Lynch, Edward: Files Folder Title: Soviets [1 of 2] Box: 2
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Ronald Reagan Presidential Library Digital Library Collections This is a PDF of a folder from our textual collections. Collection: Lynch, Edward: Files Folder Title: Soviets [1 of 2] Box: 2 To see more digitized collections visit: https://reaganlibrary.gov/archives/digital-library To see all Ronald Reagan Presidential Library inventories visit: https://reaganlibrary.gov/document-collection Contact a reference archivist at: [email protected] Citation Guidelines: https://reaganlibrary.gov/citing National Archives Catalogue: https://catalog.archives.gov/ • ' .·- .;r •~ington post _,' . - ~~:· has not deterred the Soviets from . Even more disturbing, the--S<wiets · ~:. Soviets Plotting riishing ahead with biotech research. could use biotechnology to combine ,. Declares a secret CIA report: ' "The the most infectious, most virulent : ·· Biote·c];i· War, · evidence points strongly to illegal and most indestructible character- • . production or. storage of biological istics of disease-causing organisms to · .. agents and weapons." form super-viruses.' Preside·nt Told The technical name for this' re- If it seems hard to believe that the The Na,tional Security Council · search is "recombinant DNA tech- Soviets would experiment with such l has delivered · a report to President nology." It is also referred to as civilization-destroying technology, Reagan warning of a frightening new "gene-splicing," "genetic engineer- consider this grim excerpt from a se-· development in biological warfare. ing," "biotechnology'' and "synthetic cret CIA report: _ The secret alert ls based on CIA as- biology." It has to do with DNA, or . "Since World War II, sporadfo re sessments that the SovietS ·have de- deoxyribonucleic acid, which is the portS and allegations have been re- . · ., velope~ gene-splicii1g tech~iques as basic genetic ingredient. ceived concerning Soviet involve- . 0111inous as the atom-splitting · dis- · The Soviets h11;ve developed a pro- ment in offensive biological weapons - ~ coveries . that led to the nuclear cess for removing segments of DNA development. Sources of the allega- . -~ bomb. , · - · ' from the cell of one species and at- tions have ranged from low-level .de';. : The startling . evidence is con- taching them to that of another; fectors to high-level Soviet academi~ ' ~ ~ tained in CIA. reportS, classified "Se~ . thereby creating a ne.w organism. " h' h d 1 fl . The military application is awe- cians. High-level political . and mif, -~ cret, w ic ec are · atly that the itary leaders have also alluded to '' :: Soviets could u~e their new biotech- some. CIA sources told my associ,ate . · · · · Dale_v· an Atta t·hat _the So""ets wi'll possession of biological weapons." · ...... no 1ogy to incapacitate Of destroy en- a.< Vl . uJ t' · · f · nfli be able to repr_oduce mysterious .- The document describes other de- " "' tire pop a ions m a uture· co ct. velopments, whieh have been '~close- ~ (· In stark language, the documents human substances and produce su- warn that .the United States is dan- . per-viruses more deadly than any ly observed by the intelligence com- - :::1- gerously far behind in devei<;>ping . known to man today. · munity." For example, the Soviets _ biotech weapons. One , CIA report , For example, the Soviets could re- · have. "acquired significant technology >'..: ~ estimates that the Soviets will be produce such human substances as and equipment, built large-scale bi- - X r able to deploy these horror weapons · growth hormones, which have never ological fermentation facilities and ' .-; in three to fiye years. Other scien- been duplicated. One' U.S. expert· made progress in other areas consid- .. -· tists_conten _d that biotech warfare is thinks the Soviets may be able to re- ered useful should Moscow deeide to · · more than a decade away. produce brain chemicals, which serid ·. pursue production of biological " ~-· Of course, ·· the· production of command signals to various parts of weapons." harmful biological agents for use the body. The fear is that the Sovi- At Sverdlovsk, the Soviets operate "~· against .people, animals or crops is ets will be able to produce them in a biological warfare institute where , i · strictly prohibited under the 1972 ' quantity and load them into spray an accident, involving a lethal strain ·. Biological Weapons Convention, weapons. This bio-gas would disori- of anthrax, reportedly caused hun- w~ich _the Soviets signed. But this · , ent and destroy the human brain. dreds of deaths in April; 1979 . ..... ---- ·hel}l the 'Afghan.guerrillas How to 1 ' /l •. " 1' '1 - ~ ·1 -g1{ nder the .. direction of two ma chi rebellion in Sqviet mittee by one of its staffers, B. prisoners, morale is' so low that .C~ntral J~hn top Russian generals, a Asia by a i:;ombination of futhJess Ritch. On the basis of a recer t visit defect\ons on a large scale could be· Soviet armored column terror and gradual assimilation. , to both Pakistan and the guarrilla- . encouraged · by assurance of' asy has smashed for the sev- If the present Soviet rul.ers C;lte controlled area of Mr. Afghanista~n , lum in the West. enth time into the Panjsher Valley similarly .allowed to get away .with Ritch has come up with a numb~ r of In order to succeed in their dark and with the support of high- m.ass murder over a long enough imaginative proposals, some of and· b 1 o o d y bus i r1 es s in altitude carpet bombing is trying to period, even the Afghans' will can which seem eminently practical, Afghanistan, the Soviets have break the back of the local Afghan eventually be b.roken and their chil- , For example, Mr. Ritch poi l\t ~ . relied on a deep. veil of secrecy to resistance, led by 30-year-old dren subverted.by enfor:ced·.indoc- · out that t)).ere are.-between 60 and hige both' frpm their own 'people Ahmed Shah Massoud. trination. 250 Soviet deserters and prisoners and'from the outside world the true According to reports from the . Although th!'! Afghan guerr.illa . being held by guerrilla gro4ps dimensions of the destruction. battle front, Mr. Massoud .had leaders · are unanimous in their inside Afghanistan and in the bor- Through jamming, censorship advanceevacuate warningmuch of theand civilianwas able pop- to __· .,. __________________________ "!"' and propaganda, the Soviet regime has so far kept its domestic opinion ulation, while ordering his armed under control. A combination of mujahideen into mountain caves. "What the Soviets are up·to in Afghanistan ignorance and indifference has Far from being over, as Kabul Radio characterized most of the Western has claimed, the battle is just begin cannot stand the lightof day." media reaction. Only in France has ning, and coordinated diversionary a small group of volunteer French attacks by guerrilla groups in other doctors and nurses returning from areas demonstrate increasing complaint that they are not receiv der area. The Soviets are so fearful Afghanistan really kept the issue cooperation among the resistance ing enough anti-aircraft and anti of the propaganda potential of alive. leaders. tank weaponry to confront the Red these eyewitnesses that they have Reagan officials claim they are But the spectacle of Badger Army, Reagan officials maintain attacked the bases where they are now determined ·to change this bomber squadrons from Russian that the real danger of Soviet retali- held in order to kill them. situation and to force the Soviet airfields indiscriminately pouring · ation sets a limit on ·how much Although these escapees from leaders to pay an unacceptabiy high death and destruction on Afghan "covert" American military aid i:he the Red Army have devastating tes political price for their aggression. villages has raised again in Wash Pakistanis can allow .to · cross the timony to give regarding Soviet Plans are well advance'd for new ington the whole question of border. · · atrocities and the low morale of transmitter sites closer to the Rus whethet enough is being done for But the figure of $75 mil.lion, that Russian troops, only two have so far sian target that will allow both these courageous people. There are has been leaked as ·the annual been able to come to the United Voice of America and Radio Liberty critics on the Reagan tea'm and in amount of U.S. military assistance States. The Senate staff report pro broadcasts to break through the the Congress who feel that harsh seems ridiculously low when com poses that the administration work · jamming. For the first time, these rhetoric is no substitute for deter pared with the billions spent on out with our allies a continuing pro radios will be able to reach the 40- · mined and imaginative action to weapons that may never be used. As gram of resettlement in the West million Moslem audience in Soviet . provide more materiel, diplomatic, one high . Pentagon official said, for Russian deserters and prison- Central Asia in their own languages and propaganda support to the "The rate of return is very high ers. with daily news of the tragic fate of hard-pressed mujahideen. from anything we give the Afghan Not only would the guerrillas their co-religionists across the bor Beyond the moral imperative of guerrillas,. and I'm st.ire there is then be relieved of the burden ·of der. the need to stop the slaughter of the more that we could and should be caring for prisoners and be .encour What the Soviets are up to in innocents caused by Soviet doing." aged to take more·of them, but the Afghanistan cannot stand the light attempts to terrorize the Afghan · The whole' argument about what news of successful escapes to the of day, and sustained public expo countryside, there lies the histori- more can be done. has .been enliv West would spread quickly among sure could yet make the whole ven •cal memory of how the Bolsheviks ened by the release of a.