August 27, 1999
Web posted at: 1:00 p.m. EDT (1700 GMT)

From CNN's Jonathan Aiken, David Ensor and Chris Plante:

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A Scottish newspaper is reporting that a spy within NATO's command structure passed secrets to Moscow about F-117A stealth bomber attack routes during the allied campaign against Yugoslavia, but senior U.S. officials tell CNN they do not believe the story is accurate.

The Scotsman, a daily paper published in Edinburgh, said Moscow passed those secrets along to Belgrade in return for the opportunity to be present when the stealth bombers were attacked.

The article, by Paul Beaver, a defense analyst, quotes NATO sources who say the operative was of officer rank, based in Brussels and had access to highly sensitive documents. The article said an unidentified NATO officer remains in custody.

However, a source on the staff of NATO's commander, Gen. Wesley Clark, told CNN that while "we are aware that information was getting to the Serbs," there is "no information indicating that it was a spy or (coming from) anyone within NATO."

An F-117A stealth fighter was shot down near Belgrade on March 27

Several knowledgeable U.S. sources said they are not aware of the arrest of any NATO officer for alleged espionage other than one French major who has since been released for lack of evidence.

One U.S. official said he is not aware of any evidence suggesting the Russians might have passed along target information to the Serbs.

The documents that The Scotsman alleges were leaked to Russian military intelligence, and by them to the Serbs, included NATO air tasking orders for stealth bombing runs over Belgrade and its surrounding area March 27 and 28.

An F-117 Stealth was shot down by an anti-aircraft unit near Belgrade March 27. The pilot ejected safely and was rescued by allied search teams. However, U.S. officials said the air tasking orders for U.S. aircraft never went through NATO channels, and they are confident no American gave them to the Russians.

In his article, Beaver writes that the tasking orders included lists of planned stealth targets, planned flight paths and computer coordinates.

Beaver's article said Belgrade took the information from Russian officials with the agreement that Russia would have personnel present at the "ambush" sites. The Russians' goal, Beaver wrote, was to get material from the stealth fighter away from the scene as quickly as possible, because they feared the site would be targeted by NATO bombers in a later wave of attacks.

Pentagon officials have told CNN that the site was not bombed, in part because so many civilians were seen there in Serb television pictures and because the 1970s stealth technology in the F-117A was not considered sensitive enough to warrant a military strike to protect it.

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