DATE=3/9/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=NATO SPIES (L ONLY)
NUMBER=2-260023
BYLINE=LAURIE KASSMAN
DATELINE=LONDON
CONTENT=

VOICED AT:


INTRO:  A British television documentary says 
important targeting information was leaked to 
Yugoslavia during the first few weeks of the NATO's 
Kosovo offensive.  Correspondent Laurie Kassman 
reports from London that NATO denies the report and 
some analysts say the spy report is just a promotion 
gimmick for the T-V program.

TEXT:  The T-V documentary to be broadcast Sunday says 
a U-S military report indicates there was a spy in the 
NATO alliance who leaked aircraft targeting 
information to Belgrade during the early days of 
NATO's air campaign against Yugoslav forces in Kosovo. 

The correspondent who worked on the documentary 
acknowledges he did not see the contents of the 
classified report, but says he talked with people who 
did.

NATO's air campaign was launched one-year ago to push 
Yugoslav forces out of Kosovo and end Belgrade's 
ethnic-cleansing campaign there.  The 19-nation 
military operation lasted three-months.

B-B-C defense correspondent Andrew Gilligan told 
British radio the information leak threatened the 
safety of allied pilots flying thousands of sorties 
over Serb targets.  He says part of the problem was 
the high number of people who had access to the 
sensitive information during the first two-weeks of 
the campaign.

            /// GILLIGAN ACT ///

      The computer system containing those air-tasking 
      orders, a system called Chronos, was accessible 
      to as many as 600-people from all NATO 
      countries.  Our sources say that the impact on 
      the air campaign of the Serbs knowing about this 
      was considerable.  They could evacuate equipment 
      from the target building so less damage was done 
      to their war effort. 

            /// END ACT ///

The documentary says NATO commanders suspected a leak 
and quickly reduced access to the air-targeting plans.

NATO cut access to sensitive information from 600 to 
100 people two-weeks after the bombing campaign got 
underway.  But spokesman Jamie Shea says that was a 
routine precaution. 

            /// SHEA ACT ONE ///

      Obviously an organization like NATO, but also a 
      private sector company or a bank, always has to 
      be very careful that sensitive information does 
      not leak out to the wrong people.  And during 
      the air campaign, we took enormous precautions 
      with our targeting operations and procedures to 
      make certain we could minimize the possibility 
      of a leak.

            /// END ACT ///

In a telephone interview with V-O-A news, Mr. Shea 
says the T-V documentary never backs up its 
allegations of a spy in NATO.

            /// SHEA ACT TWO ///

      We have absolutely no evidence, no proof, no 
      indication that there was a spy in NATO passing 
      secrets to the Serbs during the air campaign.

            /// END ACT ///

But it would not be the first time information has 
leaked from the 19-member NATO alliance.  Five-months 
before the bombing campaign was launched, a French 
NATO officer was arrested for passing sensitive 
documents to Yugoslavia. 

Military analysts constantly warn of the risk of 
sharing sensitive information among NATO's 19 member 
countries because of potentially conflicting national 
interests.   (SIGNED)

NEB/LMK/JWH/ENE/RAE



09-Mar-2000 11:09 AM EDT (09-Mar-2000 1609 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America
.