Soviets Probably Used ‘Spy Dust’ in U.S., Key Congressman Reports

U.S. officials believe that the Soviet Union has used potentially hazardous “spy dust” at least once in the United States, a key congressman reported Thursday after meeting with State Department officials just back from Moscow.

Rep. Daniel A. Mica (D-Fla.), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on international operations, said the officials would not be more specific about where the chemical substance might have been used in this country.

But one State Department official, who spoke on condition that he not be identified, said the incident occurred in New York, where the Soviet Union maintains a large mission to the United Nations, a consulate general and representatives of state trading organizations--all of which have been identified with Soviet espionage operations.

The State Department charged last week that for years the KGB, the Soviet secret police, has used the dust, described as potentially cancer-causing, to keep track of American diplomats’ movements in Moscow.

Searching for Traces

On Thursday, a team of four U.S. government experts began searching in Moscow for traces of the dust in the living quarters and among the effects of U.S. diplomats and other Americans living in the Soviet capital and in Leningrad.

The scientists said they will spend two weeks in the Soviet Union at the task but that it will be October at the earliest before they can analyze the results and inform the State Department of their findings.

The team was allowed to enter the country despite the Kremlin’s angry assertions that the “spy dust” charges were invented by the CIA to disrupt Soviet-American relations.

The experts denied a charge by Izvestia, the official government newspaper, that the chemical was a common household substance that is sold commercially.

‘Blank Check’ Investigation

“We were given sort of a blank check to investigate this and encouraged to leave no door unopened,” said Dr. Ernest McConnell of the National Institutes of Health, chief of the team.

In Washington, Congressman Mica said he will call for the Inman Commission on Embassy Security to reopen a recently concluded inquiry and investigate methods of counteracting such chemical substances as the “spy dust.”

Speaking of the report made by the commission to Secretary of State George P. Shultz, Mica said, “Much of the classified sections . . . deal with preventing electronic penetration of American embassies and consulates.” But although the panel recommended rebuilding 126 diplomatic missions to provide adequate security for American diplomats, “we had nothing on this new chemical threat,” he said.

The State Department officials who met with Mica on Thursday were Dr. Charles E. Brodine, the department’s assistant medical director; Mark Parris, director of the department’s Office of Soviet Union Affairs; Mary Ryan, special assistant to Ronald I. Spiers, undersecretary of state for management, and Dwight Mason of Spiers’ staff. All of these officials refused to comment publicly, however.

Visible Dusting

Mica said the officials told him that only eight “specks” of the chemical, nitrophenylpentadiene, or NPPD, had been detected in the six years before last spring, when it began turning up in excessive amounts. U.S. sources in the Soviet Union reported Thursday that the first incident last spring was a visible dusting of the yellow power on the seat of a diplomat’s car in Moscow.

The congressman said that Brodine confirmed earlier reports that NPPD has caused genetic mutations in bacteria--an indication that the substance could cause cancer in humans, although this cannot be verified without further tests. And he said that the officials were most concerned that there is as yet no proven method of decontaminating people and surfaces touched by the chemical, which can linger for weeks or even months.

“Mr. Mason said he thought a method may be developed soon,” Mica said, adding that he understands that the federal Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta have been working on a decontaminating process.

The four American scientists in Moscow said they will collect samples of dust in the cars, clothing and apartments of a broad sample of diplomats, journalists, business representatives, students and other Americans living there and in Leningrad.

500 May Ask for Checks

In addition, Richard E. Combs Jr., U.S. charge d’affaires in the absence of Ambassador Arthur A. Hartman, said that any of the estimated 500 Americans residing in the Soviet Union may ask for a similar check.

The samples, to be collected with sterile gauze and placed in sealed vials, will be examined later by a spectograph in the United States.

A reporter suggested that all traces of the chemical may now have been removed by the KGB if that organization planted it in the first place.

“I hope you’re right,” Combs said. “The material may be gone or it may not be. . . . The team is here to find out what the situation is now.”

McConnell said that he was notified Aug. 21 of the allegations concerning NPPD and asked to head the team of experts going to Moscow.

How Widely Used?

Their main aim, he said, is to try to discover how widely the chemical had been used and evaluate its hazards.

The Department of Health and Human Services, he said, is giving the investigation “high priority, not just lip service.”

Karen Hammerstrom, a chemical engineer from the Environmental Protection Agency, said she will collect samples of dust from Americans’ apartments as well as from doorknobs and from the steering wheels of automobiles.

In addition, she said, some samples of clothing will be taken back to Washington for analysis.

She brought 500 pairs of plastic gloves to prevent cross-contamination of samples, along with small vials, jars and ordinary trash bags.

A piece of sterile gauze will be used to wipe dust from surfaces about 100 square millimeters in area, she explained.

Other members of the team are Edwin Tinsworth, deputy director of the Office of Toxic Substances of the EPA, and Dr. Jeffrey Lybarger of the Centers for Disease Control.

Don Shannon reported from Washington and William J. Eaton reported from Moscow.