February 11, 1987 EXT_ENSIONS OF REMARKS 3303 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS THE SOVIET DISINFORMATION for taking great care in verifying their authen­ On July 3, 1985, an Italian journalist of CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE ticity. Similar caution is being exercised in the · Roman press agency ADN-Kronos UNITED STATES, FROM A EU­ Europe, a favorite target for the Soviets to found one such letter on his desk. The docu­ launch their disinformation efforts. The first ment he found inside appeared to him, on ROPEAN PERSPECTIVE, PART 1 first sight, a most explosive one. It was a part of a December 1986 article entitled "Ex­ photocopy of a letter by an American gener­ perts in Forgery" published by Pierre Lorrain al, Robert L. Schweitzer, to Chilean General HON. C.W. BILL YOUNG in the French magazine Le Spectacle du OF FLORIDA Augusto Pinochet, concerning a promise of Mende follows my remarks and provides us U.S. arms to be supplied to Chile in ex­ IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES with a European perspective on Soviet active change for the sending of Chilean troops to Wednesday, February 11, 1987 measures. The second and concluding part· of El Salvador and Honduras. The letter <docu­ Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, Soviet this article will appear with my remarks tomor­ ment A> with a letterhead titled "Inter­ row. American Defense Council'', was written in active measures and disinformation cam­ Spanish and dated February 25. paigns are among the most effective Soviet Mr. Speaker, our Nation and our allies are making great strides in the battle against The Roman journalist knew the Soviets, foreign policy tools against our Nation. The and acted as most Western newspeople principal aim of these activities is to discredit Soviet disinformation. We have, however, a would in a similar circumstance: he endeav­ the United States and our allies. long way to go in attempting to uncover and ored to verify the authenticity of the docu­ Forgeries are primary weapons used by the expose the thousands of Soviet forgeries that ment. To do this, he got in touch with the Soviets in these efforts. For many years, our damage U.S. credibility throughout the world. American Embassy in Rome, which immedi­ Nation chose not to respond to or rebut for­ Through our efforts, and those of our allies, ately phoned the United States Information geries that were uncovered by our intelligence we can successfully reduce the effectiveness Agency <USIA>. Schweitzer was contacted; he denied ever having sent such a letter. An community or State Department. of the Soviet Union's multibillion-dollar-a-year active measures campaign against the United examination revealed the document to be a In 1980, however, through my efforts and States and our interests. pure fabrication. those of our late colleague from Ohio, John The person in charge of coordinating re­ [From Le Spectacle du Monde magazine, Ashbrook, we were successful as members of December 1986] search at USIA on Soviet "active measures" the Permanent Select Committee on Intelli­ is Herbert Romerstein, a small man of about EXPERTS IN FORGERY, PART 1 gence in convening hearings with the Central fifty, with a bristly moustache and a twinkle Intelligence Agency to discuss detailed infor­ <By Pierre Lorrain> in his eye. Not only is he a premier expert in identifying forgeries, but he is also a bril­ mation about the Soviet forgery campaign. Disinformation wears a thousand faces. The most effective is not the most spec­ liant specialist of Soviet affairs and interna­ Two years later, at my request, the committee tacular. tional communism. scheduled additional hearings on Soviet disin­ The Soviets are the only true masters of "The method used in Rome," he explains, formation activities and received testimony the game. "is often used by the Soviets to put forger­ from the Federal Bureau of Investigation de­ Every generation has its "in" words. ies into circulation. It appears, in this pre­ tailing Soviet propaganda operations here in Today, "disinformation" is one of those cise case, that the forgers needed to give the United States. The primary witness for ("dezinformatsia" in Russian>. This fall, two this letter some credibility. This is why they these hearings was Stanislav Levchenko, a books in French were published on the sub­ attempted to have it surface in Europe. Eu­ former high-ranking officer in the KGB who ject-"La guerre du mensonge. Histoire se­ ropeans are generally more skeptical of this crete de la desinformation" ("The War of kind of thing; therefore, if the letter had prior to his defection to the United States was Lies. The Secret History of Disinforma­ been published, it would have gained a lot primarily responsible for Soviet active meas­ tion"), by Roland Jacquard <Pion, Ed.> and of credibility." ures operations in Japan. The information he "Le temps de la desinformation" <The Age Since the operation backfired in the Old provided the committee, and his subsequent of Disinformation"> by Henri-Pierre Cath­ Continent, another copy surfaced in Mexico work over the years with United States intelli- · ala <Stock, Ed.)-in addition to numerous City a few days later. This time, it was per­ gence officers, scholars, and journalists has press reports. sonally handed over to the Mexican corre­ helped make all aware of the methods and The two works limit themselves to a few spondent of the same Italian press agency objectives of these types of Soviet operations. exemplary and well-publicized cases, giving by a Guatemalan journalist known to be an little or no attention to lesser operations, unofficial spokesman for guerrilla forces in In response to our growing understanding of even though these represent the essential his country. Soviet disinformation programs, the State De­ part of what the Soviets call "aktivnyie Contrary to his Italian colleague, the partment established in 1981 an interagency mieropriatia" <active measures> and the Mexican journalist did not verify the origin working group to study Soviet active meas­ daily reality of disinformation. In addition, of the letter and had it published. Two days ures. At the urging of Congress, the President trying to equate disinformation with "lies", later, officials of the press agency refuted last year established a permanent State De­ as does Jacquard, constitutes a dangerous the authenticity of the document and did deviation. not hesitate to admit that they had been de­ partment office to support the work of this For Jacquard, disinformation encompasses ceived. But the harm was done. Several group. all human activity designed to deceive an Latin American newspapers with overt or As a result of these many efforts, we have opponent. Thus, he shows us how cavemen covert communist leanings republished the seen a significant growth in the study, re­ used disinformation by imitating animal information, citing the source but not the search, and reporting of information about sounds to attract game. It is, however, diffi­ accompanying denial. These articles, credit­ Soviet disinformation. Numerous books on the cult to see the link between this necessary ing a European press agency which could human activity and "active measures." hardly be accused of communist sympathy, subject, including "Dezinformatsia"-a leading A neurologist, Cathala presents us with a were then ready to be quoted by still other work in the field by Richard Shultz and Roy better, although somewhat theoretical, ty­ newspapers, in South America and the rest Godson, and a number of newsletters here pology of disinformation and disinformers. of the world. and ·abroad, have been published to broaden But the authoritative work in ·this matter is "The method used in this case is a Soviet studies in this area. Richard Shultz's and Roy Godson's "Dezin­ one," adds Romerstein, "but the geographic It is through public awareness that the formatsia" <Anthropos Publications, 1984>, location leads us to believe that the oper­ which provides the first complete and best­ ation may have been launched by someone United States and our allies will be able to un­ documented study on disinformation. else. We are thinking about the intelligence cover Soviet forgeries and diminish their effec­ Disinformation can start in any newsroom services of Cuba or Nicaragua, acting on tiveness. U.S. scholars and journalists are be­ in Paris, London, or Rome, as a plain white behalf of the KGB." coming more and more aware of potential envelope discreetly placed on an editor's On August 16, 1985, a month and a half forged documents and are to be commended desk. after the case began, Romerstein wrote • This "bullet" symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the Senate on the floor. Matter set in this typeface indicates words inserted or appended, rather than spoken, by a Member of the House on the floor. 3304 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS February 11, 1987 General Schweitzer to inform him of the just under the letterhead, unlike usual U.S. RESTORING U.S. conclusions of the study made on the docu­ Government correspondence which sets the COMPETITIVENESS ment attributed to him <document B). Sev­ addressee at the bottom left of the first eral copes of his letter were distributed to page. Secondly, the auxiliary paragraphs various agencies of the U.S. Government. have no indentation and start right at the HON. JAMES J. FLORIO The case was brought before the Senate left margin. Thirdly, Romerstein's staff is in OF NEW JERSEY Foreign Affairs Committee and the two doc­ charge of detecting Soviet active measures, IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES uments! the forgery and Romerstein's anal­ not of preparing such operations against the ysis, appeared in the "Hearings of the Com­ Soviet Union. Wednesday, February 11, 1987 mittee on Foreign Relations of the United '.' My job is to fight disinformation with in­ States Senate" published at the beginning Mr.