70. Report From the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (Webster)1
Soviet Military Activities in Cuba: Foreign Counterintelligence—Cuba.
On September 4, 1979, a source, who has furnished reliable information in the past, advised that during a recent trip to Cuba, he visited a Cuban military base at Guantanamo, Cuba. Source traveled to Guantanamo from Havana, Cuba, during the week of August 19–23, 1979. The Cuban military base overlooked the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo, Cuba. (S)
Source visited the Cuban military base with a Cuban guide and a Cuban driver driving a military vehicle, similar to a jeep. Before entering the base, source was told by his Cuban guide to “forget everything you see inside the base.” (S)
About ten minutes driving time from main gate, source, guide, and driver were checked at guard gate. Source observed two male guards therein. One guard was Cuban; the other guard was believed by source to be Russian. Source heard the Cuban guard to speak with the Russian guard in what he believed to be the Russian language. (S)
Once inside the base, source observed about 1,000 Russian troops in military uniforms. Source was on the base at approximately 11:30 [Page 149] a.m., and his presence inside base was approximately 30 minutes. Some Russian troops were standing in line for lunch. (S)
Source also observed military weapons, military vehicles, including tanks, and cement bunkers built into sides of caves. (S)
Source further advised that a high ranking Government of Cuba official, Ramiro Valdes Menendez, in a previous conversation, had advised him that “Russia maintains 4,000 troops in Cuba all the time for training purposes”.2 Further, during a trip within Havana, source observed a convoy of military troop carriers on Avenida Mexico. Source was advised by a Cuban official of MINREX, with whom he was riding, that there were 30 troops in each truck and that 27 trucks were in the convoy. (S)
Details to follow. (U)
- Source: Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Brzezinski Material, Country File, Box 15, Cuba, Soviet Brigade, 9/1–18/79. Secret; Priority; Noforn; Orcon. Sent to the White House Situation Room for the National Security Council.↩
- The September 5 oral message delivered by Vasev asserted that “in actuality there has existed in Cuba for 17 years a training center where Soviet military specialists train Cuban officers in the use and maintenance of Soviet military equipment in the inventory of the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces. And one could hardly imagine that the US side has been unaware of all of this.” See footnote 4, Document 63. In a September 22 memorandum, General Carl R. Smith reported to Brzezinski that there was “no active attempt of deception by the Soviet Brigade in Cuba,” and “The Soviet installations were not disguised in any special manner, and communication security was consistent with general Soviet practices.” (Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Brzezinski Material, Country File, Box 15, Cuba, Soviet Brigade 9/19–30/79)↩