Last-Minute Bust in Hamburg

A computer bound for the Soviet Union is seized

The timing was worthy of a first-rate Hollywood spy thriller. One day before the Swedish container ship Elgaren was due to make a seven-hour stop in the port of Hamburg, U.S. officials informed their colleagues in West Germany that the ship was carrying Soviet-bound contraband. Once the ship had docked, however, a Hamburg judge turned down the formal request for a search warrant on grounds of insufficient evidence. As the deadline ticked closer, a three-member panel of the appeals court reviewed and finally reversed the earlier decision. Just seven minutes before the Elgaren was scheduled to lift anchor, anxious officials sped out to it in a launch and clambered aboard. They promptly ordered three 20-ft.-long containers to be hoisted by crane onto dry land. As the container ship headed toward Sweden several hours behind schedule, authorities opened the boxes. All their suspicions were confirmed: inside was a roomful of U.S.-made computer equipment, including a giant VAX 11/782, a powerful computer that can be used, among other things, for guiding missiles and keeping track of troops. The Soviets lack the resources to build such equipment themselves.

Manufactured by Digital Equipment Corp. of Maynard, Mass., and valued at more than $2.5 million, the VAX is the most precious cargo to be seized during the Reagan Administration's 25-month drive to block the illegal shipment of sophisticated machinery to the Soviet world. But it is not the first such catch. "Operation Exodus," a special task force involving 300 full-time customs agents, has confiscated more than 2,300 illegal shipments worth nearly $150 million since its launching in 1981. Still, the leaks seem to appear as fast as authorities can plug them. In West Germany alone, according to CIA Director William Casey, 150 firms and individuals are involved in illegal shipment of sensitive equipment to the East bloc.

Technology smuggling has, moreover, become both efficient and elaborate. The VAX was bought by an unidentified firm in New York State and apparently shipped by air to South Africa. Then, authorities suspect, a West German named Richard Mueller arranged to have the computer transported via Sweden to the Soviet Union. Mueller, who owns a fleet of shadowy companies with ever shifting names, has already been implicated in two major violations of U.S. export law.

The proliferation of high-technology microelectronic equipment and of gambits for shipping it to the Communist bloc has dramatized the problems facing the industrial democracies. Responsible for addressing these issues is COCOM, a kind of clearinghouse for strategic equipment. Every now and then, COCOM members, including the U.S., most of its European allies and Japan, agree upon a list of sensitive technology that cannot legally be shipped to Communist nations.

The effort is, however, riddled with inconsistencies. Washington observes a much more extensive set of rules than its allies, and within the U.S. the rules are the focus of heated dispute. The Defense Department, supported by the U.S. intelligence community, has long complained that COCOM's regulations are dangerously lax. The hardliners, as they are called, note that even the most mundane computer equipment can often be turned to military purposes, and they are reluctant to do the Soviet military machine any favors. In response, the State and Commerce departments, backed by U.S. businessmen, have contended that national security must not preclude U.S. participation in lucrative global markets. Besides, the soft-liners argue, economic prosperity is a means to enhanced security. Both sides, however, applauded last week's bust, which clearly fell within the COCOM guidelines. This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.