ACCESSION NUMBER:00000

FILE ID:95110202.POL

DATE:11/02/95

TITLE:02-11-95  DEFENSE DEPARTMENT REPORT, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 2



TEXT:

(Soviet misinformation) (300)



NEWS BRIEFING -- Deputy spokesman Captain Mike Doubleday answered

questions on the following topic:



DOD ASSESSING IMPACT OF DOUBLE AGENT SPY INFORMATION



Doubleday said the passing of tainted Soviet intelligence information

to key U.S. military decision makers during the Reagan and Bush

administrations is an issue which "causes us consternation and great

concern."



The Pentagon is currently reviewing how the information, which was

provided by Soviet "double agents" -- apparently recruited by

convicted Central Intelligence Agency official Aldrich Ames -- may

have affected the Defense Department's decision-making process over

the past four or five years, the deputy spokesman said. Part of the

assessment will involve "what we can do in the future to prevent this

kind of thing from occurring," he said, and how the Pentagon can

"refine its procedures."



In particular, he said analysts are looking at how reports from double

agents may have "impacted in some way upon...acquisition, policy

and...operations." The department first heard about the false

information in early 1995, when it learned of the problem from the

CIA, he said.



At the same time, Doubleday pointed out that U.S. officials do not

base decisions "solely" on a single report or piece of paper;

decisions are based on information from hundreds to thousands of

sources.



He said it is "premature" to discuss specific Pentagon programs which

could have been affected by the information passed on by the former

Soviet Union. He said it is also too soon to know if the Soviet

misinformation caused the United States to spend too much or too

little on weapons programs.



"The Pentagon's intelligence bureaucracy is certainly not at question,

here," Doubleday said in response to a question, "it has operated very

effectively for many, many years."

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