LAME SATELLITE BLINDED U.S., SEN. GLENN SAYS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00806R000200980044-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 18, 2011
• Sequence Number: 44
• Publication Date: June 15, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/02/18: CIA-RDP90-00806R000200980044-4 STAT
ARTICLE &?PEA~~. "
CNN QAG 4
Lame Satellite
THE WASHINGTON POST
15 June 1983
Blinded.U.S.,
-Sen. Glenn Says - "That
? ~ crecumuty with the other
By Martin Schram ""We can't?dictate what happens in everyone of OAS members."
K'aa m
Wng Pm Staff these governments." Glenn now supports~Senate.ratifcation.of the
I think?the,fhetoric of this administration as it SALT II treaty because problems with -its satellite
Sen. John Glenn, a Democratic- ,, ..
presidential candidate, syester- regards the. communist threat is way over- and ground station verification have been recti-
day. that a sate llite candidate, said a malfunction ` lows '-4Aebn: aid. ".:. This administration has ' led.: Glenn *,had contended publicly -that the: loss
the that f bases in Iran had left-blown iti,:making everything into some=sinister of the 'bases in Iran seriously hampered . US. ef;:
the joss od States "blind" and unable OVlet..plo a ; r forts `to monitor Soviet .testing .and.-rthuss verify.
t.monitor Soviet missile testing ad s ~''e_re::sre`fipm -5,000 to 7,000.guer ias oper Lhat,they,were complying-with the. pact. But,-he.,
equately, when the Carter adminis-.,a mg m, the hills of El Salvador; Glean said,- 'and sard.y, rday, the malfunction of the U.S. sate
tration+was trying to convince the;+x-ot all ef.thern=are dedicated Marxist- I:eninists" litemearrt that. the American monitoring capabil lly Senate do ratify the SALT i arms t President-Reagan .and his -advise"m =Glenn as essene, t "blind."
control-treaty. said, ~econjure up-visions .of. all of them -marching. At-the time, top level Carter administration
"We were blind for the better part a the Rro Giantle and scare our people of this 'officials maintained that the satellite could be
or two years." Glenn said, defending :country:hal# to death." made to function in a matter of months, -which is
his prominent role in blocking rat- Tenn said right-wing forces in El Salvador what eventually happened. They also. said that
ification of the treaty. An aide to the have caused far more deaths than the communist- ground monitoring stations in Turkey and Alas-
Ohio Democrat later amended that, backed guerrillas and that he would require the ka-plus the establishment of a diplomatically
saving the satellite problem was tor- government there to do something about it in sensitive monitoring station inside China-would
rected in six to nine months. order to receive-further American.aid. Congressional adequate verification.
A former senior Carter adminis- There have been 30,000 persons killed-in EL briefed-on sources said that Glenn was
tration official labeled Glenn's -com- , Salvador since 1979,.Glenn said, and two-thirds CIA and -was - the told there reconnaissance issue by the
meat-",en -exaggeration . ..: litical . " Cwas told there was a problem. They re-
hyperbole But he conceded there a lolled by ri ght-wing death squads of pare- ported that the primary system had "gone out".
military groups, operating maybe not under the and they were trying to -,activate a backup on
hadebeen. omeloss of.satellite..capa-_;.scrutiny,of.-the government, but with :impunity, board. But that began to `'short out."
bilits,dtaingthat period-.':'
- operating out of government circles." At one
.-Glenn;3ispealcing _at a luncheon point, they turned the satellite off -and.
`G. atom -and reporters nchao -Glenn has offered an amendment requiring the then began to operate it "a .little bit at a tim "
withhirigto -end also government .of -.El Salvador to present 'U.S. offi- one source said. He said this took about six to
charged.~at? cials with a'plan by Oct. 1-on how they intend to -nine?months.
President Reagan has "overstated". reign in the right-wing forces. If -El Salvador fails `It is true that the overall capability
the communist threat in.. 'L~ntral ...was
America rnu ; to move against the conservative death squads, he somewhat degraded." said-the former senior Car
merice- would mot send LIB: said, "the'next step is cutting off aid ... that is. -ter administration official.."We;said the degrade=
t He s i there as-president- even l` one 'option we would have." . - - tion .was temporary. _ We -had some satellite f
Salvador ~wes about to fall to or-;" : Glenn also criticized Reagan's policy of provid- monitoring capability . Then we got some
monist-backed guerrillas And`:'he"'rug covert aid -to the forces fighting the leftist goy- more back in six to eight months. We -had what
said h-back not think the United ernment of Nicaragua. we needed to know. Nothing slipped by." -
States ' ghould send troops into ther~ . ".I. do not like going in under the guise of inter- A top military official said, "We clearly had -a
region if Nicaragua anvades_ri6ei cepting weapons flow [from Nicaragua to El Sal- diminished capability But it was not a com-
boring Honduras vador] and truing to overthrow the government plete failure, and we were-never blind.",.
"^I don't think you want to irivolve. there, when we .pledged we will not do that at the . - Staff writer Michael Getler contributed to this -
American -troops ... ," Glen i 'said } -OAS -[Organization of American States)," he said. report. St..
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/02/18: CIA-RDP90-00806R000200980044-4