-Caveat Lector- Saturday March 3 11:36 PM ET Paper: U.S. Thinks Hanssen Told Soviets of Tunnel WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States built a secret tunnel under the Soviet Embassy in Washington, but investigators believe the operation was betrayed by the FBI (news - web sites) agent arrested last month on charges of spying for Moscow, The New York Times reported on Saturday, citing current and former intelligence and law enforcement officials. The secret tunnel operation, which officials indicated was run jointly by the FBI and the National Security Agency, was part of a broad U.S. effort to eavesdrop on Soviet -- later Russian -- facilities and personnel operating in the United States, the paper wrote in its Internet edition on Saturday. Spokesmen at the FBI and the White House declined to comment to the Times on the tunnel operation. Current and former U.S. officials estimated that the tunnel construction and related intelligence-gathering activities cost several hundred million dollars, apparently making it the most expensive clandestine intelligence operation that the agent, Robert Hanssen, is accused of betraying, the Times said. The tunnel was reportedly designed as part of a sophisticated operation to eavesdrop on communications and conversations in the Soviet Embassy complex, which was built in the 1970s and 1980s. In the 1980s, at about the time the tunnel operation was under way, the United States and the Soviet Union argued bitterly over their respective embassies in Moscow and Washington, with the United States accusing Moscow of spying at both locations, the paper said. The U.S. government has never publicly disclosed the existence of the tunnel, but in an FBI affidavit in the Hanssen case, the government said that Hanssen ``compromised an entire technical program of enormous value, expense and importance to the United States government,'' the Times report said. The Times said officials told them that that referred to the tunnel operation and related intelligence activities. U.S. News & World Report magazine reported in its March 12 issue, out on newsstands on Monday, that officials blamed Hanssen for compromising at least two highly sensitive FBI counterintelligence programs. Hanssen, arrested on Feb. 18, has been accused of spying for Moscow since 1985. He has been accused of giving Moscow secrets that included names of double agents, as well as U.S. electronic surveillance methods. The Times said it could not be determined when the government believed Hanssen betrayed the tunnel operation. ANOMALOUS IMAGES AND UFO FILES http://www.anomalous-images.com <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html">Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
