HIGH-LEVEL BUNGLING ON THE SCHARANSKY CASE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP81M00980R000600230088-5
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 21, 2004
• Sequence Number: 88
• Publication Date: March 10, 1978
• Content Type: NSPR

''T' .r'LE APPEARED
ON. FA-E - ,
Appro , &IEr~&hg0tVV0 ib~1~4F?f8V1UMQ0980R000600230088=5~
nigh-Level Bungl
On the-
Scharansky Case
At the moment the State Department ter inadvertently may have weakened.
and the CIA were mapping plans to him. To find him not guilty, the Rus-
concede
nothing to Moscow in the sians would have to uphold the presi-
Scharansky "spy" case, the go. 2 man dent's word against their own charge.
on the National Security Council staff That may partially explain the ex
leaked authoritative word that could haustive buildup of the Soviet case and
gravely damage Anatoli Scharansky-a the brutal use of Lipavsky to entrap
tragic case of ineptitude at.high levels. Scharansky. Unanswered is this ques-
David Aaron, NSC Director Zbigniew tion: Why did Aaron tell the truth
Brzezinski's top. deputy, leaked to Time about the Lipavsky-CIA connection at
would deal a lethal blow to the dissi-, . dent to go public on Scharansky last'.
ger Scharansky as another "spy.".That : amateurism that persuaded the presi
.whistle on himself by admitting espio- forScharansky.
working for,the CIA, he was also an But Carter never would have needed;
n nn.r?? ,.r 4L.. V!-.T ?fa__ 1__ if_-._ .. .. _ _ _
pavsky was that familiar figure in Rus- ously a KGB plant-had one. purpose: to t
Intelligence sources here say U. -as a "walk-in" recruit who was obvi
been bungled. sion to leak Lipavsky's CIA connection-
t
C
s at , t e after admimstration s man- (no matter how true).
power politics in Washington.. From the ransky had no connection with the CIA
t
h
'
''dence in the present conduct of super- statement that Lipavsky's friend Scha--'
quences for Scharansky, this bizarre,: sians came close to vrovine that. thew;
flourishing anti-Soviet dissidents. volunteer but perhaps as a target delib-
piausiniuty to the trumped-up charges the trial, naming Scharansky's friend-.
ransky's. espionage trial: But unwit_ Those familiar with the case say he:
took it, upon himself to confirm Soviet CIA, informed of that fact, made a con-
claims made one year ago that Li- ventional decision: If Lipavsky's CIA
pavsky had been in the pay of the CIA link emerges at the trial, the ,United
in 1975.. While probably born of panic, ' States would simply lie-deny the evi-,,.
-Aaron's move seems dictated by a de- dence. However,.if hard evidence were '
sire to spare the United'States the un- presented, the United States could at-'?'
pleasant surprise of an ex-CIA agent ways acknowledge the truth if needed.
magazine that Scharansky's onetime this particular time and against the ac-
roommate in Moscow, Sanya Lipavsky, cepted rules of the intelligence game?
indeed worked for the Central Intelli- ' The answer, as supplied by others,
gence Agency briefly in 1975. That leak (Aaron' did not return our telephone
(officially denied to us by the NSC) in- . ,calls), finds its source in developments
furiated top officials at both State and in Moscow the first week of March. As
CIA. Aaron had committed a breach of the Scharansky trial neared, American
ironclad espionage policy never to say reporters learned that proof of the CIA-
one word about an undercover agent. Lipavsky link would be part of the trial. -
Without informing, Brzezinski, Aaron High officials at both State and the-
dent movement. summer, on the basis- of a naive as.,
never had any sort of relationship Scharanskky witness, a young dissident4
to our knowledge with the CIA." named Dina Beilin, has suddenly been.'
That was the first recorded case of a ordered to emigrate after six years of-1
president publicly exonerating a for- ' awaiting permission. She will not be,
eign national from his own govern- -present at the trial. Aeainst that rahL:,,.
about Lipavsky was obviously tied to For those still blind to Soviet reality,
the astonishing decision made by Presi- Moscow's real interest in the truth has
dent Carter last June. He stated then been 'demonstrated again in the Scha-
that Scharansky, already under arrest, ransky case. The most effective pro-
unilateral decision to leak the truth Kremlin, r V -
Ap t alB f~~vr?~i d 1 8a. c 4Fir 8yla1~0+98OROO 66~sra~8^> -5
es.tgraey unsettlethe IA. By ton is cause for concern. ' -
claiming Scharansky's innocence, Car- e,~e.F-rla8nteryr~ie~sac. } '