SPY WHO STAYED IN THE COLD

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000302970012-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 21, 2010
• Sequence Number: 12
• Publication Date: October 23, 1980
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

F_
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/21: CIA-RDP90-00552R000302970012-9
W ri TO r~?: FOST
23 October 1980
ho S y the Coid _?.
Grand Jury Expected to Indict Suspected `Mop'-.
By - Charles. R. Babcock
weshingtonl?oet Staff Writer
In the late 1960s, David Barnett was
a CIA officer working undercover as a
U.S. diplomat in the Indonesian seaport
of Surabaya. His main job, according
to a source-familiar-with his activities
there, was to recruit Russian officials
at a nearby..-consulate-to spy for the
United States..
This .Friday,'.a' grand jury in Balti-
more is expected to return. an indict-+
.menu charging Barrett with- espionage
on behalf of the Soviet Union.- FBI
and Justice. Department officials refuse
to comment on the case, the- first. in
which a former. covert CIA. operative
is suspected of being recruited by the;
Soviet KGB:
But: sources familiar with- the
said yesterday that they think Barnel;G
became a Soviet agent after he lelcttlie?.
CIA irr 1970 and stayed on in Indonesia
to run an antique-exporting firm that-
got into financial difficulty.
"That's the dangerous part when'ymr..
play footsie with the other side," -one
source said. "The CIA has a dumb-be;.
lief that no American: can be turned.`
Barnett returned.-to. the United'
'States and tried unsuccessfully in 1977
to get a job'on the staffs of the Senate
and House Intelligence committee-:A
short time.later, American intelligence'
:officials became suspicious of him and
warned the congressional committees
about the attempted penetration,
a
sources said. '
Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawar
'chairman of the Senate 'committee at
the time, then issued, a cryptic state-.
ment saying he ekpected the CIA to
promptly report any efforts by the corn -
munist intelligence agencies to gene-1
'trate Congress V 4
.I.z:1979, Barnetf'.was rehired as a
.contract employe by the CLA, in hopes
of confirming the suspicions that he
was a Soviet agent, sources said, and
when confronted with the evidence this
,year he confessed to- having been paid,
.about $100,000 by. the Soviets for pass-1,
ing .them .classified: information' about
U.S. conventional weapons systems and
,attempting to .join the congressional
committee staffs. ;
Background information about a co
Vert intelligence operative is under-
standably sketchy. Barnett is listed in
the: State Department's 1969 Bio-
graphic Register as having been a po-
litical officer in Surabaya since August
1967.
The 47=year-old "res-erve" Foreign
Service officer - the usual cover in
those.. days for an intelligence officer
- was born in Pennsylvania and got
his B.A., degree at the University of
Michigan. in.,1955.
He then served in' the , Army for
three years, and from 19,58 to 1967
was ari "analyst" for the Army in South
Korea and Washington. From 1963 on,
sources said, Barnett was a CIA officer.
One source familiar with his activities
in Indonesia said yesterday that the
sole purpose of having, an intelligence
agent at the U.S. consulate in Surabtiy,%,
was to make contact with officials at
the Soviet conuulate in the city. Barnett