U.S. Embassy Termed ‘Fully Compromised’

Two members of Congress said Monday that the U.S. Embassy here has been “fully compromised” and that new security measures costing tens of millions of dollars will be required to protect U.S. secrets.

The two, Reps. Daniel A. Mica (D-Fla.) and Olympia J. Snowe (R-Me.), met with reporters after a surprise, pre-dawn inspection of the embassy. They also scheduled an inspection today of a new embassy building that U.S. officials have said may be so filled with Soviet listening devices as to be unusable.

Seek Full Picture

Snowe said that after many interviews with U.S. diplomats and security forces, they received information that will help provide a full picture of security lapses.

“It’s obvious,” she said, “there was lack of security here in many respects, and there’s probably a lax attitude toward security operating procedures. That’s something we’ll have to address further.”

The congressional probers also plan to visit the quarters of the Marine security guards at the embassy. Two Marines who served in Moscow have been accused of admitting agents of the KGB, the Soviet secret police and espionage organization, into super-secret areas of the embassy.

Mica said that a “secure area” has been completed within the last 48 hours in preparation for next week’s scheduled visit by Secretary of State George P. Shultz. But even so, Mica said, Shultz may have to communicate with the White House and other Washington offices by means of a mobile unit especially designed for the occasion.

The congressional investigators arrived in Moscow on the heels of the new U.S. ambassador, Jack F. Matlock Jr., who presented his credentials Monday to Soviet President Andrei A. Gromyko. After the ceremony, Matlock and Gromyko talked for 30 minutes in private.

Matlock succeeds Arthur A. Hartman, who submitted his resignation unexpectedly last December and left Moscow in mid-February.

‘Tremendous Concerns’

Mica, chairman of a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee, joined with Snowe in the surprise visit to the embassy just after midnight. The visit lasted for two hours, Mica said. Speaking for himself and Snowe, he told reporters: “We agree that this embassy should be considered, at this time, fully compromised . . . . We have tremendous concerns.”

Mica said that even without considering the possible cost of rebuilding the new embassy, or part of it, “it’s going to cost tens of millions of dollars to address the (security) concerns we’re faced with here.”

But Snowe said that security has been improved a great deal in the last six months and that further steps are planned.

Mica said that morale among the 28-man Marine detail has plunged since the disclosure of allegations that some Marines let Soviet agents into the embassy in exchange for sexual favors. The entire detachment has been ordered home to assist in the investigation.

“Some of them are shocked and can’t believe that their colleagues are involved,” Mica said. “We remain shocked that so many may be involved.”

Sgt. Clayton J. Lonetree, 25, and Cpl. Arnold Bracy, 21, have been accused of opening embassy doors for Soviet spies and turning secret documents over to them. According to U.S. officials, both violated Marine Corps rules by becoming sexually involved with Soviet employees of the embassy.

A third Marine, Sgt. Robert S. Stufflebeam, 24, has been arrested on suspicion of lying to investigators about his relations with Soviet women, who either worked at the embassy or were employed by U.S. diplomats.