INDONESIA

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 06859770
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 9
• Document Creation Date: July 11, 2023
• Document Release Date: February 10, 2022
• Case Number: F-2016-00958
• Publication Date: February 13, 2003

� Approved for Release: 2022/02/09 C06859770
PRINTED: Thursday, February 13, 2003
AT: 17:36
CODEWORDS: NF
(b)(3)
TOP SECRET
(1,6 �O -6 3
Memorandum for the Record
KEY: C/2003-00131
EVENT: STAFF BRIEFING
PLACE: 211 HART
FOR: SSCI
SUBJECT: INDONESIA
ATTENDEES:
ASSOCIATION
SSCI
SSCI
SSCI
SSCI
Executive Summary:
(TS/NF) Senators Leahy, Gordon Smith, Allard and Akaka have made inquiries in recent days re the killings of t1(1?)(3)
Amcits at Freeport Mines in Papua, Indonesia on 31 August 02. Sen. Smith wrote a letter on his and Allard's behalf
(murdered Amcits were their constituents) to DC' requesting information.
it was arranged that a new briefing would be provided to
SSCI staff leadership who in turn would undertake to brief the concerned Senators. If necessary, CIA would also brief
the interested Senators but not their personal staffs. The original briefing was given to SSCI leadership (Senators
Graham and Shelby, Staff Dirs Cumming and Duhnke) on 16 Oct 2002; this briefing was necessitated due to leadership
turnover.
NAME
DATE: 02/13/2003 TIME: 11:00 STATUS: SCHEDULED
DUBEE, MELVIN
DUHNKE, WILLIAM
HENSLER, JAMES
MELLON, CHRISTOPHER
ROLE
SUPPORT
BRIEFER
BRIEFER
STAFF
STAFF
STAFF
STAFF
(b)(3)
(b)(6)
(b)(1)
Summary Text:
(TS/NF) 1. Only SSCI Staff Dir Duhnke and Minority Deputy Staff Dir Dubee showed for the briefing.
(b)(1)
(b)(3)
(TS/NF) 2.
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(TS/NF) 3. In November 2002, a Wash Post article pointed to the TNI Chief as being behind the attack.
(b)(1)
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(TS/NF) 4.
(TS/NF) 5.
(TS/NF) 6.
(b)(1)
(b)(3)
(b)(1)
(b)(3)
(b)(1)
(b)(3)
(TS/NF) 7. aid that we stand ready to brief the Senators concerned. Duhnke and Dubee said they will brief (b)(3)
them and hope to have the issue stop there. They will get back to us if necessary. The FBI investigation is still ongoing
and there has not been any briefing of SSCI or other Senators on their investigation to date. The briefing ran 1105-
OCA Liaison Officer
13 February 2003
Orig - OCA Chrons.
1 - DAC (OCA Records)
1 - DO/EA
Follow-up Action Items:
Additional Information:
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(b)(6)
(b)(3)
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UNCLASSIFIED/ /AIUO
Office: OCA
01/23/03 01:46 PM
To
cc
Subject Indonesia briefing
frvivtti
jyt
1\1
A group of 4-5 staffers from the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Foreign Operations would like to
get a briefing on Wed. 29 Jan. at 1000 at the Capitol on the well-publicized killings of 2 Americans in Aug.
2002 in Papua, Indonesia. According to the staffers, the Americans were allegedly ambushed by
members of the Indonesian military and they would like to get updated' s-- intel regarding those killings,
the loyalty of the Indonesian military to the gov't, and the status rsg ability to provide security
throughout the country.
The staffers have SI,TK,G clearanc
brief status report on their investiga
If this briefing is doable on this
briefers and their ss#s by noon
the SW (Berlin Wall) exit.
If there is a scheduling conflict, co
questions regarding this briefin9.4..ei
(b)(3)
(b)(6)
s session to give a
ames of the
)n the 29th from
e. If you have any
(b)(3)
(b)(6)
UNCLASSIFIED/ /AIUO
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0'1./06/2003 23:.1. SENAWIR CUTTU
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Z001/002
-FAX-
ORDON 1-1 :.SMITH
up,HTEp STATES SENATOR FOR OREGON
TO:
OFFICE:
FAX NO.. :
PHONE
DATE:
AC/ re:led
(IA ( 41. MT
PAGES (INCLUDING COVER SHEET): C
(b)(3)
NOTE: (b)(6)
.1.-e4E-zi
404 R.USSZLL B UILDING WASHINGTON, D.C. 20510-3704
(b)(3)
(b)(6)
(b)(6)
.(b)(6;
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u4/1115/2003 23:10
SENATOR G. SMITH
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0002/002".ji"/
GORDON H. SMITH
OREGON
(b)(6)
lanitcd *tams *enate
WASHINGTON, DC 20510-3704
February 7, 2003
The liononble George Tenet
Director Central Intelligence Agency
Dear Mx. Tonet,
COMMITTER
FINANCE
COMMEFICE
ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES
RULES
AGING
NDIAN AFFAIRS
(b)(3)
Thank you for recent phone call in response to my request (b)(6)
for a staff-level briefing re atmg to the ambush in Papua, Indonesia last August which
resulted in the death of two American citizens, Mr. Ted Burgon of Oregon and
Mr. Rick Spier of Colorado. This letter is intended to be responsive to your Agency's
request that this request be reiterated in writing.
I have been in close contact with the State Department since last fall regarding
this incident., and, as you might expect, am greatly interested in how the joint U.S.-
Indonesian investigation is proceeding_ Senator Allard and I expect to receive a briefing
from Assistint Secretary of State James Kelly in early March, while 'FBI officials are to
brief key members of our staffs in the near future.
In following this matter, I have noted with interest accounts in the U.S. and
foreign press (i.e., New York Times article, January 31, 2003, attached) that U.S.
intelligence agencies have information with direct bearing on the culpability of certain
parties who have been implicated in this crime_ I would ask that you arrange a briefing
for key members of my staff by relevant -U.S. intelligence community personnel, which
addresses, in essence, the voracity of these reports particularly as pertains to information
held by, or ;vailable to, the U.S. intelligence community. 1 ask that the briefing also
address in as much detail as possible the known or suspected motivations for the attack in
question, prospects for bringing the perpetrators to justice, and any additional information
regarding this case that your community believes may be of interest to me.
e your staff work directly with who can be reached
at Jr by fax at to establish the time and venue for this
bn.efing whir:h I hope will take place at the earliest possible opportunity. Thank you in
advance for your assistance in this important matter.
Sincerely,
Gordon H. Smith
United States Senate
(b)(6)
www.gamith.senate.gov
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SENATOR C.: Val-FM
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U.S. links Indonesian troops to deaths of tw) Americans
Jakarta -�Bus]t administration officials have determined that In4onesian soldiers carried out a deadly
ambush that lilled two American teachers returning from a picztic in a remote area of Indonesia last
August, senior administration officials say.
The conclusion, which follows a preliminary investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, is likely
TO muddy reitions between Washington and Jakarta.
Indonesia is T.1 ie world's most populous Muslim nation, and the ush administration has been trying to
persuade its president, Megawati Sukarnoputri, to take a more a gressive stand against terrorism and to
support Washington's policy on Iraq.
Last month, in a reflection of the administration's concern about the killings, President Bush secretly
dispatched an influential emissary to tell President Megawati th t the Indonesians must mount a serious
investigation.� with F.B.I. participation. The official, Karen Br oks, is the National Security Council's
senior Asian Epecialist; she also has a deep personal and professional relationship with President Megawati.
Indonesian leilders tend to bristle at outside interference, and esp cially as the United States prepares for a
possible war with Iraq, which the vast majority of Indonesians o pose. Even so, Ms. Brooks's mission
seems to have been successful, at least in part. Two F.B.I. agents arrived in Indonesia last week to help in
thc investigation.
The Indonesian military has denied any involvement in the amb h, which also killed an Indonesian .
teacher and wounded eight Americans. But a report by the coutt s police force last year suggested that
the military was behind the killings.
The two F.B, , agents now in Indonesia are gathering evidence for the Justice Department in Washington,
American and other Western officials in the region said.
"There is no question there was military involvement," said a senior administration official. "There is no
question it was premeditated."
The adziaimst-ition official and diplomats from other countries sai there was still a mystery about who
ordered the kilings and why. They said the most likely explanatioi was that soldiers were trying to send a
message to the teachers' employer, an American company that optates one of the world's largest copper
and gold mines in the are& The company, Freeport-McMoRan Co per & Gold, had reduced payments and
other benefits to soldiers, the officials said.
"Extortion, pure and simple," said a Western intelligence analyst, explaining what he believed was behind
the attack.
Freeport has declined to answer any questions about the killings or
military.
about payments to the police and the
"This is a poline matter, and we cannot comment on the ongoing investigation," said a company
spokesman, Sid.dharta Moersjid. "Freeport hopes the perpetrators, oever they are, will be brought to
justice."
The victims, who taught at Freeport's international school, were ambushed last Aug. 31, as they traveled a
twisting mountain road between two military posts near Tembagap a mile-high company town on the
equator in Irian Jaya, an eastern province also blown as Papua.
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SENATOR G. SMITH
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002
The party the school's new principal, his teachers and their amities � had cut its Saturday picnic short
when fog ane: mist rolled in. At a bend in the road back to to vvith a steep gorge on the right and a small
hill on the tell, several mcn sprayed the group's two Toyota Laid Cruisers with automatic weapons fire.
The America is slain in the ambush were the principal, Edwin Burgon,, 71, a former smoke jumper in Idaho
who had taught around the world, and Ricky Lynn Spier, 44, a fourth-grade teacher from Colorado. The
school's Ind� iesian teacher, 13ambang Riwanto, was also killed.
Immediately, Indonesian and Freeport officials Warned a separ tist group, the Frec Papua Movement,
which has been fighting a low-level guerrilla war for independ ice, or at least more.autonomy for Papuans,
for several decades.. Many Papuans harbor deep animosity toward Freeport; along with some international
human rights groups, they say the company has destroyed saci'el lands, ravaged the environment and failed
to share mineral wealth with local communities.
Soon after tie ambush, a team from the American Embassy, including an F.B _I agent from Singapore,
went to Irian, Jaya to investigate; the F.B.I. also interviewed survivors, who had been flown to a hospital in
Australia.
Suspicion quieldy turned away from the separatists, though. In tie course of that early investigation, the
Australian go vernrnent gave the United States a telephone intercpt between Indonesian military
commanders. The conversation, which took place after the ineid nt, leaves no doubt of military
involvement in the killings, said a Western official, but he added that it did not implicate senior army
commanders.
Indonesian pence investigators also exonerated the rebels_ For one thing, the police report says. the group
"does not &v.! the quantity of bullets" used in the attack, and the organization "never kills white people."
The report, dated last Sept. 28, concluded that "there is a strong Possibility" that the killings were
perpetrated b$ members of the Indonesian Army.
But that was pretty much the end of the police investigation.
"The police don't have any right to investigate the army," said .Bri. Gcn. Raeirnan Tarigan, who was
deputy police chief in Irian Jaya until he was abruptly removed this month and assigned to a desk job in
Jakarta.
Still, the pollee report does raise the possibility that money from Freeport may have been the motivation. A
soldier's pay ie roughly $15 a month, the report says, adding that soldiers have a "a high expectation" when
they get assigned to the Freeport area. But they had been disappointed by what they received, and some
"perks" had btrn reduced.
General Tarig; in said Freeport regularly gave policemen and soldhrs money and other benefits, like airline
tickets to Jake Ta. A general received a first- or business-class tickit, while colonels and others received
economy tickets, be said. In addition, former Freeport employees said the company had a S10,000 monthly
"slush fund" government security personnel.
The Indonesia:, military receives less than one-third of its budget om the government. To make up the
difference, it n.lies on its own business activities as well as suppleients from foreign businesses, especially
natural-resource companies.
Freeport had begun to reduce these payments, on the advice of company lawyers who said they would have
to be disclosed under new American corporate-responsibility laws, Western officials and people close to
,
the company said. They also said the military wanted a portion of pi, yments � I percent of profits � that
Freeport mako.; for community projects, part of its effort to improv local relations.
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SPNATM n cterrn
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That pressure was apparently on the increase: investigators say they have been told that, in the weeks
before the attick, Freeport had received threats of retaliation from the military if more money was not
forthcoming. � New York Times
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Date
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FROM DCl/OCA/LG _
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