-Caveat Lector- June 26, 1999 F.B.I. Is Proposing a Special Division for Hunting Spies By DAVID JOHNSTON WASHINGTON -- The F.B.I. is proposing to create a division devoted solely to rooting out spies, part of a Government-wide review of counterintelligence following suspicions that China tried for two decades to steal nuclear secrets, Government officials said Friday. After the cold war and the breakup of the Soviet Union, American intelligence agencies increasingly focused on fighting terrorism, believing that espionage would become less of a threat. As a result, counterintelligence efforts dwindled, according to experts inside and outside the Government. At the Federal Bureau of Investigation, for instance, the national security division added counterterrorism operations to its traditional emphasis on fighting espionage. Officials said there was a sense that as the battle against terrorism became more important, counterespionage operations were given less priority. Now officials are proposing new ways the Government should organize to make sure that there is an emphasis on both threats, the officials said. Some aspects of the review were first reported by The Los Angeles Times. The F.B.I. Director, Louis J. Freeh, has proposed splitting the national security division into two divisions, one to fight terrorism and the other to root out spies, both led by assistant directors, the officials said. Attorney General Janet Reno has approved the request and forwarded it to the White House, they added. The Government-wide review also includes the Pentagon and the Central Intelligence Agency and is expected to lead to an overhaul of all counterintelligence efforts. The review is a tacit acknowledgment that the Government has failed to keep pace with new forms of espionage, in a world of scientist-to-scientist contacts and academic conferences. The United States faces not only efforts to steal military secrets, but also economic espionage aimed at stealing technology or getting information that would help a country's goods compete against American products. The espionage is conducted not only by foreign governments and military intelligence services, but also by corporations. The review represents the first time the three agencies have collaborated on a systematic assessment of espionage threats. A new division of the F.B.I. devoted solely to counterintelligence would add agents and analysts to the efforts against foreign espionage, increasing the agency's staff. The bureau is likely to revise its traditional system of assessing threats and allocating budgets on a country-by-country basis, known as the National Security Threat List, officials said. The bureau will broaden its assessments of risk, including threats from corporations and even international criminal organizations. At the Pentagon, the review will focus on threats to the military and the risk that contractors, academics and research laboratories that work with the agency could provide important information to other nations, said Kenneth Bacon, the Defense Department spokesman. "The review will analyze the threat and determine whether our response is adequate," he said. At the C.I.A., officials said that only preliminary discussions had been held to review counterintelligence operations. George J. Tenet, the Director of Central Intelligence, and Freeh testified on Wednesday before the Senate Intelligence Committee about the review. The Government is changing procedures at the country's nuclear weapons laboratories. Those changes, including special squads of F.B.I. agents at the labs, are being handled by officials at the bureau and the Energy Department. The reorganization plan is a reaction to criticism of the Government's handling of suspected Chinese espionage at the labs. Some lawmakers said the F.B.I. and the Justice Department had failed to investigate aggressively possible instance of Chinese espionage including cases like that of Wen Ho Lee, the nuclear scientist suspected of helping the Chinese acquire advance thermonuclear technology. Lee has denied that he ever spied for China, and Chinese officials have denied stealing nuclear secrets. F.B.I. officials said the Lee case showed how hard it was to insure the safety of American security secrets in an environment of informal contacts between scientists working in exotic disciplines that are often hard to ferret out and evaluate. Some law enforcement officials have said the increasing focus on counterterrorism cases, including both domestic and international investigations, had drawn attention of senior managers away from the ongoing and often unglamorous counterintelligence work of keeping track of foreign visitors and Americans traveling abroad. Reorganizing counterintelligence operations represents the latest step in the long and often troubled relationship between the agencies primarily responsible for catching spies, the F.B.I. and the C.I.A. Throughout most of the cold war era, the two agencies were often at odds over counterintelligence policy, jealously guarding their turf. F.B.I. agents and C.I.A. officers recruited their own informants and often refused to share leads and information about potential cases. At times, the counterspy operations seemed to spin out of control. James J. Angleton, the counterintelligence chief at the C.I.A., conducted zealous hunts for suspected moles at the agency, an effort that threatened to bring the agency to standstill and ruined the careers of loyal agency employees. Fledging cooperative efforts in the 1980's culminated in the successful prosecution of the Aldrich H. Ames, the C.I.A. officer who in 1993 pleaded guilty to spying for Moscow after an investigation concluded that he had turned over to the Russians the identities of more than a dozen East bloc officials who were secretly spying for the United States. After the Ames case, a shattering experience for the C.I.A., new rules were adopted to require the agency to report possible security breaches to the F.B.I. The two agencies have exchanged personnel to work on counterintelligence matters, and Freeh and Tenet have sought to forge a better relationship. Specific events have helped, like the F.B.I.'s arrest in Pakistan in 1997 of Mir Amal Kansi, who was returned to the United States and convicted of killing two people in 1993 outside C.I.A. headquarters. Energy Official Resigns ASHINGTON -- The first senior Government official to lose his post in the furor over Chinese spying charges resigned Friday. Victor Reis, an Assistant Secretary of Energy who oversaw the nuclear weapons laboratories, submitted his resignation to Energy Secretary Bill Richardson, an Energy Department spokeswoman said. Reis was one of many Energy Department and lab officials to come under fire for counterintelligence problems at the Government's weapons labs. He had also angered Richardson by aligning himself with Republican senators who have proposed legislation that would create an agency in the department to handle the nuclear weapons programs. The department's inspector general is conducting an investigation into the handling of the spy case. It is expected to be completed in about a month, when Richardson is expected to announce disciplinary action against other officials, possibly including dismissals. -- "Those who want to hear the voice of pagan gods in wind or thunder, who want to see the fairies dance in the moonlight, who can believe that faith can move mountains, can follow the thread on the pages of this book. It is a fragile thread; it cannot bear the weight of facts and dates" -Kate Seredy, "The White Stag" ICQ: 9815080 Operator Taliesin_2 of #SacredNemeton on IRC PaganPaths DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. 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[CTRL] F.B.I. Is Proposing a Special Division for Hunting Spies (2 0f 2)
Shane A. Saylor, Eccentric Bard Sat, 26 Jun 1999 21:56:50 -0700