Spy Suspect May Never Be Charged

While FBI agents continue a very public surveillance of Felix S. Bloch’s movements in New York, there is growing concern within the U.S. intelligence community that the former diplomat may never be arrested or prosecuted despite allegations that he passed secrets to the Soviet Union.

“The problem you’re witnessing is that there is a big difference between what satisfies an intelligence agency and (what evidence is required by) a court,” a former senior intelligence official said. “To arrest someone, you need more.”

The State Department withdrew the security clearances of Bloch, the former No. 2 officer in the U.S. Embassy in Vienna, after he was allegedly observed passing a parcel to a Soviet agent. But the evidence remains entirely circumstantial, according to sources familiar with the inquiry.

The State Department said Friday that Bloch, 54, was under investigation by the FBI for “illegal activities” involving “agents of a foreign government.”

Suspected Relationship

Meanwhile, there were reports from Vienna that Austrian officials want to question a Vienna woman who allegedly had a longtime relationship with Bloch. The Associated Press quoted a senior Austrian official as saying that authorities want to find out whether the woman had observed any suspicious activities on the part of Bloch.

“There is a woman with whom Mr. Bloch has maintained a long-term relationship in Austria,” said the official, who was not identified. He said the woman was on vacation outside of Austria.

“We have no reason to look for her abroad, but when she comes back from her vacation, we are going to talk to her,” the official added.

A State Department official said he knew nothing about Bloch’s association with the woman.

Bloch, a 30-year veteran of the State Department, has been staying in New York since he cleaned out his desk in Washington, where he had served as chief of the regional political-economic section of the State Department’s Bureau of European Affairs. His movements in New York have been shadowed by a motorcade of FBI agents, apparently as part of a psychological campaign to press the diplomat to begin cooperating.

Although Bloch has been under surveillance since at least June 22, he has not been officially charged with any crime.

The investigation has fallen into three phases. In the first phase, which ended late last week, the probe was kept totally secret. However, officials became convinced last week that Bloch had learned, perhaps from his Soviet contact, that he was under suspicion. At that point, investigators went public--apparently to increase the pressure on the former diplomat. But Tuesday, officials again became tight-lipped.

Members of the House Intelligence Committee received a briefing from FBI and other officials Tuesday but said afterward that they had been sworn to secrecy. State Department spokeswoman Margaret Tutwiler read a few cryptic statements but told reporters, “I really and honestly am prohibited from answering a number of your questions.”

Dramatizes Weaknesses

At the White House, President Bush discussed the case with Republican congressional leaders. After the meeting, House Minority Whip Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) said the case dramatizes the weaknesses in FBI counterintelligence activities. He said he will call on Congress to increase spending to counter activities of the Soviet KGB in the United States.

A former senior U.S. intelligence official said that counterintelligence activities have been improved in the last 10 years but, apparently, not enough.

“The Soviets are showing an ability to penetrate a new range (of government outlets), from the military to the State Department,” he said. “The United States is showing that it is not up to the task of counterintelligence of the ‘90s.”

Bloch was deputy chief of the U.S. Embassy in Vienna from 1983 until 1987. The former intelligence official said that, unlike many of the Americans who have been convicted of espionage in recent years, Bloch exhibited no “flaky” personal traits.

“Here you have a guy who blended in quite well and was in a high position,” the former official said. “If you want to know something, that is the kind of guy you would go to.”