ACCESSION NUMBER:238199
FILE ID:PF-551
DATE:08/07/92
1ITLE:HOUSE POW/MIA UNIT SEEKS FULL STORY ON ALLEGED SOVIET SPY (08/07/92)
TEXT:*92080751.PFS
*PFS551  08/07/92 *

HOUSE POW/MIA UNIT SEEKS FULL STORY ON ALLEGED SOVIET SPY
(Article based on press release, research on 8/7)  (380)
By Jim Shevis
USIA Staff Writer
Washington -- A recently formed congressional task force on America's
missing servicemen is seeking "a full and complete" investigation into the
current activities of Joel Barr, an American who defected to the former
Soviet Union in the 1940s and recently was allowed to return to the United
States.

According to Representative Sam Johnson of Texas, a leader of the newly
created Republican Congressional Leadership POW/MIA Task Force in the House
of Representatives, Barr turned over U.S. technology to the Soviets that
enabled them to develop antiaircraft guns like those used against American
pilots during the Vietnam War.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation never completed an investigation into
charges that Barr was transmitting U.S. secrets to the Soviets before his
defection, Johnson said. The House Task Force wants the Justice Department
to complete that inquiry.

"The Cold War may be over, but nothing can justify an American collaborating
with the (former) Soviet Union -- working against American citizens and
servicemen," said Johnson.

Johnson, who represents the 3rd Texas congressional district in the Dallas
area, is a former Air Force pilot who was shot down by a Soviet
antiaircraft system and held as a prisoner-of-war (POW) in the then North
Vietnam for seven years from 1966-1973.

"Thanks to some no-name bureaucrat, Barr is living in Brooklyn and receiving
Social Security at the expense of American taxpayers," Johnson said.

"I'm outraged, and I want to see a full investigation.
"This country owes me, my fellow veterans and every American citizen an
explanation."

Johnson, along with California Republican Congressmen Randy Cunningham,
Robert K. Dornan and Duncan L. Hunter, announced formation of the POW/MIA
Task Force in June.

Johnson said then that he hopes the group's efforts will raise the
consciousness of Congress and of all Americans on issues involving POWs and
MIAs from World War Two, the Cold War and the Korean War, as well as the
Vietnam War.

"There are so many questions still unanswered.  There's so much room for
dishonesty and rumors," Johnson said.

"I believe this government has some of the best intelligence throughout the
world, but until every American is accounted for -- every name checked off
every list -- all of us can do more."

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