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)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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