A WEIRDO CASE THAT SHIFTS OUR ATTENTION

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000201520005-0
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 19, 2012
• Sequence Number: 5
• Publication Date: December 4, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/01/19: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201520005-0
A) f ICLZ ,,F^Z" ED
c1N PACK
WASHINGTON TIMES
4 December 1985
5 RALPH DE TOLEDANO
With every passing day the
brouhaha over U.S. in-
telligence services in-
tensifies. Ironically, the
loudest cries are coming from those
who over the years anguished most
over what they saw as too much secu-
rity and too much dedication by the
CIA, the FBI, and others.
There is irony, too, in the way they
have shifted focus from the massive
Soviet infiltration of our security
forces and now wake up screaming
over the case of Jonathan Pollard
and his activities for Israel.
The Pollard case is a real weirdo
- and it brings back memories of
the 1950s. At that time, I belonged to
the same club in New York as the
head of British intelligence. When I
was asked. "What's his cover?" I al-
ways answered, "That he's head of
British intelligence."
Perhaps that was what Mr. Pollard
had in mind when he told everyone
who would listen to him that he was
a colonel in Mossad, the Israeli intel-
ligence service. But that aspect of
the Pollard case aside, the question
should be asked: "What's all the
shouting about?"
At one time there were so many
CIA agents in Israel that they were
bumping into each other. They were
reporting on the Israeli military, on
government figures, and on defense
plans - and much of the information
they gathered filtered back to the
KGB. The Israeli government pro-
tested repeatedly, so that today there
are only a few CIA agents in Israel,
trying to find out whether the coun-
try hac a working nuclear device.
(Note to CIA Director William
Casey: they do.)
If some of the media and asso-
ciated friends in Congress were not
trying to poke Israel in the eye with
a sharp stick, the Pollard case would
be forgotten by now.
The fact is that those screaming
about Mr. Pollard have a very select-
ive view of things. I have written
three books detailing Soviet espi-
onage activities in the United States.
And the very people now so outraged
were the ones who objected because
I noted that this or that individual,
caught with a wad of top-secret ma-
terial in his pocket, was working for
the Kremlin.
Let us recall the unwanted atten-
tion given to FBI Director J. Edgar
Hoover because, it was said, he de-
A weirdo case that
shifts our attention
voted too much time to the zealous
search for Soviet agents. President
Tl'uman tried to kill the investigation
and prosecution of Alger Hiss by de-
nouncing it as a "red herring." And
others fought with a passion to cover
up for the platoons of spies that stole
our nuclear secrets for the Soviets.
Even today, The Wall Street Jour-
nal describes as "enigmatic" the So-
viet agent who rose to be assistant
secretary of the Treasury, the late
Harry Dexter White.
When Gen. Walter G. Krivitsky,
the defecting head of Red army in-
telligence in Western Europe, spoke
out, a New York newspaper resorted
to anti-Semitism, in block type, with
the question, "Who is Schelke Gin-
sburg?"
Whittaker Chambers was sub-
jected to systematic and unremitting
attack, and when the courts had vin-
dicated him, Time magazine refused
to give him back his old job as one of
its top editors.
Alexander Barmine, a brilliant
young Red army general who broke
with Stalin, was hounded to the edge
of insanity and over.
The Amerasia case is another one
to consider. Six people, the tip of the
iceberg, were caught red-handed in
wartime, along with some 1,'00 top
secret documents. Four of the cul-
prits, including an important
middle-echelon State Department
official, were set free. The ring-
leader was exculpated by a Justice
Department attorney who told the
court that it was merely a case of
journalistic overzealousness. His
punishment was a $2,500 fine. The
sixth man was fined $500 - and off
they went.
In the 1950s, Robert Morris, coun-
sel to the Senate Internal Security
subcommittee (with an enviable re-
cord in the Office of Naval Intelli-
gence), brought before the country,
in a series of meticulously doc-
umented hearings, the existence of
several large espionage rings prey-
ing on our government. Bob Morris
was given the water torture, but the
spies, dupes, and diplomats were
untouched.
Isaac Don Levine, who had spent
a lifetime exposing Soviet spies,
publicly stated that he had evidence
of six other spy rings in the country
- but no one would listen to him. Tb
expose Soviet espionage was consid-
ered bad taste and bad manners, like
belching at the dinner table.
So forgive me if I have no sympa-
thy for the hand-wringers. I suspect
that once public attention has been
diverted from the present spate of
disclosures, the old apathy will re-
turn. Then people like myself will
once more be accused of seeing
Communists under the bed. Take a
look under your bed tonight and see
what you find.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/01/19: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201520005-0