FBI SAYS ITS SPY IN KGB

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000201900015-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 15, 2010
• Sequence Number: 15
• Publication Date: September 3, 1981
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/15: CIA-RDP90-00552R000201900015-5
STAT
ARTICLE APi EA:'"
-ON PAGE "
'vWASHIi'I1TON POST
3 September 1981
The case has all sorts of permu-
e Lardner Jr
By Geor
.
g
Washingtoa Ponosta:r wilier tations. Much of the fallout concerns
When the Nixon. administration Yuri Ivanovich Nosenko, a onetime
was in court-a decade. ago in an ef- KGB officer who has been a bone of
fort to cut off publication of the contention since he defected to this
Pentagon Papers, the White House country in 1964 with. claims that he
was told that a complete set of the had been in charge of the KGB' file
top-secret documents had .been de on. President Kennedy's assassin,
livered to the Soviet Embassy. .. Lee Harvey Oswald.
The -FBI and the- Nixon White Nosenko, who first offered to spy
House were evidently convinced that fort the United States in 1962, had
the report was accurate It had come once said he would never defect, but,
from "Fedora," a strategically placed then told his CIA contacts in Geneva
in 1964 that-he had to defect at once
KGB officer. ' whom:. the} FBI had because he had received a cable from
been relying upon, fflr."years as a' truss Moscow' recalling him. He. said he
ted counterspy was afraid the.KGB had learned of
The information. -he provided-. in his; contacts, with the CIA.:
this instance helped. prompt forma From this post within the Soviet
Lion'of. the infamous-"White House ;apparatus at the UX, -Fedora of-
plumbers", unit whose operatives fered? confirmation, telling the FBI
later carried ` out= the ',:Watergate Oat'Nosenko, had indeed been sent
break-in. President Nixon's efforts. a recall telegram..
to curtail the Watergate. investiga- Nosenko also claimed A o have
tions were said`to have been motiva_ been alieutenant colonel-'in the
ted in part by fears that "Fedora". KGB.. Fedora, who had.. been
would be exposed.'. providing: information to the FBI
It might have been better~if he since 1962, confirmed that claim,
had been; The?FBI"is now convinced m
that "Fedora" was; a Soviet agent,. . `Subsequently,. however, Nosenko
`acting under Moscow's control dur- acknowledged under hostile ques-
ing. all the years he. fed:,fnformation tioning by CIA officers that his talk
to the bureau: of a:. recall telegram had been a lie
and so'was his claim of colonel's
'rhe startling new assessment'of ran:He had beenonly a KGB ca
ran
until now a -closely held -taro and' had Iied,: he "'to, exalt=
secret; is disclosed in a forthcoming gerate his importance.
article in the. October Reader's Di= Before long, Nosenko found him
gent and has been - confirmed in- self imprisoned by the CIA for some
dependently by The ..'Washington . five -years,- three of them in.. solitary
.Post confinement,.. but he. never' broke
The secret .conclusion-was based,. down and was finally rehabilitated in
to some degree; on ew informs- 1968. He: became a consultant for
tion," said one official familiar with` the agency, collecting some $500,000
the FBI's counterespionage effort, over, the next decade in consultant'
'It's an ' incredible` business ... an salaries, bonuses, resettlement ex
incredible chess game that'you have penses and other payments.
to play." Fedora, by contrast,.. appears ; to
The new' finding about Fedora, have had nothing, but smooth sailing
who-was stationed at the United Na- with the FBI despite his corrobora-
tion of Nosenko s admitted lies..
tions as a ? Soviet diplomat, also : '. "When we started up witl:~Fedora,
raises unsettling questions about the the bureau.' held very strong views
credentials of other supposed Soviet that he was legit," one former intel-
ligence,,, especially those whose sto .: official.. recalled yesterday.,
ries Fedora backed up'"Of course there was a?minority that
`If 'One falls;. others must fall,"- felt the other way, but not.many!.-
contends the Digest'aarticle by _roving ; Much=of, what Fedora `said .over
aior- Henry Hurt, ."creating.: havoc the years ivas, : in turn, ~ conveyed
inside -intelligence services where :directly to the White House, enhan-
crucial analyses and long-terse plans .. einw... his nosition. sources said.
Pentagon Papers case .was still be-
fore the Supreme: Court. Some cri-
tics regarded it as a White House
effort to influence the court's deci-
sion, albeit an unsuccessful one.
In any case; according to a Dec.: 9,
1973, New York Times article, Pres-
iident-Nixon developed. fears, report-,
edly, nourished by. his then-national
security adviser Henry A. Kissinger,
that Daniel : Ellsberg,'- the man who
had leaked the Pentagon Papers to
the press, might have. provided the
Soviets= with far more important se-
crets, especially concerning nuclear
targeting plans.
Some intelligence` officials were-
reportedly stunned. that Fedora's
word should be so readily accepted,
without any further evidence. Skep-
tics such as. CIA 'counterintelli ence.
chief James J. Angleton had long
regarded the Russian as= an agent
provocateur.. But the., White House
wasn't listening
"This could be a`classiccase of an
agent sowing disruption at. the high
:est levels of governmenHurt sug--'
gested in a telephone interview..
Fresh- doubts were; finally stirred
in 1978, primarily 'about Nosenko
.but also about Fedora,.with the pu-
blication of a book by Edward Jay
Epstein called "Legend: The Secret
World of Lee -Harvey Oswald." It
questioned the loyalty of both Rus- 1,
sians. Subsequent .investigation by
the House Assassinations Committee'
showed that Nosenko had also lied
about Lee Harvey Oswald and'made1
COARI%rED'
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/15: CIA-RDP90-00552ROO0201900015-5