U.S. STEPS UP CUBA SURVEILLANCE

Document Type: 
Collection: 
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
CIA-RDP91-00561R000100060053-7
Release Decision: 
RIPPUB
Original Classification: 
K
Document Page Count: 
1
Document Creation Date: 
December 22, 2016
Document Release Date: 
February 23, 2012
Sequence Number: 
53
Case Number: 
Publication Date: 
March 18, 1980
Content Type: 
OPEN SOURCE
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PDF icon CIA-RDP91-00561R000100060053-7.pdf98.62 KB
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Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/23: CIA-RDP91-00561 R000100060053-7 M TICL1I A'fWt D o:i FA..A_J.__ The uproar over the Soviet "combat brigade" in Cuba last fall has been sup- planted in the headlines by Iran and Afghanistan, but the short-lived Cuban crisis brought a dramatic reordering of priorities in the U.S. intelligence com- munity-Cuba has now replaced China as the target of our second most intensive in- telligence efforts-second only to the Soviet Union. From the status of "low priority attention," the Marxist ruled Lis- land 90 miles off the Florida coast has' risen in the intelligence community's' estimation as an area worthy of con- centrated and massive surveillance. "If a rabbit moves on that place, we know about it." So a Central. Intelli gence Agency source described the new emphasis on Cuba to my associate Dale Van Atta. While this sounds like hyperbole, it's not all that farfetched: The satellites that have been commit- ted to spying on Cuba since the Soviet brigade fiasco can take clear pictures of a one-foot object from 100 miles up in the stratosphere. - , ? - The- administration is clearly, not going to be caught napping on Cuban developments again. Briefings by the CIA .are made on an almost everyday basis. As a CIA source put it, "Cuba gets an intelligence enema. every three days." A series of "Top Secret Umbra" re- ports from the summer of 1979 to Feb- ruary 1980 shows the detail with which U.S. intelligence agencies have been alerting the administration to the dan- gers from Russia's Caribbean colony. Much of the information focuses on Cienfuegos,, on the southern coast' of Cuba, -where ::Fidel- Castro has been THE WASHINGTON POST 18 March 1980 modernizing a key naval and air base: ? A 1979 Defense Intelligence Agency report predicts that the Russians may send a detachment of Backfire nuclear bombers into Cuba in 1A. Runways at the Cienfuegos airfield are being len g- thened to 9,000 feet -the distance re- quired for the Backf ire- and there are already two airfields in Cuba, that could handle the Soviet plane. From gases in Cuba, Soviet Backfi- res could hit virtually any target in the United States. What alarms our military experts is that present defen- ses against bomber raids are aimed to- ward the north (against Soviet missi- les coming over the North Pole) and on each seacoast (against submarine launched missiles), leaving the na- tion's southeastern defenses rela- tively naked. s Spy satellites have spotted a suspi- cious-looking building at Punta Movida, near Cienfuegos. It closely resembles the kind of structure used in Eastern Europe for storage and maintenance of nuclear missiles. Punta Movida is also being connected by a railroad, which raises the possi- bility that nuclear submarines could be serviced at the huge shed. Some intelligence analysts, - how- ever, have cautioned that everything turned up by the spies-in-the-sky is consistent with a nuclear power plant the Cubans are building with Soviet help in the Cienfuegos area. And these experts note that there have been "no indications that Havana has plans for nuclear weapons." - - On the other.. hand, some intelli- gence reports express-concern that the. CIA may:be . ignoring. evidence that Castro plans to use the Soviet- sponsored nuclear technology for mil- itary purposes. ? The secret intelligence repor show that the Russians have been up- grading their communications equip- ment in Cuba in recent years.. One communications satellite facility, ac- cording to a "Top Secret Umbra" Na- tional Security Agency report, per- mits nearly simultaneous two-way ex- changes between Havana and the Soviet defense ministry's main intelli- gence office. According to the report: "Havana serves as a communications relay center for the [Kremiinl to sup- port its intelligence operations - throughout the Western 'Hemi- sphere." The intelligence reports indicate that the Soviets may not have yet breached the secret agreements they signed with the United States follow- ing the Cuban military crisis in 1952 - but they're coming dangerously close. , Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/23: CIA-RDP91-00561 R000100060053-7