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Radar base attracts foreign spies

Int'l intelligence on the prowl for defense technology

By Markéta Hulpachová
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
November 14th, 2007 issue

The U.S. radar base on Czech soil may still only exist as a blueprint, but already the nation is crawling with foreign spies.
In an annual report released Oct. 24 by the national military intelligence unit (VZ), local experts note a surge in foreign intelligence activity around the radar base, and a heightened interest in its role in U.S. defense strategy.
By weaving a web of agents years before the radar’s potential construction, foreign intelligence branches seek to unearth classified information about NATO, national armed forces and advanced military technologies, the report states.
“It’s completely logical,” says former military intelligence Director Andor Šándor. “I would be more alarmed if they did not register any activity at all.”
According to Šándor, the radar base has piqued the interest of Iran, Iraq and North Korea — the countries against which the missile-defense shield officially aims to protect.  
“It’s also grabbed the attention of Russia and some post-Soviet nations,” Šándor says. “These are the countries that think the radar is targeted toward them.”
By digging up details on the radar’s technology, these governments hope to obtain information that will enable them to construct an optimal defense against it, Šándor says.
Aside from countries that feel threatened, the base has also attracted the attention of politically uninvolved nations seeking to understand the defense shield’s technology.
“The VZ has registered the presence of agents working for countries that are geographically remote,” the report states. “They are mainly interested in advanced Czech technologies that they can use for military purposes in their own country.”
Because many of its technical details are classified, foreign agents are working to discover the radar’s real capabilities.
“Not all information has been publicized,” Šándor says. “It’s been said that [the radar] will be able to detect something as small as a tennis ball from 6,000 kilometers away, so naturally foreign agencies want to know what it can really do.”
To access the widest possible spectrum of reliable information, intelligence services typically work on two levels — both of which are at play around the radar base. The first, Šándor says, is referred to as “classic information gathering.” Often done by agents working as diplomats and journalists, this work consists of monitoring the political atmosphere and day-to-day developments surrounding the plans to build the base.
“These types of people travel to the military grounds near the base, speak with local mayors and track the views of politicians,” Šándor says.
The second level, which Šándor refers to as “classic espionage,” is slightly craftier. Charged with securing long-term informants, these types of spies strive to establish personal contacts with individuals who have access to classified information. To do this, they either access the source directly or recruit an agent to spy on the source in their stead — a method Šándor says is preferable because it allows spies to maintain their cover.
Aside from gathering intelligence, foreign spies also spread false information among locals for the purpose of building opposition to an undesired project.
“Of course, the fact that public opinion about the radar is so disjointed has not escaped their attention,” Šándor says.
To capitalize on this ambivalence, foreign intelligence branches often finance deliberately chosen organizations that speak out against the radar and distribute false facts, Šándor says. “They’re taking advantage of people’s fears by spreading information that plays up the radar’s possible health risks and the presence of the Russian military in the country,” he adds.
According to Tomáš Klvaňa, government spokesman for the radar base, the situation is reminiscent of the 1983 deployment of U.S. Pershing missiles in West Germany. Erected as a defense against the Soviet Union, the Pershing missiles launched a Europe-wide protest. “A large portion of the campaign against the Pershing missiles was financed by the KGB,” Klvaňa says. “I would not be in the least surprised if the same were true of the current opposition to the radar.”

Markéta Hulpachová can be reached at mhulpachova@praguepost.com


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