EXPERTS ASSERT SOVIET MONITORS CAPITAL PHONES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000605470001-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 8, 2012
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: May 3, 1987
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

ARTICLE APPEARED
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/08: CIA-RDP90-00965R000605470001-2
Soviet Monitors
:
Capital Phones
T By NEIL A. LEWIS
Special to The Now Yak Times
WASHINGTON, May 2 - The Soviet
Union maintains an elaborate system:
for eavesdropping on sensitive United
States Government communications
from Soviet-bloc embassies here, ac=
'cording to intelligence authorities.
The authorities, who include both
present and former officials, say the
Russians are using embassies and resi-
dences on high points in and around
Washington to intercept commutllCa-
Lions, particularly thaw from mbro-
wave relay stedons, These stations
carry long-distance telepAeae traffic
from Government offices.
It Wort Beth Ways
The interception of communications
works, of course; both ways. The
National Security Agency,
munications, inchiding those of the
Kaviet union. There have been reports
American Etnba4y itr$lbscow is
used for that purpose.
Several members of Congress are;
urging the Reagan Administration to
scrap a 1969 agreement that allowed
the United States and the Soviet Union
to build new embassies in each other's
capitals.
In Washington, the Soviet Union was
given a parcel of land an Mount Alto,
one of the highest points in the city. In
addition to having a clear view of the
Pentagon, the State Department and
the White House, the Mount Alto com-
pound also has a good view of the Naval.?
Security Station in northwest Washing-
ton, a center for secret naval communi-
cations.
Legislators who want to remove the.
Russians from Mount Alto also favor
razing._ the new American Embassy,
building under construction in Moscow,
on the ground that it is filled with
Soviet listening devices.
Intelligence experts say that even if
the Russians were forced to move from
Mount Alto, they would still be able to
~
intercept from embassies and resi-
dences in the region.
"One should not think that just by de-
priving the Soviets of Mount Alto they
would not be able to intercept our com-
munications," a Government authority
on security said.
s may l98/
East European Activity Noted
Another official, referring to the
other Soviet-bloc missions, said, "They,
are surrogates of the Soviets in intelli-
"
Several officials mentioned as prime,
listening posts an East German resi-
1 dente an a ridge in Arlington, Va., over-
1looking Washington, and the Cuban in-
terest section in the Czechoslovak Em-i
!bassy, two miles from the White House.
The East German residence Is on
!third of a mile from the Pentagon. the
'Polish Embassy, like the Czechoslovak
Embassy, is on a hill known as Moun
1Pleasant overlooking the White House.
Moreover, the two diplomatic missions.,
are between the White House and a mi `
crowave relay point In northwest
Washington near Tenley Circle.
The Russians use diplomatic com-
pounds elsewhere In the United States
to collect intelligence in a similar fash-
ion, the officials said. Microwave traf-
'fic along the East Coast Is reportedly;
collected by listening stations at Soviet!
residential compounds in Glen Cove,,'
L.I., and on the Maryland shore. The of-I
ficials said a Soviet residence in thetI
'Riverdale section of the Bronx and theq
Soviet Consulate in San Francisco were,
ideal for microwave interception bet
cause of their elevation.
Issue of Microwave Interception
Telephone transmissions travel by
microwave or by satellite, as well as by
land lines. The Russians are able to in-
tercept much of that,- officials say,.
from an electronic complex at
Lourdes, Cuba.
But the Cuban installation cannot in-
tercept microwave transmissions that
travel close to the earth. An expert on
intelligence, James Bamford, said the
interception of microwave beams re-
quired receivers near the relay or re-i
peater stations, which are placed every-
'30 miles or so to account for the curva-'
ture of the earth.
"Microwaves travel mostly in a,
,straight line between the stations," hel
said. Mr. Bamford and other expertsi
said interception devices did not havel
to be within a direct line of sight of al
,relay tower. The beams have side lobes-
that extend a half a mile or more out-1
!side of the direct beam and can be de-
itected
Because of the reports that the ne
American Embassy being built in M
cow is riddled with bugging devices
President Reagan has pledged that
Russians will not be allowed to mov
j into the ' new embassy on Mount Alto
until the United States is satisfied its
has a secure embassy in Moscow. B4
(State Department officials say this W
meaningless since the Russians al'
ready occupy residences on the MounU
1 Alto site, as do the Americans on
Moscow site.
The National Security Agency, which is also responsible for protecting
American communications, has been
trying to foil Soviet eavesdroppr
Among plans being considered are en-
coding the signals that travel throug4
atmosphere or using telePhonel
cables or fiber optics.
"The way it works now," a former of-
ficial said, "is that when you pick up a
telephone in the Pentagon to make al
call, you have no idea how it is going to'
be transmitted."
Calls Switched Automatically
Automatic switching equipment
,routes the call by land line, satellite o
microwave, depending on which!
method is most efficient at the time.
Even if a call is sent by land line, W
may eventually be transferred to a mi.+
crowave relay tower at either Tenley,
Circle or Waldorf, Md., another center!
for microwave transmission.
To counter this problem, the Na-1
tional Security Agency has developed a
secure telephone that it hopes to place
in Government offices and those of
military contractors. The device,,
which encodes a conversation at thel
isending eqd and decodes it at the re-
I!ceiving end, is said to be cheaper and
less unwieldy than The National Security .Agency would
like the Government to buy 500,000
such phones.
But for now, the growing sentiment
on Capitol Hill is merely to expel the
Russians from Mount Alto. Represent-
ative Richard Armey, Republican of'
Texas, who is sponsoring legislation to
scrap the 1989 agreement that desig-1
nated Mount Alto as the site, has dis-!i
.
tributed more than 500 lapel buttons'
saying, "Reclaim Mt. Alto."
Some security officials said it would
,be better to allow the Russians to re-
A former American official said the. main at Mount Alto and use the money
present Soviet Embassy in Washington; to protect sensitive communications.
was surrounded by taller buildings that I
made eavesdropping difficult.
"Mount Alto lets them do a la'irge vol-:
ume uninterrupted by lots of interfer '
Reagan Pledge Held MeanIng'ess
An American University professor
who has written on electronic intelli-I T
gence, J said of the'
1350-foot Mount to, -t is electron!
tally quieter up there."
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/08: CIA-RDP90-00965R000605470001-2