SOVIET 'HONEY TRAP' LURED 2ND MARINE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000302310038-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 12, 2012
• Sequence Number: 38
• Publication Date: March 26, 1987
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/10/12 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000302310038-5 STAT
I:'TICLE APPEA
UN PAGE - WASHINGTON TIMES
26 March 1987
Soviet ` honey
trap'
lured
2nd Marine
f r By Bill HE WASHINGTON ~ MMES
A second U.S. Marine security
guard suspected of spying fgr the
Soviet Union was seduced by a fe-
male Soviet employee at the U.S. Em-
bassy in Moscow, administration
sources said yesterday.
It was another honey trap:' said
one administration source of the So-
viets' use of sexual entrapment in
intelligence operations. U.S. officials
now have expanded their investiga-
tion.
The sources, who spoke on the
condition of anonymity, said the dis-
covery was made by Naval Inves-
tigative Service officials during a
four-month probe of Marine Sgt.
Clayton J. Lonetree, a former Mos-
cow embassy guard charged last
month with spying for the Soviets.
NIS officials have widened their
investiOtid Of tlie- Lonetree case
followisl" thiidi ery that a second
Marine guard. ld Bracv.
had an affair With a Soviet national
while stationed in Moscow Adminis-
tration sources identified the Soviet
national as a cook at the U.S. Em-
bassy.
Cpl. Bracy, who also doubled as an
embassy mechanic, was arrested at
a Marine base in California last week
and was transferred Tuesday to soli-
tary confinement in Quantico, Va.,
where he is being held on suspicion
of "possible involvement in
espionage-related activities:' a Ma-
rine spokesman said yesterday.
Marine Lt. Col. John Shotwell, the
spokesman, declined to elaborate on
the charges against Cpl. Bracy, but
he said military regulations require
that a bail hearing be held within a
week.
Col. Shotwell declined to say if the
two Marine guard cases are linked,
but he said service records reveal
that Cpl. Bracy, 21, and Sgt. Lonetree
both were stationed at the U.S. Em-
bassy in Moscow during an eight-
month period. Cpl. Bracy served as
an embassy guard between July 26,
1985, and Sept. 18, 1986; Sgt. Lone-
tree worked as a guard there from
Sept. 27, 1984, to March 10, 1986.
CBS News reported that, accord-
ing to administration officials, on
certain nights Sgt. Lonetree and Cpl.
Bracy were the only embassy
guards on duty
Officials also are investigating the
two Marines to find out if they were
involved with the same woman, or
may have collaborated in a conspir-
acy, the sources said.
Col. Shotwell said further infor-
mation on the case would be made
available if the Marine commandant
at Quantico finds enough evidence to
order an investigation under Article
32 of the Uniform Code of Military
Justice. An Article 32 investigation
is the military equivalent of a grand
jury probe.
At the State Department,
spokesman Charles E. Redman said
yesterday a "full-scale counterintel-
ligence investigation" of the Bracy
case was underway.
"We are treating this as a very
serious breach of our security," Mr.
Redman said. "Also being done is a
worst-case damage assessment so
that every aspect of security at our
embassy in Moscow will be investi-
gated as a result of these two cases:'
When Sgt. Lonetree was arrested
in December, intelligence officials
said the operation was limited to one
American and three Soviet KGB
agents, identified by the Marines as
Violetta Sanni, an embassy
translator, Alexei G. "Uncle Sasha"
Yefimovand Yuri V. "George" Lysov
One source said the second arrest
represents a major new develop-
ment in what could prove to be one
of the most serious U.S. intelligence
losses.
"Potentially, what you've got is an-
other Howard case:' one source said.
Another said the damage could be
worse.
Edward Lee Howard was a for-
mer CIA operative fired from the
agency in 1983 after he had been
trained to run intelligence oper-
ations in Moscow. He defected to the
Soviet Union last year and officials
suspect he supplied Moscow with
details of U.S. operations and agents.
The source said that while se-
cured areas of U.S. embassies are off
limits to foreign nationals, Marine
security procedures require that
two guards must be present to gain
access to top-secret embassy areas.
Asked to estimate the magnitude
of the possible intelligence loss, an-
other source replied."All I can say is
that it's very big:'
The Marine Corps started formal
court-martial proceedings against
Sgt. Lonetree Jan. 30. He faces 19
separate charges alleging that he
provided information to Soviet
agents about the identities of U.S.
agents stationed in Moscow. He is
also suspected of providing the Sovi-
ets with details of embassy floor
plans and the locations of office
workers in Moscow and Vienna.
If convicted by a military court,
Sgt. Lonetree faces a maximum pen-
alty of death under a military es-
pionage statute enacted by Congress
recently.
Sources said Sgt. Lonetree was se-
duced in Moscow by Ms. Sanni, iden-
tified by one U.S. official as a beau-
tiful "blonde femme fatale" who
worked for the KGB.
Marine guards are stationed at all
U.S. embassies abroad and are re-
sponsible for security against unau-
thorized entry. They also guard se-
cret sections of the embassy and
protect classified documents kept in
special locations.
About 200 Soviet nationals at one
time were employed at the U.S. em-
bassy in Moscow and consulate in
Leningrad. But the Soviet govern-
ment forced them to quit last fall
during a diplomatic row over spying.
A State Department official, how-
ever, said yesterday that about a
dozen "third country nationals" have
been kept on as Moscow embassy
staff workers.
Meanwhile in Long Island, N.Y,
Cpl. Bracy's mother, Frieda Bracy,
told United Press International that
she spoke with her son prior to his
arrest.
"He told me he was being ques-
tioned about some sort of espionage
and that he was innocent:' Mrs.
Bracy told UPI. "I was upset as a
mother, but I have faith in God, and
I believe he is innocent. With God's
help, it will be proven."
The State Department has been
under pressure from some mem-
bers of Congress to replace Soviet
nationals inside U.S. diplomatic fa-
cilities in the Soviet Union as a result
of espionage activities by such em-
ployees.
A Senate Intelligence Committee
report last year revealed that the So-
viets sometime during 1985 and
1986 planted electronic listening de-
vices inside typewriters at the Mos-
cow embassy.
As a result, some of the most se-
cret U.S. communications at the
embassy were intercepted by elec-
tronic equipment that picked up
typewriter transmissions from the
devices through embassy walls and
windows.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/10/12 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000302310038-5