SOVIETS TRAIN 600 TERRORISTS A YEAR, CIA DIRECTOR SAYS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000302330034-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 10, 2012
• Sequence Number: 34
• Publication Date: October 15, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/10/10: CIA-RDP90-00965R000302330034-7
14
T:v.G Ar?EAR
ON PAGE
WASHINGTON TIMES
15 October 1985
Soviets train 600
terrorists a year,
CIA director says
Py Bill Gertz
o
ini
d
niE V.SHINOT nMES
CIA Director William Casey yes-
terday accused the Soviet Union of
operating "in unison" with interna-
tional terrorists.
Mr. Casey accused the Soviet
Union and its allies of allowing ter-
rorist groups to maintain offices in
Eastern Europe, to grant free pas-
sage to operatives traveling to com-
mit terrorist acts and to import
about 600 "young men" to Moscow
each year from various parts of the
world for indoctrination and terror-
ist and paramilitary training.
'A Soviet connection may seem
shadowy to some, but it seems very
close to me;' Mr. Casey said in a
speech to an international confer-
ence on terrorism here.
"Where are these training facili-
ties located? They are heavily
concentrated in the Soviet Union
itself, in Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia
and East Germany, in South Yemen,
Cuba and increasingly Nicaragua,
and in the radical entente countries
of Syria, Libya and Iran;' Mr. Casey
said.
A copy of Mr. Casey's prepared
remarks to the conference, which
was sponsored by SRI International,
an international research institute,'
was obtained by The Washington
Times.
Referring to the international ter-
rorist network, Mr. Casey said that "I believe this network, if not a com-
ponent of [it), still works in unison
with what the Soviets have devel-
oped into the most powerful weapons
system the world has ever seen.,,
The weapons system consists of
nuclear missiles aimed at the United
States and Europe and conventional
military forces, he said, "but also of
the weapons of aggressive subver.
sion" that have succeeded in
installing communist regimes from
South Yemen to Nicaragua.
This subversion relies on a combi-
nation of active measures, political
action and propaganda designed to
influence and manipulate popular
p
on an
political processes in
the open societies of the world, he
said.
Terrorists, Mr. Casey said, have
"declared war on the mind" by try-
ing to establish in the public con-
sciousness a sense of the "terrorist's
omnipotence and the public's help.
lessness:' He urged the Western
media to cover news of terrorist inci-
dents in "a more reserved fashion"
and called for "strong editorials"
discrediting terrorist actions.
He outlined the CIA's strate to
combat terrorism through
increasing inte igence co ection
and foreign cooperation
sE reng enmR erta measures to
deal with terrorism and isol
er oris saes an g ngs t at
sponsor terrorism:'
Mr. Casey said that since the
beginning of this year U.S. intelli-
gence information has been respon-
sible for thwarting about 80 terrorist
incidents around the world. One
example was a threatened hijacking
of a foreign commercial airliner that
was prevented by advance
knowledge and effective police
work, he said.
Other examples of foiled terrorist
actions occurred in Europe, the Mid-
dle East, Africa and Latin America
where American officials and busi-
nessmen were moved out of coun-
tries after being targeted for attack
by terrorists, he said.
Regarding U.S. attempts to pros-
ecute five Palestinians implicated in
the hijacking of an Italian cruise
ship, Mr. Casey criticized the gov-
ernments of Egypt, Italy and Yugo-
slavia for "defaulting" on
international extradition
agreements with the United States.
But he praised Italy and El Salva-
dor as two nations that have waged a
successful war against terrorism.
During the late 1970s Italy had
one of the highest numbers of ter-
rorist incidents, but since the early
1980s has been one of the countries
of Europe least affected by terror-
ism, Mr Casey said. He attributed
the drop to greater public support
for Italy's security forces and excel.
lent intelligence work.
El Salvador responded to
increasing Marxist-backed terror-
ism, including an attack by a guer-
nlla group in San Salvador last June
that killed four U.S. Marines, by
intensifying military, strikes against
"these terrorists and other Marxist
base camps" in the mountains, he
said.
"The army's offensive has proved
quite
insurgstsu- as
a of some
including
field commanders - were killed,
communication lines were disrupted
and supplies captured;' Mr. Casey
said. As a result of the raids, the
Salvadorans rounded up 40 urban
terrorists, including two men
involved in the shooting last June, he
said.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/10/10: CIA-RDP90-00965R000302330034-7