(3 of 3)
Marine officers who train the embassy guards point out that their men had performed without a known security breach for 38 years. The fault, they argue, lies with lax supervision by State Department security officials. A Pentagon source said that a former security officer is under investigation for malfeasance at the Moscow embassy when Lonetree and Bracy were there. The State Department has brought its current security officer in the region home for questioning. As the State Department quizzes its employees at the 225-member embassy, the initial responses, says one source, "are discomforting."
U.S. debugging experts sent to the Moscow embassy in an effort to prepare secure facilities for the arrival next week of Secretary of State George Shultz are finding so many sophisticated Soviet sensors that the entire communications system may have to be replaced. The once secure "bubble," a shielded room within a room, will have to be rebuilt. Shultz will take special mobile communications gear with him.
The Soviets needled the Americans about their predicament. "I thought the fear was of Reds under every bed," deadpanned Soviet Foreign Ministry Spokesman Gennadi Gerasimov. He expressed mock surprise that "the famous U.S. Marines who were victorious on Grenada" had been defeated by "the charms of blond spies." The U.S., however, was not laughing.
— With reporting by James O. Jackson / Moscow and Bruce van Voorst / Washington