UPI BIDDER FACES QUESTIONS ABOUT INTELLIGENCE SERVICE, SOUTH AFRICAN TIES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00901R000500140027-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 1, 2000
• Sequence Number: 27
• Publication Date: November 13, 1985
• Content Type: PREL

UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL
Approved For Release12GftM16tZ :10l RDP91-00901 R000
UPI BIDDER FACES QUESTIONS ABOUT INTELLIGENCE SERVICE, SOUTH AFRIC
BY GREGORY GORDON
WASHINGTON
If his investor group succeeds in buying United Press International, Indiana
industrialist Beurt SerVaas may have to explain to the news industry his World
War II intelligence service or allegations he had ties to South Africa.
SerVaas, a conservative Republican who with his wife Cory-Jane revived the
Saturday Evening Post, also has been criticized by some former employees for
paying low wages and for keeping a tight rein on editorial content.
His company, the Curtis Publishing Co., mainly consisting of manufacturing
concerns, has been a defendant in numerous suits aimed at collecting unpaid
bills, according to Securities and Exchange Commission records.
SerVaas, who does not disguise his anger at the criticisms, says he left the
CIA nearly 40 years ago. He dismisses as lacking ''any evidence, any proof,
any corroboration'' published reports that he invested in a South African
newspaper operating as a government front, but acknowledges he considered it.
SerVaas boasts that he has withstood years of public scrutiny as president of
the Indianapolis city-county council and chairman of the state's commission for
higher education.
"I have had to live a crystal-clear life for all my life,'' he said in a
series of interviews. ''People have always been curious about every facet of my
life. Everything I have is a public record. They've (newspaper reporters)
investigated me within an inch of my life.''
However, he declined to answer in detail some questions about his background.
SerVaas is president of UPI Acquisition Group, Inc., which recently offered
$21 million cash to buy the 78-year-old wire service from Chapter 11 bankruptcy
protection. He has not identified his partner or partners and says he will only
if the bid, which also includes a pledge of $20 million in working capital over
five years, is selected.
Sources familiar with UPI's sale process said SerVaas's group is a leading
contender to buy the company.
SerVaas, 66, said he has been haunted by unfair allegations and ''innuendos''
of CIA ties. During World War II he was a naval officer with the American
Intelligence Command, later renamed the Office of Strategic Services and,
ultimately, the CIA.
He said that when it became the CIA he was in China, assisting Gen. George
Marshall in negotiating an agreement with the communists and nationalists.
'When I came back (to the United States), there was little sentiment and no
money for intelligence activities,'' SerVaas said. "I left the agency and never
went back."
Continued
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 NEW YORK TIMES
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ARTICLE AP 1 N~ ~~mmhh 11 $g
ON pQo~CEpr Release ~U06'IU~T1'Z?rclA9RbP91-00901ROO
World War II Spies Plan Symposium
By IRVIN MOLOTSKY
Special to The New York Times
WASHINGTON, Nov. 10 After 40
years, some of America's grand old
spies are preparing to come in from
the cold. They want to tell their story
before it is too late.
The people involved were part of
the office of Strategic Services, the
nation's first organized nonmilitary
espionage and sabotage agency,
which came into being in World War
II and was a forerunner to today's
Central Intelligence Agency.
In particular, these former undere-
cover comrades want to shine up the
somewhat disputed image of their
leader of those days. Gen. William J.
Donovan, and they want to rebut
some recent assertations that the bAet
spies in the war were British, ~t
American. To that end, some of them
are to meet here in the next two
weeks to plan for a symposium in the
spring at which they will attempt to
spread on the record the accomplish-
ments of the O.S.S. and the contribu-
tions of Wild Bill Donovan, who died
in 1959. If things go well, they then
hope to compile a written record of
the O.S.S.
"We feel Donovan has been ma-
ligned a little," said a former O.S.S.
official and former Deputy Director
of Central Intelligence, Ray Cline.
"There has been an emphasis on his
being a cowboy, while others of us
think he was more a scholar, a tem-
peramental, romantic type figure,
but with a shrewd understanding of
Washington politics."
Another old intelligence hand, Max
Corvo, publisher of a weekly newspa-
per in Midddletown, Conn., says for-
mer O.S.S. operatives particularly
want to rebut an assertion by Bradley
F. Smith in his book "The Shadow
Warriors" that the O.S.S. accom-
plished little and that the really suc-
cessful spies were the British agents.
Age Is the Enemy Now
Mr. Corvo says it is especially im-
portant that the surviving O.S.S. vet-
erans now get a chance to tell their
on O.S.S.
story because age is doing what
enemy agents did not to the 25,000
.people who served in the agency be-
fore it was abolished shortly after the
war. "Most of our people are in their
70's," he said. "During the last five
years, I have been to several meet-
ings and you can see that time has
taken its toll."
The O.S.S. was started after Pearl
Harbor when President Roosevelt
asked General Donovan, a hero in
World War I, to set up an agency
separate from the military's intelli-
gence services. Participants in the
symposium will be asked to bring
with them evidence of all that hap-
pened thereafter, for lots of things are
missing from the files although the
secrecy protections were taken off
2,000 cubic feet of archives last sum-
mer.
He Learned Linotype Italian
Mr. Corvo, at 65 years old, is one of
the younger veterans. He got involved
as a spy in Italy, he said, because he
had learned idiomatic Italian as a
youth by setting type at his father's
newspaper, then Il Bollettino, which
has since been converted into The
Bulletin, a weekly paper published in
Italian and English.
Mr. Cline said: "At 67, they con-
sider me one of the younger guys. The
feeling of the old O.S.S. crowd is that
we are going to die off soon. If some-
one doesn't capture Bill Donovan and
those times, it's going to be lost. It be-
hooves us to get our act together."
When they get together, will they
remember each others' agent num-
bers, as in 007 for James Bond? Mr.
Donovan was 109 and Allen Dulles,
later to head the C.I.A., 110.
Notes Will Be Sought
"It is my contention that a lot of
members took some documents with
them, probably as mementoes," Mr.
Corvo said. "We are going to call on
them to make any notes they made
available."
The people scheduled to meet here
for the planning session include Mr.
Corvo; William J. Casey, the Direc-
tor of Central Intelligence, as well as
two former C.I.A. directors, William
Colby and Richard Helms; Mr. Cline,
now a professor at Georgetown Uni-
versity, and Michael Burke, who once
ran the New York Yankees, the New
York Knicks and the New York Rang-
ers.
Mr. Casey said: "The O.S.S. activi-
ties against Germany and Japan
were really the genesis of today's
American intelligence service, and it
is an important and interesting story.
It would be a worthwhile thing to put
it together from the historical point of
view."
Mr. Helms, now a consultant, said
of the O.S.S. history project: "The
goal is a more balanced description.
It is a very ambitious, project, and
whether it is going to fly is something
else. Look at the calendar and you'll
see that most people who served in
the O.S.S. are no longer children."
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 -rr? ----? _. --?----- ~V~i-Jr l?1Vtj 1UN? -1?fTrt3?
AV 0 ?- 8 November 1985
Ex-officials' foreign advocacy hit
By Myron Struck
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Two House Democrats charged
yesterday that numerous former
government officials from the Rea-
gan, Carter and previous adminis-
trations are making a mockery of
U.S. trade policy by having surren-
dered their public positions for the
lucrative role of foreign lobbyist.
Reps. Howard Wolpe of Michigan
and Marcy Kaptur of Ohio claimed
that the insider's knowledge of
American interests these individu-
als gained while on the public pay-
roll is being siphoned to sometimes
hostile trading partners.
"The typical foreign agent of the
1980s is a representative of foreign
commercial interests at a time when
the United States is experiencing a
$150 billion trade deficit with the
world;' said Miss Kaptur. "Current
federal laws are insufficient in reg-
ulating (these] activities." The two
House members asked the General
Accounting Office to review current
practices, and introduced a bill ti-
tled the Foreign Agents Compulsory
Ethics in'irade Act (FACE IT), which
would prohibit high-level officials
from working for a foreign interest
for 10 years after leaving federal
service.
A list compiled by congressional
aides shows 17 former key govern-
ment officials are on the foreign
agents register at the Department of
Justice, including two former CIA
directors - William Colby, w o ac-
cor inj2 tote list. now represents
Japan, Brazil Thailand and Singa-
pore, and Richard Helms. w o now
represents Iran.
Mr. Colby and Mr. Helms could
not be reached for comment, but
most of those on the list who were
contacted said the legislation was
unnecessary.
"People around this town behave
with discretion when they consider
using something learned within the
United States government to [help] a
subsequent private-sector client,"
said William D. Rogers, a former un-
dersecretary of state for economic
affairs.
Mr. Rogers, who now represents
the government of Brazil's finance
ministry on the restructuring of that
country's foreign debt, said a "fur-
ther tightening of the law would
make it much more difficult to at-
tract people into public service."
Theist includes former National
Security Adviser Richard Allen,
now representing Japan; former De-
fense Secretary Clark Clifford,
Mexico; former U.S. Trade Repre-
sentative Robert Strauss, Japan and
China; Paul Warnke, former director
of the U.S. Arms Control and Disar-
mament Agency, Mexico and Aus-
tralia.
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 STAT ~p
ONTP~ r Release j/6et1 &VASRDP91-00901 R000500140027-2
U. S. Once Felt It Had a Tr phy in.K. G. B. Man
By JOEL BRINKLEY 'ores about the Walker family spy The Americans drew conclusions
Special to The New York Ti ring, the latest and largest Ina series of from Mr. Yut'chenko's statements. STAT
o Amer- turned to surprise and satisfaction over who was Director of Central Intelli.
ican intelligence officials, Vitaly Yur- the Soviet defections. gence during the middle 1970'x, said:
chenko's defection had seemed an ex- Not only were Mr. Yurchenko and "If we had had defections of three
traordinary coup, a signal that the tide Mr. Gordiyevsky senior intelligence senior C.I.A. officers to the Soviet
in the ideological war turning in favor officers, but information from their de- Union, this country would be in an up-
of the United States. briefings indicated they were unlike roar. What this seems to signal is a
'?' damaging espionage cases. But that Two weeks ago, William E. Colby,
WASHINGTON Nov 5 T
Just last week, officials were calling previous defectors. change in appeal, from the the 50's and
Mr. Yurchenko a new breed of defector "These guys are 'the new Soviet 60's, when Westerners found appeal in 1
who left because he was disillusioned ~mn,' an official said last week, their society, to a time when they are
with Communism, not because he was They are able, capable, privileged finding appeal in ours."
in trouble or in debt. men who were doing very well in the Colby Sees a Change of Heart
oviet system. Both were colonels up Today Mr. Colby said he was not sure
STAT Before his redefection, a Whit or promotion to flag rank." the redefection changed that conclu-
House official, speaking of Mr. Yu Senator Daniel P. Moynihan, the Sion. He said it was possible that Mr.
chenko and other recent defectors ew York Democrat who was vice Yurchenko had been planted to confuse
said: "It certainly has caught the at- airman of the Senate Select Intelli.
American intelligence.
tention of senior people in Government, genre Committee until early this year, Mr. Colby said he believed Mr. yur_
the difference between these cases and said before Mr. Yurchenko redefected: chenko "was probably legitimate" and
the ones of the past." "These are the ones who are given the went through the psychological
nice But today, officials at the Central In- vodka nd'ththe fake Persian rugs, eir own Volga." free trauma" that many defectors undergo,
telligence Agency said the were separating themselves from their
stunned and y Disillusionmew-a Factor family and their country."
perplexed. Intelligence officials found that strik- If Mr. Yurchenko was lying all along,
"We just don't know Iwhat hap- ing, they said. But even more impor- a White House official said, "he was
pened," an official said. tut, they said, the two men, particu. very clever."
The prevailing views med to be larly Mr. Yurchenko, were telling in- His responses were very sophisti-
terrogators that they had left the Soviet rated and reasonable," the official
that Mr. Yurchenko was a genuine de- Union largely for ideological reasons. said, referring to the debriefings
fector who had chnged hi mind
But "
.
It is disillusionment," Senator Another intelligence source,repre-
STAT
some members of Congres , briefed on ave Durenberger, chairman of the senting an opposing view, said he be.
the situation, said they believed Mr. enate Select Committee, said recent- lieved Mr. Yurchenko had been lying
Yurchenko had been send ere by the y. "They have come to the conchtainn from the start.
K.U.B., the Soviet intelligence agency. that their system just does not work. "Ttie ideological business is non-
As Government officials try to an- This is specific information from the sense," he said. "He came here be-
swer the unanswered questions, they debriefings." cause he had a girlfriend."
About the same time, a White House After defecting, officials said, Mr.
say the incident has added another re- official said of the defectors: Yurchenko visited a woman in Canada
versal to what has been a turbulent "They have not come out speaking of with whom he had been involved while
year in the intelligence business. the broad struggles of men and charac. stationed at the Soviet Embassy here
It is difficult to know which side is ter, of communism versus democracy. from 1975 to 1980. But she sent him
winning the espionage war. An inte111- They are saying their They a system c i awa, the
- Mr. Yurchenko and Americans Mr. said.
Gordiyevsky
gence official said the redefection "is a wed up, corrupted. They are ynl were only the best known of several re-
scoop" for the Russians. Mr. Gordlyevsky defected to Britain cent defectors. Sergei Bokhan, deputy
"It is sensational," he added. "But in i in August, and said disillusionment director of Soviet military intelligence
the long run, it probably won't be that was part of the motiviation, Senator in Athens, defected in May. Senator
important." Durenberger said. Mr. Gordiyevsky's Durenberger said there-had been other
The original defection of Mr. Yur- views apparently have not changed. defections that had not been disclosed.
chenko and of other Soviet intelligence With Mr. Yurchenko, "disillusion-
officers, including Oleg Gordiyevsky, ment was clearly the dominant fac-
who was the K.G.B. station chief in tor, according to interrogators, Sena-
London, had led to a strikin chap a in for Durenberger said.
g g [ Officials A W
sal
d
g
er, a preva;
rn
g I nave never seen a political defec-
mood had been gloom after the disclo- for in 30 years," Harry Rositzke, a for-
mer C.I.A. officer, said today.
Richard M. Helms, who served in the
C.I.A. from 1947 to 1973, when he re-
signed as director of Central Intelli-
gence, said: "During my time in the
agency, I don't recall a single defector
who came here for ideological reasons.
It was always girlfriends or money
problems, or they got in trouble for one
reason or another."
pre ous
efectors had I I STAT
attitude among American officials. not mentioned disillusionment.
1.
Throu
h the sum
th "
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