Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, April 14, 1990 TAG: 9004140056
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: HAMBURG, WEST GERMANY LENGTH: Medium
Last week, Heinz-Helmuth Werner, 45, a cipher clerk at West Germany's NATO mission in Brussels, was arrested and an unidentified 38-year-old engineer suspected of working for the Soviet KGB was jailed in southern West Germany.
This week, according to the chief federal prosecutor's office in Karlsruhe, two senior government employees were arrested on suspicion of providing secrets to "an East European country."
Der Spiegel magazine, headquartered in Hamburg, quoted a West German counterintelligence source as saying Werner disclosed far more sensitive material to the Warsaw Pact than did the 1970s East German spy Guenther Guillaume, Brandt's top aide.
Brandt resigned after Guillaume's arrest. Guillaume drew 13 years in prison in 1975. Six years later he was traded to East Germany in a spy swap.
Compared with Werner, "Guillaume was small stuff," Spiegel quoted an unidentified government security source as saying.
A copy of the publication, which appears on newsstands today, was obtained early by The Associated Press.
Werner was arrested April 5 in Brussels.
Der Spiegel said Werner provided contacts in East Germany and the Soviet KGB in Moscow with "detailed information on internal NATO discussions about short-range nuclear missiles and Western options for negotiation at ongoing disarmament talks in Vienna."
It said Werner was paid the past 20 years by the East German security service and had worked as a deciphering clerk in Brussels since September 1987.
The magazine, quoting its sources, said sensitive information on "Bonn's and its partners' political plans for Germany were furnished Eastern agents up through the last few weeks" by Werner.
Rolf Hannich, spokesman for the Chief Federal Prosecutor's office, said a senior Foreign Ministry employee was arrested Tuesday and a senior federal border police officer Wednesday. Both are suspected of spying for the East.
Hannich also confirmed on Thursday reports that an engineer working in southern Baden-Wuerttemberg has been in investigative custody since April 4.
He is suspected of spying and providing restricted electronic equipment to the KGB, Hannich said.
Hannich refused to give details, citing continuing investigations.
The arrests follow recent news media reports that East German intelligence agents are still gathering information on high-ranking West German officials.
by CNB