MAJOR NEW SPY SCANDAL RUMORED IN BRITAIN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000505220049-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 26, 2010
• Sequence Number: 49
• Publication Date: July 18, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/26: CIA-RDP90-00552R000505220049-6
ARTICLE APPEARED
0l YhGF
THE BALTIMORE SUN
18 JULY 1982
Major new spy scandal
rumored in Britain
London (AP)-A major new spy
scandal reportedly involving lax se-
curity at a top-secret communica.
tions station is buzzing through gov-
ernment'circles and 'worrying Prime
Minister Margaret Thatcher, the Brit-
ish press said yesterday.
The London Times said the re-
ports circulating among high officials
center on the Government Communi.
cations Headquarters at Cheltenham,
90 miles northwest of London.
The headquarters controls a
worldwide network of communica-
tions and surveillance stations moni-
toring millions of international mes-
sages which code-breakers and lan-
guage experts analyze for intelli-
gence. Cheltenham also maintains se-
curity links with British allies, includ-
ing the United States.
The reports follow the arraign-
ment Thursday of Geoffrey Arthur
Prime, of Cheltenham, on an espio-
nage charge described by prosecutor
David Matthews as being "of the
gravest possible nature."
Details were not disclosed, but the
formal charge states that Mr. Prime
"between January 1, 1968, and De-
cember 31, 1981, in England for pur-
poses prejudicial to the safety and in-
terest of the state, communicated to
other persons information which was
calculated to be or might be, or was
intended to be, directly or indirectly
useful to an enemy.",
The Sun newspaper reported the
information related to purported
leaks from Cheltenham. The Daily
Telegraph described the Russian-
speaking defendant as a former em-
ployee there.
Mr. Prime, 44, was ordered held in
custody and his trial proceedings
were delayed until November 26.
Last month Mr. Prime was
charged with indecent assault on girls
aged 13 to 16 between April, 1980,
and April, 1982.
He will likely be tried on the espio-
nage charges at London's Old Bailey
Central Criminal Court, officials said.
The Financial Times said gov-
ernment ministers. fear the affair
"could develop into the biggest scan-
dal since Kim Philby." Mr. Pbilby, a
leading member of the British Secret
Intelligence Service known as MI6,
fled to Moscow in 1963 after be be-
trayed scores of agents around the
world to the Soviets.
The British Broadcasting Corpora-
tion said Prime Minister Thatcher "is
treating the possibility of a damaging
new spy scandal extremely serious-
ly."
Three members of Parliament
have submitted questions for_ Mrs
Thatcher to answer in the House of
Commons about security at Chelten-
ham, which the BBC described as
"Britain's most secret intelligence es-
tablishment."
Duncan Campbell, a British jour-
nalist who specializes in security
matters, said despite heavy security
at Cheltenham, precautions against
leaks are "very slack."
"Staff from the center gossip
openly about their work in local
pubs," he said. "I would not be sur-
prised if secrets had been leaked acci-
dentally in this way."
Britain has been rocked by spy
scandals since the end of World War
IL The most recent was last year
when the late Sir Roger Hollis, direc-
tor of the MI5 counter-intelligence
agency from 1956 to 1965, was re-
vealed as a possible Soviet spy.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/26: CIA-RDP90-00552R000505220049-6