REPORT ON U.S. SUBMARINE SPYING ON SOVIETS 25 YEARS OLD

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000100310019-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 6, 2012
• Sequence Number: 19
• Publication Date: May 21, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/06: CIA-RDP90-00965R000100310019-0
ASSOCIATED PRESS
21 May 1986
REPORTS ON U.S. SUBMARINE SPYING ON SOVIETS 25 YEARS OLD
WASHINGTON
Articles on underwater eavesdropping on the Soviet Union by U.S. submarines
have appeared for the last quarter-century, and Reagan administration attempts
to block recent reports of the operations are being countered by some who say
they are revealing nothing new to the kremlin.
As early as Aug. 28, 1961, at the height of an East-West crisis over the
divided German city of Berlin, the official Soviet news agency Tass complained
that foreign submarines had committed "a number of violations against the state
seacoast of the Soviet Union" and were "making observations for intelligence
purposes" CIA Director William Casey has asked the Justice Department to weigh
criminal charges aginst NBC-TV for mentioning the underwater intelligence
program on Monday and identifying its code-name as "Ivy Bells." Government
prosecutors have yet to file charges.
And now, The Washington Post has published a less-detailed version of an
article that President Reagan himself urged Post board chairwoman Katharine
Graham not to print.
In today's editions, The Post said accused spy Ronald W. Pelton had allegedly
compromised a "costly, long-running and highly successful U.S. operation that
used sophisticated technology to intercept Soviet communications."The article,
citing sources, said U.S. intelligence officials believe the Soviets had
retrieved the "high-technology device"after they debriefed Pelton in two long
sessions in Vienna.
The lengthy report described the way Pelton allegedly sold the information to
the Soviets for $35,000, but does not describe the device involved.
Reagan called Mrs. Graham on May 10, eight days after Casey threatened the
Post and other news agencies with a 1950 law forbidding disclosure of
information about secret intelligence communications.
In the NBC report in question, broadcast Monday on the "Today"show, NBC
correspondent James Polk said Pelton, a former employee of the National Security
Agency, is suspected of giving Russia information on espionage gathering by U.S.
submarines. Pelton is on trial in Baltimore on espionage charges.
U.S. subs began spying on the Soviet Union at the end of the Eisenhower
)administration, said American University professor Jeffrey Richelsor the author
of books on U.S. and Soviet intelligence.
In 1974, The Washington Post described a similar espionage program which it
said was called "Holystone." That report angered Pentagon officials, who later
told reporters it had caused the Soviets to improve offshore security.
The following year, The New York Times published more detailed articles on
the Holystone program, quoting high-level intelligence and administration
sources describing it as a valuable tool for gathering information at little
risk to the collectors.
However, the article said, the specially equipped Sturgeon 637-class
submarines in Holystone had been involved in a number of mishaps, eluding two
collisions with Soviet submarines.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/06: CIA-RDP90-00965R000100310019-0
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/06: CIA-RDP90-00965R000100310019-0
Among the intelligence coups in Holystone, the 1975 article said, was
photographing the underside of a Soviet E-class submarine, apparently in
Vladivostok harbor, the main naval port on the Soviet east coast, and tapping
into undersea cables along the Soviet coast along which the Russians sent
military traffic ttco sensitive to entrust to the airwaves.
Additionally, the article said, the U.S. subs were able to observe closely
test firings of missiles from Soviet submarines.
After the 1975 disclosures, Pentagon officials told The Associated Press that
specially equipped U.S. submarines gathered intelligence off Soviet shores, but
denied that any had penetrated the 3-mile territorial limit.
Richelson, who describes the program in his book, "The U.S. Intelligence
Community," said in an interview that he did not believe the NBC report "is
something the Soviets will Find valuable. The Soviets knew about it."Another
expert on espionage, James Samford, described Casey's threat as "the other shoe
dropping" after the CIA director warned earlier this month that he would
prosecute news organizations which report secrets about U.S. electronic
eavesdropping.
At Pelton's arraignment last Nov. 27, defense attorney Fred Warren Bennett
asked an FBI agent whether his client had been questioned about Ivy Bells, which
the attorney later identified as an electronic intelligence gathering operation.
In a report on the arraignment that same day, NBC correspondent Polk said
that "there are indications that Ivy Bells refers to a Navy eavesdropping
operation. The Navy is known to have submarines outside Soviet harbors listening
to what the Russians say."Casey, in his statement, did not mention the NBC
report of Nov. 27.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/06: CIA-RDP90-00965R000100310019-0