Walls of New Embassy in Moscow ‘Honeycombed’ With Bugging Devices

A presidential trouble-shooter said today that it will take at least 2 1/2 years and tens of millions of dollars to secure the new U.S. Embassy against Soviet spying devices.

James Schlesinger, a former head of the CIA, spoke to reporters at the new embassy at the end of a 10-day visit to inspect the facility. He will report to Secretary of State George P. Shultz later this month.

The embassy chancery, built with Soviet precast concrete, is riddled with sophisticated bugging devices that were not detected in initial X-ray inspections by U.S. officials, Schlesinger said.

Schlesinger would not describe the listening devices but said the building was “massively honeycombed.”

He said that in retrospect it had been a mistake to allow the Soviets to use precast concrete. At the time, he said, U.S. officials did not believe the Soviets could employ technology sophisticated enough to evade detection by X-rays.

Schlesinger said he stressed in meetings with senior Soviet officials that the bugging is a serious obstacle to improving relations with the United States and that revisions are needed in a 1972 agreement allowing both countries to construct new embassies.

He said the Soviets understand that they will not be allowed to occupy their new facility in Washington until the United States moves into its new embassy in the Soviet capital.

“I indicated to them the seriousness of the political problem. I stressed to them it was in their best interests to solve these problems. . . . I received a sympathetic hearing,” he said.

An embassy spokesman said that among the Soviet officials Schlesinger saw were Communist Party Secretary Anatoly F. Dobrynin, a former longtime ambassador to the United States, and Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Bessmertnykh.

Schlesinger refused to detail the work needed at the embassy or say how it should be done, but he suggested the United States would seek Soviet permission to use American workers to finish the building. The chancery was built by Soviet labor.

Schlesinger would not exclude either demolishing part of the structure or putting up a new, secure building. The United States will seek to isolate the embassy’s secure areas from any potential bugging, he said, adding that much of the new building is usable.

It will take a minimum of 2 1/2 years to counteract Soviet bugs, “dependent on cooperation from the Soviet side,” Schlesinger said.

“Unless we have that kind of cooperation from the Soviets, it could be many, many years, . . . even decades,” he said.

“We should recognize a fundamental change of this sort will not be inexpensive. It will be tens of millions of dollars,” he said.

In February, President Reagan appointed Schlesinger, also a former defense secretary, to review construction and security at the new embassy.

The new compound, located near the current U.S. Embassy, has been under construction for eight years. Sen. Lawton Chiles (D-Fla.) has estimated the costs have risen from about $70 million to about $200 million. The structure is about two-thirds complete.

The Senate Intelligence Committee has recommended the chancery be torn down. Reagan has said he may have to order the building demolished if it cannot be made secure.