THE CIA, ANDROPOV AND POSSIBLE PAPICIDE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000100440067-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 8, 2012
• Sequence Number: 67
• Publication Date: February 2, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
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E Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/03/08 :CIA-RDP90-009658000100440067-3
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THE WASHINGTON TIMES
2 February 1983
COM1V~
ARNOLD BEI
_- - -
? ? .wa+e the attertat su y n
The CIA Andro v m Mdropov and the KGB, which,
judging by the Readers Digest and
NBC exposes, seems to bepmbable,
~ ~ ~ ? ? Mdropov's position as the new Po1it-
~~ 0~!1(,,ble ~ ~~~~~: buro boss and as the U.S.S.R: s
p ~~j p p spokesman would be so serioudy
compromised as to make possible
bat is going on with the
White House, the CIA,
the Soviet KGB, Italy.
Bulgaria,'Ihrkey -and
Yuri Andmpov, 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 - tho i
gresteat aince,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
ego has become a subject of private
discussion by former CIA executives
who still maintain connections with
the agenry.
If it is true the CIA is maintaining
a lofty attitude towards the Italian
probe, such inaction would come _
only on direct orders f rom 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 coatrol or
on a pullout of Cuban troops from
Mgola or on some other conten-
tious question.
There is a clue which might con-
firm this scenario:
On Dec. 20, 1982, T7te .Chris-
tian Sciance Monitor published a
tape-recorded interview with Vice
President George Bush. In the ques-
don and answer session, Bush, for'
mer heed of the CIA, made several
statements about the Soviet secret
police, the KGB -until recently
headed by Yurl Mdropov.-which
implied that the KGB was ranch
maligned. The crucial paragraph in
the interview quoted Bush as follows:
his ouster by his own and, perhaps,
~'"My view of Mdropw is that tou~e ' ~ ? uahappy colleagues in thePolitbura
people make this KGB thing sound There is precedert for such anouater
horrendous. Maybe I speak defen? - N~ S. IOuvshehev was "voted"
sively as a former head of the CIA.. ; ~ out of officx in October 1964. ?
But leave out the .operational side f " ~~~ a U.S. standpoint, Andropov
? of KGB -, the ~ruughty things they ~ ~ a tough spot. The Italian judl-
~llegediyd0... _. L~ cial investigation proceeds with all
The Washington Tames of Dec. 27' deliberate apeed,.although the news
published my critical commentary fromRomehasbeenmeagerrecent-
?on this interview. Now one mutt . ly..Even the Vatican seems to be
? kssume.ihat.Bnsh...like.apY:ambi-;~ ~ avoiding commeatcntheinvestiga-
'
riou: vice president, wouldn't have .
made such an outrageously idiotic
statement about the RGB without
:ome encouragement or even. an
r_ _______ _ ~:atnouc press m esmenca mia me
or from a trusted Reagan aide. Hush that leading Catholic journals have
and the president had aeveralmeet- kept their reporting of the case to a
ings foIIowing the vice presideat's bare minimum, U reporting at all.
meeting with Mdropov, Brezhnev's Ia the pope also signaling that he it
successor as party chieftain.: ready to forgive and 'forget' if
If this theory is correct, then what
? Bush was doing was exonerating in
advance Yuri Andropov of any '
involvement~+vith theassassiiiation
plot against the pope. Bush's kind
words about We KGB are, of cxturse,
belied by e~vetything we know about
the KGB and a lot of that knowledge
is to be -found in the recently . ~
published report, `'Soviet Active
tion,:a strange phenomenon, since
?afteraA a pope the vicarvf Christ,
was shot and almat killed:. .::~;
Lti~~~?. ~ ~ti~ww~.w{~n fidtwa~ ~1.~
Mdropov will soften the Soviet atti=
Lode toward PoLad 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 tramps and has dtaplayed those
trumps by discouraging rather thaq
encouraging speculation about
Mdropov and by leashing the:CIA
Measures,". issued by the perms. ; - while awaiting some snore by
nest Select Committee on Intelli. ~ ' Aadropov? . , :... , . _ " : , . ~ .
genre of .the House. of Represents' ?-: T7u Ncv York TYmea sam>r to be
fives ;; >,;, ? - ~ . ~; ?f ; . :: ' ~ _ the only daily newspaper working
'~ .cuthCtr~ysteryof.thEpape'faseasdn.
The House report detail' ' : ^'~AJ~L Rosenthal. its executive editor,
KGB activities against'the enemy, `'
the UtdtedStates -acxivities which 1
range from the disgusting to the
unspeakable. Obviousty, the CIA.
i wh ch uacovered some of these
. "active measures," the white House
'; -.and Bush himself know what the
-KGB is capable~of. Yet, strangely, ,
Sush deplores the exaggeration ,
about the KGB'a'~aughty things" i
-has asdgned at least five of his sop
cornapondenb m keep working on
~'~bere-is ioineth3aS7going.onitd
.?~'there is~ao?doubt that-VicaPresi-
dent8ush'atour of yVeaternEurope
-.has more to do with Yurl?Andropov
than with any.of the cover?stories
putout for his totQ d'horizon.,_~
j~Qr,~V'UE7~
Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/03/08 :CIA-RDP90-009658000100440067-3
 t, Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/03/08 :CIA-RDP90-009658000100440067-3
r-
1. The CIA has enormous re-
sources whichcould beused tosup-
port the Italian investigation. These'
resourcxs have not been deployed
and they wlll~not be in the future if
Mdropov behaves. Time is running
out and the Italian judicial inveati-
gationcan't go onforever. Orcan it3
2. The White House, in effect, ,
has offered m let Mdropov ~P a ~
plea -behave and we'll lay off the
attempted assassination plot; -the
assistant district attorney who has
delivered.the "bargain Plea" is Bush,
via his exculpatory statement about
the KGB. ~ -
Knowledgeable people long have
pawed beyond the point of uncer
tainty about the Bulgarian-Soviet
connection. but since ane can't indict
and try Mdmpov on a charge of
attempted murder or conspiring to
kill, the next best thing is to keep
the case alive. Md, as has already
been noted, there may even be Soviet
sources who would like to see
Mdropov out of power. ~ ~ ~ , ~
__ _ i
Arnold Beichmanrt, a potfticaf `T
scientist, is a visiting acholas at the
Hoover lnatituiiort..
Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/03/08 :CIA-RDP90-009658000100440067-3