Far From Leakproof

The world’s great and small powers spend billions of dollars annually on technological means for collecting intelligence. But high-tech spying still hasn’t eliminated the most ancient tools of espionage. Sex, money and appeals to personal grievances remain potent lures in enlisting spies. The Soviet Union has lately been seen to have had a lot of success in using such means of recruitment. The costs to the United States, though still not fully known, are believed to be enormous.

The latest case involves allegations that Soviet intelligence was able to penetrate the most secretive inner sanctums of the U.S. Embassy in Moscow. One Marine guard at the embassy has been charged with abetting these intrusions in 1985 and 1986. Another is under suspicion. U.S. officials fear that Soviets were able to enter top-secret communications facilities and to identify CIA sources in the Soviet Union. One official describes the intelligence losses as “horrible.”

Disclosure of the embassy penetration comes after a string of recent revelations about Soviet intelligence successes against the United States. The most damaging of those by far revolved around John Walker, who, first alone and then with confederates, sold the Soviets vital military information over a period of nearly 20 years. The eventual exposure and punishment of the Americans involved in no way mitigate the damage.

The American system rejects the notion that anyone with access to highly classified information must be kept under constant suspicion. But recent cases--involving the Walker spy ring, the defection to the Soviets of one-time CIA employee Edward Lee Howard, and now the embassy Marines--raise the most disturbing questions about laxity in protecting secrets. Counterintelligence can never be foolproof. But where U.S. efforts to counter Soviet recruitment of American agents are concerned, it can be a lot better than it has been.