DATE=3/10/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=NATO SPY (L)
NUMBER=2-260046
BYLINE=JIM RANDLE
DATELINE=HONG KONG
CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: Top U-S Military officials say there is no 
evidence that a spy was lurking in NATO's headquarters 
at the beginning of the air war against Yugoslavia 
last year.  But Pentagon spokesman Ken Bacon says Serb 
intelligence agents may have gotten vital military 
information by eavesdropping on NATO communications.  
V-O-A's Jim Randle reports.

TEXT: Pentagon Spokesman Ken Bacon says suspicions 
about a possible spy surfaced almost as soon as the 
NATO bombing campaign against Yugoslavia began.  The 
Serb defenders seemed to know far too much about which 
targets would be hit and when.

During the war, frustrated NATO planners said the 
Serbs were moving key military equipment out of harm's 
way, and bombs apparently fell on some empty barracks 
rather than groups of soldiers.

Mr. Bacon says the Serbs were probably intercepting 
alliance phone calls, and deciphering faxes with 
military information.

He says early in the war, six hundred people from many 
NATO nations were briefed on each day's bombing plans.  
The theory is that some of these officials faxed 
important details back to their capitals, making the 
Serb eavesdropping possible.  Other officials say 
planes from some NATO nations lacked the equipment 
needed to prevent Serb forces from listening to 
conversations between commanders and pilots.

Mr. Bacon says when NATO tightened up communications 
security and cut the number of people with access to 
bombing plans, the problem went away.

NATO's 78 day bombing campaign last year forced Serb 
troops and police to leave the Serbian province of 
Kosovo, where they had been waging a campaign of 
murder and arson against ethnic Albanians, who were a 
majority in the province of Serbia. 

Mr. Bacon spoke to reporters accompanying Defense 
Secretary William Cohen on a visit to East Asia.  Mr. 
Cohen meets with Hong Kong's Chief Executive Saturday, 
and Vietnamese officials on Monday.  (Signed)

 



10-Mar-2000 03:14 AM EDT (10-Mar-2000 0814 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America
.