The Nation - News from Feb. 12, 1988

The State Department failed to seek further investigation of more than 500 infractions by Marine security guards at U.S. embassies at a time when Soviet spies apparently were mounting a worldwide effort to recruit them as agents, a House subcommittee chairman said. Rep. Daniel A. Mica (D-Fla.) said a preliminary investigation by the General Accounting Office, a congressional watchdog agency, indicates “there may have been a KGB worldwide effort to recruit Marines” at U.S. embassies for the last decade. The GAO found that over the last 6 to 10 years, State Department officials collected in their files more than 500 cases of Marine guards in Asia, Eastern Europe and Western countries engaging in black marketeering or fraternizing with Soviet bloc personnel, Mica said.