WRITERS SAYS 'MOLE' INVENTED TALE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000301860013-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 15, 2012
• Sequence Number: 13
• Publication Date: June 28, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/11/15: CIA-RDP90-00965R000301860013-3
4 ARTICLF AR?EARED -"7
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
28 June 1985
Writer says `mole'
invented tale
WASHINGTON [APJ-Super-
mole or super-fiction writer? An
article in next week's New Repub-
lic magazine contends that Soviet
defector Arkady N. Shevchenko's
memoir is more imagination than
recollection.
"The Spy Who Came In to be
Sold," by Edward Jay Epstein,
alleges that Shevchenko and the
CIA invented the supermole image
that propelled "Breaking With
Moscow" to best-seller lists all
over the country.
"What is fabricated here are not
just car-chases, meetings, conver-
sations, reports, dates, motives
and espionage activities, but a spy
who never was," Epstein says in
the article, circulated Wednesday
in galley form.
Shevchenko's book described his
life as a CIA spy while serving as
an undersecretary general in the
United Nations Secretariat. Pub-
lished by Knopf, the memoir sold
180,000 copies and was serialized in
Time magazine.
The editor of the book, Ashbel
Green, said Shevchenko was "out
of the country and on vacation"
and could not be reached for com-
ment on the Epstein article.
But Green said his own connec-
tions in the intelligence community
"have always confirmed
Shevchenko's role. There's no
question in my mind that he was a
CIA informant."
He added: "I have to be skep-
tical right from the beginning be-
cause of the person who wrote the
article. He's a well-known conspir-
acy theorist."
Epstein, author of investigative
books challenging the Marren
Commission conclusion that Lee
Harvey Oswald acted alone in as-
sassinating John F. Kennedy, says
Time reported in 1978 that
Shevchenko had proved of less
value than anticipated by the CIA.
But he says the CIA and the
defector joined forces later on to
depict Shevchenko as a "thorough-.
ly successful spy ... capable,
among other things, of keeping the
CIA informed of the Soviets' real
intentions in the sensitive SALT
negotiations. "
He contends that Shevchenko's
image as a supermole first came
up in "The KGB Today: The Hid-
den Hand," a 1983 book by John
Barron. He says the CIA itself
gave Barron the information.
Kath Pherson a s okeswom
for the CIA, said, r to
S evc en o DrOVIded invaluable
int
Mike u tman, a Time
spokesman, said staff members re-
checked original and new sources
Wednesday, leaving Time "con-
vinced that Shevchenko's story is
true and Epstein's critique is off
the mark. The article simply does
not deliver on its broad accusa-
tions."
According to Epstein, publishers
Simon and Shuster signed a
$600,000 contract with Shevchenko
in 1978 but rejected the manuscript
because it did not have new infor-
mation, conversations with Soviet
leaders or mention of espionage
activities.
The firm successfully sued
Shevchenko for the return of a
$146,875 advance it paid him.
Readers Digest Press also con-
cluded that the manuscript lacked
substance and personal vignettes,
Epstein said. An investigative re-
porter interviewed Shevchenko for
20 hours before the book was re-
jected and concluded, according to
Epstein, that "Shevchenko's re-
miniscences were far too vague for
a successful book."
A completely different manu-
script arrived at Knopf three years
later, Epstein says-this one with
"all the elements of a spy thriller
... cinematic car-chases, CIA
case officers in safe houses,
meetings with the KGB resident,
recall telegrams and escapes from
danger."
The new book also had "dramat-
ic verbatim conversations with So-
viet leaders," including Nikita
Khrushchev, which supposedly oc-
curred when Shevchenko was in
his 20s and at the bottom rung on
the diplomatic ladder, Epstein
says.
Epstein writes that his research
disclosed numerous discrepancies
in chronology and other aspects of
the book, for which neither Green
nor Luftman had an explanation.
"These errors to me are very
minor, but I can't explain them
ithout talking to the author,"
w
Green said.
Luftnum said "every detail of
the book may not withstand inves-
tigation, ' but called the book sub-
stantially accurate.
He said the research done
Wednesday "establishes to our sat-
isfaction that Shevchenko did in-
deed spy for the U.S. during the
period and in the capacity he
claims, and also that he was con-
sidered by his CIA handlers to be
as important as his book indi.
cates."
Among the problems Epstein
cited were a 1975 car-chase during
which Shevchenko says he re-
ceived a ticket. But police records
show he did not receive a ticket
that year and he did not even have
a driver's license until late 1977.
Epstein also said Shevchenko de-
scribes "a wealth of espionage
coups" for the CIA before the end
of 1975, but information from other
sources-including former UN Am-
bassador Daniel Patrick Moy-
nihan-indicates he did not start
spying until 1976.
in addition, Shevchenko says he
spied on Boris Aleksandrovic
Solomatin, head of the KGB id
New York, in 1976, and gives an
account of a dinner party at
Solomatin's Apartment. But Ep-
stein says Solomatin returned to
the Soviet Union in July, 1975.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/11/15: CIA-RDP90-00965R000301860013-3