SOVIET 'MOLE' AN ISSUE CIA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP99-00498R000100150072-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 20, 2007
• Sequence Number: 72
• Publication Date: October 29, 1978
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2007/06/20: CIA-RDP99-00498R000100150072-9
ARTICLE APPEARED
ON PAGE A-2
4`% V2 el,
8 U . , t
By George Lardner Jr.
washingcoz Post Staff Writer
CHICAGO-The Rev. Chrysostomos
Economakos listened solemnly as the
young prisoner confessed his sins,
then gave him holy communion. Min-
sites, later, as they chatted at the i\let-I
ropolitan Corrections Center here,
William P. Kampiles, 23, blurted out
his exasperation at the charges
against him.'
"I can't tell you what he said at
first; it was a confession," the Greek:
Orthodox' priest recounted. `But after i
he took holy communion, he said to
me, 'It's not true. It's not true. I'm not
guilty, "
Those who should know Kampiles
best-priest, family, friends-say they
believe him. The government of the
United States does not. It is prosecut-
ing him for espionage-a crime that,
on paper, carries the death penalty-
and it has compiled what FBI Direc-
tor William H. Webster, for one, con-
siders "a very convincing case."
Specifically, Kampiles, a former
CIA "watch officer," has been accused
of selling one of the. nation's top se-
crets, a technical manual describing
the capabilities (and thereby the'
limitations) of the KH-11 spy satellite,'
to the Russians for a mere $3,000.
A sophisticated successor to the,
original "Big Bird" satellite, the newt
KH-I1 spy in the sky is so sensitive
that it reportedly can capture, details
less than a foot long from altitudes of
100 miles, transmitting the photo- 1
graphs back to earth in. digital com-
puter code. -
"To us it's unbelievable," Econ
makis said of his parishioner, a one-
time altar boy on Chicago's Southeast
side. "He was always a very quiet boy,
coming to church, receiving commun-
ion. Among the Greek community, he
was one of the best ... You can't be-
lieve a person could lead such a dou-
ble life." ' .
The ingredients of the government's
case include an apparently compro-
mising letter Kampiles wrote to a CIA
colleague last May and reported ad- i
missions to the FBI in August that he
had indeed taken the document home
with him one day last year and deliv-
ered it months later to a Soviet agent-
Although it is not admissible at the
forthcoming trial, .according to court
records a polygraph test also was ad-
known to believe that the CIA's coup
terintelligence efforts were.1
"emasculated" following his ouster in
December 1974.
,`~.In % a event, tiotti FBi' Director
Webster and CIA Director Stansfield-i
Turner say. they have.seen nothing.?tp-i
"I have no knowledge or indications
that there is _a male, a secret agent,:
inside the Central Intelligence
Agency," Turner said recently on
CBS' Face the Nation. "But for me to-
sit here and tell you that I was utterly
confident that there was none would
be foolish." -
Going a step further; Webster told
The Post he had no information that
the "mole" talk was well-founded "or
even likely to be so." - - -
Indicted by a federal grand jury is
Hammond, Ind., where he is- sched-
uled to go on trial Nov 6, Kampiles
stands accused of selling the "Top Se- i
cret" KH-11 manual on a trip to Ath-1
ens, Greece, last winter. He allegedly
turned it over to. a Soviet ' agent
named Michael at the Russian em-!
bassy in two segments; the first fewl
pages on Feb. 23 and the rest on!
March 2.-According to one -account,i
Kampiles even signed a receipt for;
the $3,000 that "Michael" finally gavel
I
The CIA didn't realize the docu
ment was missing until months later.!
An investigation was triggered when!
Kampiles wrote a former colleague at-
the CIA, in May, to say that he hadl
been in contact with the Russians andi
that they wanted him to obtain infor_
oration for them. Kampiles offered tot
supply "disinformation" instead, buts
the CIA's suspicions were arousedl
when he reportedly told his colleagiei
that the Soviets had already given;
him some money.
The Soviets, according to U.S. intel-
ligence analysts, are not in the habit-
of paying out cash without receiving
something- in return. The FBI - was 1
called in. Kampiles was arrested Aug:
17 at an apartment he had been- shar-
ing with a friend in Monster, Ind, for
several weeks.
The son of Greek Immigrants, Kam-
piles grew up in a predominantly Pol-t
ish, Slovak and Greek. neighborhood's
called Hegewisch in Chicago's South-
east corner,. an improbable breeding
ble results. His lawyer, 3'lichaet D. and looking for since the agency was me mbbd for spies. Oldn howstill re"
Monico of Chicago: has filed a sealed b 1 meer,. with precisioon how. menys
_ established."
---- j hnua they spat nfftn Qt jVprjd
Wdr~
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motion in federal Approved For Release 2007/06/20: CIA-RDP99-00498R000100150072-9 :n,,+h
THE ;'1ASHI;,GTON POST
29 October 1970
The Justice Department, mean-
while,. is casting about for some con-
stitutional way'to prosecute the case
in open court. without making public
the KH-11 manual, the key piece of
evidence. Now that the Soviets have
it, the government is striving vigor-
ously to prevent . further dissemina-
tion, even if that means something-
less than a genuinely public trial. De-
fense attorney Monico. is under court
order to keep his notes in.a 600-pound
"General-Services-Administration Ap-
proved Security Container," installed
'in his law office this month.
Despite all that,' the-..actual damage
done-beyond exposing the CIA as a-I
place where secrets can march out the
front door without anyone's noticing
i -is a matter of some dispute within
the intelligence community. -- -
Some sources call it "a real disas-
tee' that could enable the Russians to
hide their missile sites from detection.
Others suggest the manual is just as',
likely to demonstrate. to the Soviets
how hard it is to avoid effective moni-
toring, even without a strategic arms
limitation treaty.The truth may lie is
between. '
"It's significant : its not trivial,".
Webster said of the loss at a luncheon
meeting with Washington Post editors
- and reporters. But he added, "I'm not
wringing my hands about it:' -
The case has also fueled fresh gos
sip about the possibility of a "mole"
or master spy for the Russians, for-'
whom Kampiles is simply the fall guy,
a sacrificial offering to distract inves? '
tigators.
"The Kampiles case," former CIA
director Richard M. Helms asserted to-
New York magazine recently, -"raises
the question of whether or not there !
has been infiltration of the United
States intelligence community or go
ernment at a significant level."
Thus far, however, the only' "evi
dence" of the mole's existence Is the
fact that he has never been caught.
"If you wanted to, coin a phrase, you
could call it Angletonitis," said one
source,. alluding to the suspicions long
held by former CIA counterintelli-
gence chief James J. Angleton, who is~
now "out in the cold"'after a ion-, ca-1
reer at the agency. "This is something'