THE CIA, ANDROPOV AND POSSIBLE PAPICIDE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000100170030-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 23, 2010
• Sequence Number: 30
• Publication Date: February 2, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

ST "Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/23: CIA-RDP90-00552 R000100170030-1
THE WASHINGTON TIMES.
2 February 1983
ARNOLD BEI
The CIA, Andropov
and possible papicidel
What is going on with the
White House, the CIA,
the Soviet KGB, Italy,
Bulgaria, Turkey-and
Yuri Andropov, as the suspect in the
Case of the Pope's Assassin? . . .
Something is going on and my'
"scenario" may explain the strange
lassitude exhibited by the CIA and
CIA Director William Casey towards
what is potentially one of the greatest
scandals in modern history - the
greatest since.the June 1914 events
at Sarajevo. The reputed lack of
interest by the CIA in the Italian
judicial investigation of the attempt
on the pope's life almost two years
ago has become a subject of private
discussion by former CIA executives
who still maintain connections with
the agency.
If it is true the CIA is maintaining
a lofty attitude towards the Italian
probe, such inaction would come
only on direct orders from the White
House. Such orders may well have
been issued by President Reagan
for all kinds of reasons. One of them:
to get Soviet agreement on some
acceptable form of arms control or
on a pullout of Cuban troops from
Angola or on some other conten-
tious question.
There is a clue which might con-
firm this scenario:
On Dec. 20, 1982, The'-Chris-
tian Science Monitor published a
tape-recorded interview with Vice
President George Bush. In the ques-
tion and answer session, Bush, for-
mer head of the CIA, made several
statements about the Soviet secret which uncovered some of these
police, the KGB - until recently "activemeaaures,"the White House
headed by Yuri Andropov - which . .and Bush himself know what the
implied that the KGB was much KGB is capable.of. Yet, strangely,
maligned. The crucial paragraph in Bush deplores the exaggeration
the interview quoted Bush as follows: about the KGB's 'naughty things."
avoiding commenton the investiga-
tion,.a strange phenomenon, since
.afterall a pope; the vicarof Christ, '%
was shot-and almost killed.. '. r?
Further, a source who follows the
Catholic press in America told me
that leading Catholic journals have
kept their reporting of the case to a
bare minimum, if reporting at all.
Is the pope also signaling that be is
ready to forgive and forget if
Andropov will soften the Soviet atti=
tude toward Poland and elsewhere
towards Catholics in the Soviet
empire? Is there some kind of
"blackmail" operation going on
because, for a change, the West holds
some trumps and has displayed those
trumps by discouraging rather than
encouraging speculation about
Andropov and by leashing the CIA
while awaiting some more by
Andropov? ; :....
The New York Times seems to be
the only daily newspaper working
l "There=is somethiis8 going.on.and
? there is'no?doubt that-Vic e.Presi-
dent Bush's tour of -Western Europe
has more to do with Yuri Andropov
than with any.of the cover stories
put out for his tour d'horizon.
rn
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"
My view of Andropov is that some
people make this KGB thing sound
horrendous. Maybe I speak defen-
sively as a former head of the CIA-.
But leave out the operational side
' of KGB -. the naughty things they
~llegedly tio..."
The Washington ?anus of Dec. 27
Were the attentat successfully tied
to Andropov and the KGB, which,
judging by the Readers Digest and
NBC exposes, seems to be probable,
Andropov's position as the new Polit-
'buro boss and as the U.S.S.R.'s
spokesman would be so seriously
compromised as to make possible
his ouster by his own and, perhaps,
t -unhappy colleagues in the Politburo.
There is precedent for such an ouster
- Nikita S. Khrushehev was "voted"
out of office in October 1964.:
'Prom a US. standpoint, Andropov
is in a tough spot. The Italian judi-
cial investigation proceeds with all
published m critical commentary fromRomehasbeen meagerrecent-
?on this interview. Now one must ly. Even the Vatican seems to be
assume that-Bush, .1ike aW_-ambi., .
tious vice president, wouldn't have
made such an outrageously idiotic
statement about the KGB without
some encouragement or even an
order from the president himself
or from a trusted Reagan aide. Bush
and the president had several meet-
ings following the vice presidents
meeting with Andropov, Brezhnev's
successor as party chieftain.
If this theory is correct, then what
- Bush was doing was exonerating in
advance Yuri Andropov of any
involvemenrwith the assassination
plot against the pope. Bush's kind
words about the KGB are, of course,
belied by everything we know about
the KGB and a lot of that knowledge
is to be -found in the recently
published report, "Soviet Active
Measures," issued by the Perma-
nent Select Committee on Intelli-
genii of the House of Representa?
The House report details' Yaome ::.>> mystery of thepope's asa8ssin.
KGB activities againirthe enemy, A.&Rosenthal, its executive editor,
the United States-activities which -. j .has assigned at least five of his top
range from the disgusting to the ;correspondents to beep working on
unspeakable. Obviously. the CIA,- , 1a ..:; s
STAT.