IN A SATELLITE AGE, GUMSHOE SPYING DID THE TRICK

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000807310003-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 11, 2012
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: June 17, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/11 :CIA-RDP90-009658000807310003-3
ASSOCIATED PFESS
17 June 1985
IN A SATELLITE AGE, GUP~SfiOE SPYING DID THE T'?ICK
BY P'ILLIAr" "~. ~~.~ELCH
h~ASHIN(~TON
Among the shopping bag full of papers the FBI says John A. Walker Jr. left at
a drop site last month was a letter to his Soviet contact an a problem they
faced.
Its contents suggest that for all that the world of spying has learned about
using technology over manpower, Walker's ring was a gumshoe operation that
echoed the 'SOs, not the 'BOs.
His letter said the bulk of documents _ more than 110 in that bag _ was
getting cumbersome and that photographing them might be the answer.
"I have a Super 8 mm movie camera which is capable of single-frame shots,"
the letter said. "I have enclosed a short sample of a document shot with a
camera using different focusing methods ... They don't look very good to me, but
I thought you may have an idea an how we could make this method work."
Found an a shelf in Walker's Norfolk, Va., detective-agency office, according
to FBI evidence lags, was a Focal-brand Super 8 mm movie camera. With it was a
repair order from K-Mart.
In an age of computer chips, microdots and floppy discs, a discount store
movie camera is a step back for international espionage. But far all Walker's
love of gadgetry, airplanes and boats, his wasn't a high-tech network.
The government's failure to detect the Walker operation for 18 years or more
provokes Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vt., vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence
Committee.
Operation of the ring for so long without detection would be more
understandable, Leahy said, "if this was the result of some remarkable new
technology."
"But the negligence involved in this is neither understandable nor excusable.
There's nobody in the Department of Defense who hasn't gotten up and given
speeches about techniques of the Soviet Union the exact techniques taken
here," he said. -
Mare sophisticated minature photography than Walker used was used 30 years
ago, when Rudolf Abel. was convicted of espionage for the Soviets. He stored his
film in hollowed-out coins.
More recently, East German physicist Alfred Zehe was charged with espionage
in 1983 after giving a Navy man feigning cooperation a special camera for
copying documents. It was capable of taking as many as 2,600 still photos on one
film cassette. Zehe was among those swapped for prisoners held in the East last
week.
Technological devices, like eye-in-the-sky satellites and super-snooping by
electronic eavesdroping, play a big role in modern-day intelligence gathering.
And U.S. officials say a constant worry is keeping high-technology developn~ents~
and new computer hardware out of Soviet hands.
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z
But this case intelli ence experts say, is a strong reminder that the Soviet
Union and its KBG stil re v on a rie -an - rue ra ecra o esoianaae:
using people to gain military secrets.
"That's really the tragedy of this case," said Leahy, "We're not seeing
any thing different. We're seeing a repeat of things that we knew. It appears to
me a lot of people didn't take those things seriously enough, People knew
better."
Resides John Walker, the alleged mastermind, also charged with selling Navy
secrets to the Soviet Union are his son Michael L. Walker, his brother Arthur J.
Walker, and friend Jerry A. Whitworth.
All have Navy ties, with service in sensitive communications positions or on
carriers and submarines.
FBI documents say John Walker began his spying as long ago as 19b5.
U.S. officials often complain of the large number of Soviets assumed to be
KGR agents, operating out of Soviet embassies and consuls here. Leahy contends
there are more than 1,000 Soviet agents. Some estimate one third or more of the
official Soviets here are spies.
In the Walker case, Leahy said, "just the basic ste s weren't taken" b U.S.
caunterintel igence.
tired_Adm, Bobbv Inman, former deputy director of the CIA
sans the
,
Walker case is remarkable for the number gf oeaole involved and fnr its
lOngeYlty.
-------
"What this case demonstrates is how valuable the human element is Inman
said to an interview,
Another intelli ence expert, speaking only on condition he not be identified,
ca ~ e Walker case s raig arwar espionage e
ShODping bag of documents was decades-old Soviet tradprraft ~
trios to Hong Kang and elsewhere to make contacts, + as was Walker s
"It's a typical case writ large," this official said.
Retired CIA official John J. Greaney, now head of the Association of Former
Intelligence Officers, said evidence suggests the Walker caae~ while erhans
damaging, was uncap isticated by modern spy standards.
"Elements of it from a tradecraft position would really indicate a pretty
low-level ape ration," he said.
S~ the other intelligence expert "As far as counterintelligence goes,
absolutely routine. Banal even."
Greane sa s the lar er counterintelli ence concern is the loss of
technology, not on y roug spies u o er means, inc u ing ovie s allowed to
ao ^raguate s*_ugy 1n t o n1 a -5 a es.
Human intelligence vs technological collection means is a familiar debate in
intelligence circles ost say a ba ante is needed, but what that means is open
to question.
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"People aot too carried away with the whiz-band of satellites," Leahy said
.
"A~i of it is important. The fact is you have to put a great deal into human
i t~ elligence and it takes a Song time to pay off.'
The Soviets, these experts say, are willing to take their time.
"The Soviets are just without parallel as far as an appetite for
information," Greaney said. "They are like a vacuum cleaner. They will take
anything they can get their hands on."
The problem for America, of course, is that an open and free society makes
spying a more easy task. Spying in a closed society such as the Soviet Union _
in "denied areas," the spymasters call it _ is much more difficult.
"We have to admit we are a free society and the rice we a for a free
society is you ave ... rai ors w o wi se a coup ry ou reaney said.
"It is difficult to equate our collection of intelli ence with the Soviets
because our pro em is muc more i icu t."
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/11 :CIA-RDP90-009658000807310003-3