CIA Tightens Watch on Soviet Defectors : In Wake of Yurchenko Case, Webster Assures Senate Panel

WASHINGTON — The CIA has ordered “a substantial increase in the number of officers” assigned to handle Soviet Bloc defectors since the embarrassing case two years ago of Vitaly S. Yurchenko, a former KGB official who walked away from his CIA security guard and re-defected to the Soviet Union, CIA Director William H. Webster testified Thursday.

Webster, in his first congressional appearance since assuming control of the spy agency last May, told a Senate subcommittee, “I will be watching very carefully” to assure that any Communist defectors are debriefed and treated properly.

Webster’s testimony came as the Senate Governmental Affairs permanent subcommittee on investigations opened hearings into the handling of Eastern Bloc defectors and released a staff report highly critical of alleged shortcomings in the program.

Interview Failures

The subcommittee’s study found that the CIA, the Immigration and Naturalization Service and the State Department often fail to interview defectors adequately or to help them financially or psychologically adjust to their new life in American society. These shortcomings are particularly serious among lower-level defectors such as scientists or other private citizens, the report said.

Another witness, Lt. Gen. William E. Odom, director of the supersecret National Security Agency, testified that much more should be done to use the experience of defectors who may not be of immediate value to U.S. intelligence officials.

“Can we take better advantage of the talents and knowledge they bring? The answer is yes,” Odom said.

But he quickly added that his agency, which intercepts and deciphers the electronic communications of foreign nations, has no responsibility itself for dealing with defectors.

Webster said that the CIA is responsible only for high-ranking defectors who are deemed useful for national security purposes. He also agreed with subcommittee Chairman Sam Nunn (D-Ga.) that “a vacuum” exists in the proper handling of most defectors and said the CIA now has more experienced agents working on the problem.

Referring to defectors like Yurchenko, whom some intelligence experts believe returned to the Soviet Union because of disappointment and disillusionment with life in the United States, including a broken love affair, Webster said:

“If we get reports a defector is unhappy, we try to see whether we can solve any problems he may have. But often such a person simply wants to return to his homeland out of plain homesickness, not always because of love for the Communist system.”

Webster and Odom said that U.S. immigration officials, together with State Department officers, generally are responsible for interviewing the majority of foreigners who seek political asylum in the United States or come here as refugees.

Screening Urged

“Candidates likely to have intelligence should be screened,” Webster said. Odom added: “We should expand the number of cases we exploit. There will always be some we will miss.”

Webster said that many lower-level defectors like doctors or university professors have been unable to attain self-respect in this country “because they have been shut out from their professional areas in our society” on grounds that they lack the proper credentials to practice medicine or teach.

In addition, he said, some defectors have been subjected to harassing letters or phone calls from foreign intelligence agents in this country “to assure they (the defectors) do not become of value to the United States. And sometimes it’s to discourage others from defecting.”