◆ SpookStack

1 Sanitized Copy Approved for Rel oe aa ——__- a er ease 2010/07/07 : CIA-RDP87M00539R000901 190016-2 SECR ET Augmenting the EGIS effort have been the activities of three commercial firms recently established by the GDR in New York City. The firms are initiating business transactions with U. S. companies of interest to the EGIS, and collecting targeted S & T information. Such data are obtained overtly from professional! engineering and technical societies which publish material on such topics as industrial trends, market analysis, and production application. GDR visitors to the United States have increased substantially in recent years, and they too have been used in an intelligence-related capacity. The FBI estimates that virtually all GDR scientists, economists, and trade representatives are tasked to perform some sort of intelligence-related missions, including collection, spotting, and serving as couriers. Exemplifying this was German scientist Alfred Zehe, who served as a handler of an East German agent, in reality an FBI double agent. Zehe was arrested by the FBI in October, 1983, and pled guilty to charges of espionage. In April, 1985, he was sentenced to 8 years in prison, and on June II, 1985, he was returned to the Eastern Bloc ina prisoner exchange. As with the Soviets, the East Germans have adopted the practice of establishing front companies for the purpose of acquiring advanced U. S. technology, including items that are embargoed from export to the Eastern Bloc. Investigations revealed that several of these firms are operated by West Germans. There are also indications that some of these firms may receive backing from the SIS, as well as the EGIS. SECR ET - 12 - ..____,. Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/07 : CIA-RDP87M00539R000901190016-2