.S. Embassy is al- ready five years behind a schedule that called for comple- tion in 1981. Moscow. Embassy Work May Halt -'over implanted Listening Devices United Press International million over budget. Some experts Work may have to be halted in- in the intelligence community sug- definitely on the new U.S. Embassy Best that the $167 million building in Moscow because "sophisticated may have to be demolished before it listening -devices have been' im- is completed. 'planted in everything," U.S. News "Sophisticated listening devices & World Report reported yester- have been implanted in everything -day. . . . from precast -floors and prefabri- The news magazine, in its Oct. 6 cated concrete columns to steel :issue, said the seriousness of the beams," the magazine said. :problems was unmasked by U.S. in- The new problems with the em- vestigators combing the eight-story hassy could further complicate re- building in September. lations between the two coutries. The State Department was Soviet families have moved into a prompted to agree to congressional new embassy complex in Washing- demands for a top-to-bottom in- ton but, by agreement, diplomats spectioh by outside experts. cannot occupy offices there until Construction of the embassy is work is finished on the U.S. facility ,five years behind schedule and $80 in Moscow. Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/05/20: CIA-RDP88GO1116R001402570011-1