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Written by David Pearson, 31, a doctoral candidate in sociology at Yale University, the article argues that the KAL crew was unbelievably negligent if it went so far off course without realizing it, and that American experts who track aircraft and eavesdrop on radio transmissions from Alaska to the Far East were even more incredibly incompetent if they failed to spot the errant flight. He contends that these specialists must have been particularly alert since they were aware of preparations by the Soviets to test a new missile on Aug. 31 aimed at the Kamchatka Peninsula, where the airliner first flew over Soviet territory. "All electronic eyes and ears were directed toward the exact place," Pearson writes. "Far from slipping by unnoticed, KAL 007 had flown onto center stage."
No U.S. observer, however, sent word through civilian air controllers to warn the airliner of its dangerous course. To Pearson this suggests either a prearranged U.S.-Korean spy plot or a desire by U.S. officials to exploit an accidental intelligence-gathering opportunity. The State Department rebuttal is a categorical denial: "No agency of the U.S. Government even knew that the plane was off course and in difficulty until after it had been shot down. Only the Soviets knew where it was before it was shot down." Assistant Secretary of State Richard Burt contends that precisely because U.S. surveillance was directed toward the incoming Soviet missile, it could easily have missed the civilian airliner's deviant course.
So far, the only authoritative investigation into the disaster was that conducted by the International Civil Aviation Organization. It concluded that there was no evidence of the airliner being on an intelligence mission. It said that the 007 crew could have flown unknowingly off course either by committing a 10° error in programming its inertial navigation system or by erroneously setting the Boeing 747 on a steady magnetic compass heading of 246° (an investigative series in London's Sunday Times showed how this could happen if a switch were left in the wrong position, disengaging the inertial navigation system). In either case, the crew would have been inexplicably careless in not using other means to verify the plane's location.
Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy, a Democratic and often critical member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, asserts that there was no intelligence bonanza to be gained from a KAL 007 overflight of Soviet territory. The U.S., Leahy points out, has far better techniques for testing Soviet radar defenses than by endangering civilians and, in fact, continually runs such tests. He says he has reviewed still classified information on the airliner shooting and, despite the suspicions of conspiracy advocates, finds nothing in it that would relieve the Soviets of their responsibility.
—By Ed Magnuson. Reported by Ross H. Munro/Washington